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Swan Lake review – Dada Masilo ruffles feathers with gay remake Swan Lake review – Dada Masilo ruffles feathers with gay remake
(about 3 hours later)
Black and white; good and evil; reality and illusion. It's easy to reduce Swan Lake to a set of diametric opposites, and very easy for certain kinds of choreographers to reinterpret the ballet according to their own agendas. But Dada Masilo's new version stands apart from so many others not only for the fresh and fast-paced style that comes with the addition of African dance, comic theatre and carnival, but for her wit and seriousness in handling the original ballet's themes.Black and white; good and evil; reality and illusion. It's easy to reduce Swan Lake to a set of diametric opposites, and very easy for certain kinds of choreographers to reinterpret the ballet according to their own agendas. But Dada Masilo's new version stands apart from so many others not only for the fresh and fast-paced style that comes with the addition of African dance, comic theatre and carnival, but for her wit and seriousness in handling the original ballet's themes.
In this production, Odette is cast as a naive young (female) bride, married off to Siegfried with the blessing of both their families. Siegfried, however, is gay. In Masilo's homophobic South Africa, he is unable to be with Odile, the man he loves. The inversion of gender is underscored by the dressing of both male and female dancers in tutus and white feathers, and by the fact that the male Odile is the only one to perform on pointe. Yet just as significant is the way Masilo subverts the usual moral opposition between Odette and Odile by presenting both as victims. Within the terms of this society, neither "heroine" nor "villain" can have the man they love. In this production, Odette is cast as a naive young (female) bride, married off to Siegfried with the blessing of both their families. Siegfried, however, is gay, and in Masilo's homophobic South Africa unable to be with Odile, the man he loves. The inversion of gender is underscored by the dressing of both male and female dancers in tutus and white feathers, and by the fact that the male Odile is the only one to perform on pointe. Yet just as significant is the way Masilo subverts the usual moral opposition between Odette and Odile by presenting both as victims. Within the terms of this society, neither "heroine" nor "villain" can have the man they love.
Any gay reading of Swan Lake inevitably invites comparison with Matthew Bourne's production, yet Masilo's is like no other I've seen. She's fearless in taking only what she wants from the original – short bursts of Tchaikovsky spliced with additional music and African dance mixed freely among fragments of Petipa-Ivanov choreography. Her dance idiom, performed by an excellent cast, feels both natural and expressive – feet pointed and stamped; arms graciously curved; buttocks flourished like tail feathers, "court" dances accompanied by raucous whistles. But it's also eclectic enough to embrace elements of theatre, too. The act two lakeside scene is danced to a very funny ballet-for-dummies commentary with narrator Nicola Haskins pointing out that Swan Lake, like all 19th-century classics, essentially revolves around a lot "surplus girls in the moonlight" and one "top man" doing "virility splits". Any gay reading of Swan Lake inevitably invites comparison with Matthew Bourne's production, yet Masilo's is like no other I've seen. She's fearless in taking only what she wants from the original – short bursts of Tchaikovsky spliced with additional music and African dance mixed freely among fragments of Petipa-Ivanov choreography. Her dance idiom, performed by an excellent cast, feels both natural and expressive – feet pointed and stamped; arms graciously curved; buttocks flourished like tail feathers, "court" dances accompanied by raucous whistles. But it's also eclectic enough to embrace elements of theatre, too. The act two lakeside scene is danced to a very funny ballet-for-dummies commentary, with narrator Nicola Haskins pointing out that Swan Lake, like all 19th-century classics, essentially revolves around a lot of "surplus girls in the moonlight" and one "top man" doing "virility splits".
Occasionally the pacing becomes overly hectic, but Masilo steers her story adroitly to its tragic conclusion. As a pattern of teardrops plays over the stage Odette and Odile dance together in long black skirts of mourning, grieving not only for their lost chance of love but for the society that imposed it. Occasionally the pacing becomes overly hectic, but Masilo steers her story adroitly to its tragic conclusion. As a pattern of teardrops plays over the stage, Odette and Odile dance together in long black skirts of mourning, grieving not only for their lost chance of love but for the society that imposed it.
• Until 18 June. Box office: 0844 412 4300. Venue: Sadler's Wells, London.• Until 18 June. Box office: 0844 412 4300. Venue: Sadler's Wells, London.