Swan Lake Studies 51-52.

51, 52. In Alexei Ratmansky’s 2016 Zürich production of the 1895 Petipa-Ivanov “Swan Lake”, the eight junior swan-maidens then contribute, chorally, to the start of Odette’s great adagio with Siegfried and Benno. As these stills show, they form an arc behind the leading characters (Viktoria Kapitonova is Odette), all eight standing tendu front in slight révérence. Since the whole corps becomes involved in the adagio, and since the other swan-maidens are standing in pairs on either side of the huntsmen, this is a fascinating and affecting touch: these eight swanlings are, it seems, the ones most intimately connected with Odette’s destiny.

Curiously, however, Ratmansky omitted the passage for these eight that was most heart-stopping in Anthony Dowell’s 1987 production (not included in all revivals but some). In the supreme moment of the adagio when the constantly diffident Odette breaks from Siegfried one last time and goes to “Rothbart’s corner”, they followed her and, once more, folded to the floor in a ring around her feet. The image was, I believe, of a nest. Odette then made her crucial choice, to return unassisted and of her own volition to Siegfried. What follows between Odette and Siegfried - with him rocking her in his arms - should always be the emotional climax of this adagio, but we respond to it quite differently when Odette’s choice is made partly, It seems, because of her supplication of these eight swan-maidens. What period sources prompted Dowell’s inclusion of this moment? What period research led Ratmansky to omit it?

Thursday 30 July .