When I last passed infront of London Coliseum, I looked at the poster of this production and thought, 'Here's another one', and completely forgot about it, the reason being that there is always at least three different Swan Lakes going on somewhere in London, even during the summer season.
Hence I was surprised to find so much critical acclaim with the production, and decided to go and see for myself.
The verdict? Yes, it probably deserves the praise.
There was so much to see: state-of-the-art acrobatics, constantly shifting sets and costumes, some very fine ballet moves, and even magic tricks! It was a real pleasure to be served up such a huge buffet of things to intake, as I have in the past been slightly disappointed with some productions (namely ROH) that presented top-notch ballet but with very plain sets. (This has probably to do with budgets and also done, understandably, to effectively highlight the flawlessness of the ballet itself; but at times it seemed a little too effortless to me as I'm always interested in the set&costumes designs as much as the dance.)
I wasn't so sure about the corp de swans, though.. I loved how they designed the costumes and the routine (achieved on rollerskates, I later discovered!) to make the swans to move smoothly like real swans, but it came at the cost of loosing gracefulness and one dancer to repeatedly trip over her skirt!
It was quite interesting for me to notice just how East-Asian the structure of the scenes and the cute designs were (Don't get me wrong, this is something I myself as a Asian am always subjected to).. They seem to have given a scene for each individual performance, and I think there must have been at least 20 different scenes, some of them lasting only about 5 minutes, divided by abrupt blackouts. In one way it was great, as the more number of 'treats' there were, the bigger the variety of sets and costumes there were. (This is why I say it was very East-Asian - we seem to have the tendency to give one fully-formed design per scene:-) haha) Anyway, they could've done without the blackouts.
One of my favourite scenes was when the European prince travels towards China (after the much applauded flopping-on-the-poles by the sailors which I unfortunately couldn't see up in the balcony) and he passes several Asian countries and the dancers all come out in differently themes attires and the Prince, in the backdrop through the eye of a telescope, is seen on a camel, an elephant etc.
Also the fiercely talented rolling ring acrobats and the hat dancers routine was well integrated into the story, portayed as the competition between East and West. This is one thing I would also like to praise about this production - even in the mist of all these jaw-dropping performances, with which lies the danger of everything turning into a circus, they didn't loose the plot and held everything together. The fine balance between high-drama and humour (the toutou-clad comedy quartet of jesters worked brilliantly as the comic relief!) was brilliant throughout.
And the best saved 'til the last - the partnership of Wei Baohua and Wu Zhengdan as Prince and Swan-princess. Following a series of achingly effective pas de deux, the princess dances on his shoulders, arms, and even on the top of his head, EN POINTE. In the performance I watched, the swan once fell (rather gracefully, though) into the arms of the safety-frogs (or whatever they were) and succeeded to do the top-of-head vertical split only in her second go, but nevertherless it did not stop the couple's stunning acrobatic feat shining through.
The last scene when the two marry and they are dressed in red (colour of China) robes was, for me, one of the most beautiful thing I've watched happening on a stage. The sheer energy and pride the company has about their country was moving.. something a Western company rarely exhibits.
(Images from Getty Images)
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