Swan Lake Solo
In Swan Lake Solo, there are neither white birds nor princes. In collaboration with composer Anton Svetlichny, Olga Dukhovnaya proposes her own version of Swan Lake, to turn this classical ballet into a modern performance.
Let’s clear up any ambiguity: Swan Lake Solo is not Princess Odette’s solo, nor is it a contemporary version of Tchaikovsky’s ballet. Swan Lake Solo is a topical dance show. On 9 March 2022, the front page of the Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta featured the silhouettes of four ballerinas from Swan Lake against the background of a nuclear explosion. Since the fall of Gorbachev, television has broadcast Tchaikovsky’s ballet whenever the news gets too hot.
The war dealt a final blow to her project after two years of lockdown: Olga Dukhovnaya gave up the idea of choreographing Swan Lake for 32 dancers, an orchestra and singers, commissioned by the new Moscow museum. In an undertaking of ecological deconstruction, the Ukrainian choreographer then concentrated the entire corps de ballet in that of a single performer: herself.
Together with Russian composer Anton Svetlichny, the duo tuned it to Tchaikovsky’s music that was as playful as it was respectful. An essential and dynamic dance show was born from all these constraints, giving Swan Lake Solo the tones of joyful and delightful freedom.
Distribution / Team
- Olga Dukhovna: choreographer & performer
- Alexis Hedouin: performer
- Anton Svetlichny: sound score
- Guillaume Jouin: lighting
- Marion Regnier: costume
- François Maurisse: outside eye
- François Aubry & Felix Löhmann: stage management
- Amélie-Anne Chapelain: production manager
Premiere
- 2022, May 14 — Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine Saint-Denis, Montreuil, France
Partners
- Production C.A.M.P
- Co-production le Quartz – Scène Nationale de Brest, Au bout du plongeoir & la Coopération Nantes-Rennes-Brest-Rouen - Itinéraires d’artiste(s). With the support of the Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis and of the DRAC Bretagne. Thanks to CCNRB – Collectif FAIR-E for the studio space.
