My evening with 15 sweaty muscular men.

[fancytalk]

Now the last time that I saw Swan Lake, I was in Prague and was able to see the traditional version. It was awesome as it always had been. Last night I got to see Matthew Bourne's version of Swan Lake. Amazing and so different from the Petipa/Ivanov "standard" version of Swan Lake. This version is sexual, violent and male dancers form the ballet corps. At first it felt a little strange to watch a dance performance where the females performed in token character roles. The men here are the main attraction. It was amazing to watch the men show off their talents as a group. The other fascinating part for me was that the men were being partnered in the pas de deuxs. That is definitely not a traditional role for male dancers. I'm not sure how to best explain that. Usually, male dancers guide a female partner through the steps in a dance. Here, we have two men doing the same thing. What makes it fascinating is that men usually have no clue how to be partnered/guided because they are the ones partnering/guiding. The costumes were great too. I loved the feathered leggings for the swans.



I highly recommend it for any dance/theatre buffs or for anyone who wants to break out of their normal outings.


For those of you who don't know the story of Swan Lake, you can find it here.

This is the best site to know more about Matthew Bourne's interpretation