Swan Lake Les Ballets Trockadero
This was another performance which challenged my view of how ballet should be presented. At first I was a little shocked to see these men perform en travesti the roles of both male and female. I had never thought it was possible for men to go up on point because they are heavier than women. Although I agree with their statement now that the comedy ‘enhances rather than mocks the spirit of dance as an art form, delighting and amusing the most knowledgeable, as well as novices, in the audiences.’ However, at first I thought it was mocking the spirit of the ballet and a bit cheesy with over the top miming, but it won me over and I did find myself laughing at the signets. It was clever, how they took the sterotypes of the way ballet presents its self and made it comical. For instance when the 4 signets dance in unison the exaggeration of the head movement and the way they placed the smaller dancer on the end exaggerating the difference between the other dancers.
I feel that the thing that really helped me to appreciate the skill of the ballet dancers was watching Margret Fonteyn perform the second act of Swan Lake which was just incredible she dances with such power and precision. The dance choreography for the Trockadero company was very true to the original despite the comic element. Even when they fell comically they got up instantly and continued with their dance steps highlighting their skill as dancers.
However, despite all this I still would always prefer to see the traditional ballet. I felt that the Trockadero in spite of their skills were still closer to pantomime in style rather than a beautiful ballet performance.
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