Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake," arguably the world's favorite classical ballet, opens the season for Ballet West this year, with nine performances at the Capitol Theatre, Sept. 16-24, and an added Tribute to Business performance Sept. 15. The ballet's season of "Fable and Fantasy" 1994-95 is dedicated to the memory of Dolores Dore Eccles and Val A. Browning, stalwart patrons of all the arts.
Utahns have not seen Ballet West's "Swan Lake" since it opened the season in 1989, in artistic director John Hart's staging. Hart bases his production on that of Nicholas Sergeyev, regisseur at St. Petersburg's Maryinsky Theater (ancestral home of the Kirov Ballet) when Petipa and Ivanov were working on the third and definitive version of "Swan Lake," which met with immediate public acclaim in 1895.Sergeyev brought his notes with him when he left Russia during the Revolution and set "Swan Lake" on London's Vic-Wells dancers in 1934, starring Alicia Markova and Robert Helpmann - only shortly before Hart joined that company. So Hart's experience with the production, moving forward through Vic-Wells, Sadler's Wells and Royal Ballet, has been voluminous and historic.
As for the story, the sorcerer Von Rothbart holds many beautiful maidens in thrall. By day they are transformed into swans, but by night they dance in human form on the shores of Swan Lake. Prince Siegfried happens upon their revels and falls in love with Odette, the Swan Queen.
But Rothbart's magic is too strong. At a ball where Siegfried must choose a bride, Rothbart deceives the prince with the scintillating Odile, who appears in the guise of Odette. When the true lovers are reunited, they cannot prevail; and hoping for eternal union, they fling themselves into the lake.
Hart does not tamper much with the original Petipa choreography for the party scenes of first and third acts, nor especially with Ivanov's inspired "white" scenes by the lake in Acts II and IV.
In an effort to tighten the work, in 1989 he cut several sequences that he now considers important. Hence he has restored the first act pas de trois and has re-fleshed what seemed a rather bare-bones production of Act III, where he cut several of the folk variations.
Hence the present production will have not only the popular Czardas but new Spanish and Neapolitan variations choreographed by company artist Raymond Van Mason.
The beloved Tchaikovsky score for "Swan Lake" will be performed by the Utah Chamber Orchestra, Terence Kern conducting. Production design is by Peter Cazalet, and costumes are being refurbished.
Hart considers "Swan Lake" a much harder ballet than "Sleeping Beauty," requiring a very strong corps of women, which he feels he has, even more so than in 1989.
"Also, the role of Odette presents an extreme challenge to a prima ballerina. She must have the lyricism for the white acts, and the sharpness and agility for the evil Odile," he said. "When the English and American companies started doing this work, they sometimes used two dancers for this part."
Hart has cast three women as Odette/Odile - Jane Wood, partnered by Jeffrey Rogers; Virginia Hagood with Raymond Van Mason; and Donna Patzius with Richard Bradley. Patzius comes to Ballet West from BalletMet.
Gone from the roster are two popular women soloists - Wendee Fiedeldey and Lisa Lockerd, who has gone to medical school. While they will be missed, their leaving opens up a little window of opportunity for some of the younger dancers, said Hart.
"I am interested in new people doing many roles. We have some very strong new dancers from Ballet-Met, John McFall's company, which folded last year in Columbus, Ohio, and from Boston Ballet. And we have some of our own young women, especially, whom I would like to give more chances. They are soloist quality, and I would like to feature them."
Dancing the classics well - "Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," "Giselle" - is the expectation for any company of the first or second rank. And these works set a standard that keeps dancers striving for the ideal. Which is as it should be, said Hart.
"But we want to move forward, to have new works that are made on the strengths of our own dancers. You can't forever make a repertory on a half-dozen classics.
"With the new works upcoming in the next two years for Ballet West - `The Queen of Spades' by Prokovksy, `Alice in Wonderland' by Ben Stevenson, `Peter Pan' by Peter Anastos - we hope to address this challenge well. Also we have an exciting centennial project - `Desert as a Rose,' a short piece by Ray Van Mason, with music by Craw-ford Gates."
Evening performances of "Swan Lake" will be Friday-Saturday, Sept. 16-17 and Tuesday-Saturday, Sept. 20-24 at 7:30 p.m., with Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets range from $9 to $45, with season tickets offering a 30 percent savings. They are available at the ArtTix box office, 50 W. 200 South, or call 355-ARTS for credit card sales.
For tickets to the Ballet West Ambassadors' annual Tribute to Business on Thursday, Sept. 15, call 355-ARTS, or Eva Mary Verde at 237-6419.