THE

EVOLUTION

OF SWAN LAKE

By Miho Kodama and Haruna Asanuma

WHAT WE DID We watched four versions of Swan

Lake (Bolshoi, Royal, Paris Opera, Royal Swedish). We analyzed the favored locations, dimensions, pathways, etc.

We learned the Royal Ballet versions of the White Swan (Haruna) and Black Swan (Miho).

We transformed the classical variations to A-scale.

We created a duet combining the two newly created variations.

WHY DID WE DO THIS? We decided to analyze and recreate Swan Lake,

because we were interested in seeing what new contemporary choreography can be born out of a famous classical one. It is also interesting to think about what Marius Petipa might have created if he was living in our time of modern dance.

We decided to work together, because we both love ballet. For both of us, it is the roots of our dance training.

Swan Lake seemed like the perfect ballet to work with, because of the two distinct characters in it. In order to explore and work with the two different swan characters, it seemed like a better idea to work with two people. This way, we thought we might be able to discover something new by comparing the two outcomes as well.

FIRST…LOOKING AT CLASSICAL BALLET Favored locations: cardinal locations Pathways: central, peripheral Dimensions: all: door, wheel, table Areas:

Arms: upper, lower, frontLegs: all: upper, lower, front, back

Opposition and Symmetry both exist. Centre is usually a line on the axis,

because it is a stable form.

HOW IS SWAN LAKE DIFFERENT FROM TRADITIONAL CLASSICAL BALLET?

In general, Swan Lake follows the classical ballet form. For choreographic reasons, however, the port de bras is used more liberally in order to create a more swan-like effect.

PORT DE BRAS IN THE WHITE AND BLACK SWAN VARIATIONS WHITE SWAN

A-scale: 2,6

BLACK SWAN A-scale: 1,6

FROM OBSERVING THE TWO VARIATIONS… Both Variations deviate slightly from the

conservative classical form. However, it seems that the White swan breaks more “rules” than the Black swan…

WHY? For the character

Odette is a delicate and innocent princess who was cruelly cast under Rothbart’s evil spell. Her movements help her to look even more like a soft and helpless swan.

Odile is the evil daughter of Rothbart. She doesn’t need to deviate much from the classical form, because the stability of the form makes her appear strong, confident, and evil.

OTHER DIFFERENCES Dynamics: RHYTHM

Odette uses many impulses, while Odile uses many impacts. This can especially be seen in the use of port de bras and wrists.

The use of FOCUS In many versions of White Swan variation,

Odette never looks at her audience. She mostly just looks along the line of her arm.

Odile, on the other hand, looks directly at her audience. She smiles a lot, and her strong eye contact challenges the audience.

WHAT WE DECIDED TO DO We transformed the two variations by

using the A-scale to see what kind of new choreography can come from a well-known classical choreography.

FIRST STEP In the beginning, we set three rules:

1. Make it body-dominant orientation A-scale

2. Keep the use of focus and port de bras similar to the original.

3. Make everything Labile.

….We found that the new versions changed too much. It was difficult to see any of the original, because of the freedom of actions and facings.

SO… We set three NEW rules:

1. Make everything Body Dominant Oriention of the A-scale. (same)

2. Keep the use of focus, port de bras, actions, and facings similar to the original.

3. Can be Labile.

WHAT WE OBSERVED: WHITE SWAN

Locations of body parts changed.

It became more labile. It seemed to have

less ups and downs and more side to side movement.

Costume changed.

Focus The expression and

feeling of the original character did not change.

The music did not change.

The pathways did not change.

What didn’t change?What changed?

WHAT WE OBSERVED: BLACK SWAN

Locations of body parts changed.

Some pathways changed. (transverse)

Slightly more labile. The character seemed

to change slightly due to lability

Costume changed.

The actions did not change.

The music did not change.

Focus/intention

What changed? What didn’t change?

THEN… To take it another step further, we

decided to create a duet from the two new A-scale versions.

IN THE DUET: THE PROCESS

Relationship: Incorporated Harmonic Opposition. Miho started from 11; Haruna started from 5.

Figured out facings and did not change any actions With just harmonic oppositions and facings, we could

figure out what shapes and lines we created together, but the movement was a series of posing and stopping. (No connectivity.)

We started to change actions, which helped the duet to flow together more. We added new actions, such as Leaning, Jumping, Falling, etc…

We incorporated retrograde. We tried the duet with different music which helped

the movement to develop its own rhythm. Relationship- we found points of eye contact to

further the concept of relationship

CONCLUSION… When we made the A-scale version solos, we were really

worried about deviating too far from the original version. We, therefore, gave ourselves many restrictions, so that the result will be just a slightly changed version from the original.

When we tried to choreograph the duet, we gave ourselves more freedom when it came to deciding actions, focus…

This helped in creating a more interesting duet which still had some essences of the original swan dances.

We also discovered that if we took the duet apart, we unintentionally created two new A-scale solos. (evolved versions of our A-scale solos)

We discovered that this kind of step-by-step approach can be another choreographic tool.

We were able to create solo and duet material that we would normally not have choreographed.

OTHER POINTS… Lability seems to create a softer character,

while stability tends to create stronger ones. The stability of ballet can be easily observed

when looking at the extremities of the body. Everything is lead by hands, feet, and supported by the core. Lability, on the other hand, can be created with the use of other body parts.

Using the A-scale seemed to create a more circular/elliptical form, whereas the original variations hand more lines.

New questions? What could a contemporary version of a whole classical ballet be like?

…. Will you continue? Yes.

We would like to recreate the whole variation….or the whole ballet.

Attempt to use different types of orientation (space dominant as well)

THE END!!!