Enchantment and calamity will indeed color the storyline when Miami City Ballet reveals this panorama from the perspective of choreographer Alexei Ratmansky. His tending to the work's 19th-century roots first bore heirloom fruit in 2016 at Zurich Ballet before our local company took charge of the North American premiere in 2022. Now, the production will open in Miami at the Arsht Center on Thursday, April 18, then move to Fort Lauderdale's Broward Center.
Swan Lake unfolds fantastic elements with a palpitating heart, Tchaikovsky's score hastening the action and heightening emotion. Royal protocol demands Prince Siegfried choose a mate, but first, he goes bird hunting with his pals in the forest. But as he aims, it's Cupid's arrow that pierces him. A mysterious maiden has emerged lakeside, and he's smitten. Odette embodies feminine charms, and yet — what's that ethereal quality about her? Every time she flutters by, she seems poised to take wing. And a bevy of similar beauties flocks around her with companionable buoyancy.
Odette is a shape-shifter, from woman to swan, under sorcerer Rothbart's spell, only to be broken when a swain pledges true love to her — Siegfried to the rescue. Still, man is weak and sorcery strong when Odile, Rothbart's secret agent and Odette doppelganger, seduces the prince at a ball. Doom will cloud the lake, but not before we see some of the most gorgeous dancing in ballet ever and — very telling in this version — lots of poignant pantomime, lovingly restored.
To power this, MCB dancers have put in long studio hours for months. In-house rehearsal directors, eagle-eyed guardians of steps and overall style, kept things on track until Ratmansky, with his wife, Tatiana, in assistance, took over. Under all their tutelage, newcomer to Swan Lake Dawn Atkins has approached her dual roles of Odette/Odile, attuned to every physical detail and the insights of history.
"Swan Lake has so many moving parts," says Atkins. "It's quite challenging. All those layers call for a different kind of preparation." Keen on polishing technique and the demands of acting — the highs and lows of a tragic heroine on the path she must brave — she adds, "What's so striking about Ratmansky's version is how it tugs at the heartstrings."
Miami City Ballet dancers rehearse choreographer Alexei Ratmansky's Swan Lake.
Photo by Alexander Iziliaev
Indeed, Ratmansky's vision — what he salvaged from archives and how he applied his own magisterial touches — created a buzz upon the premiere of his Swan Lake here two years ago.
The original 1877 Moscow production, despite Tchaikovsky's big score, failed to score big. But in 1895, the composer already dead, a revival took place at St. Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre, the music and scenario tweaked and with new choreography by the great Marius Petipa and his assistant Lev Ivanov (for the epochal lakeside action). That sent this much-traveled ballet off on a glorious trajectory, though additions and adaptations have been imposed along the way.
Having delved deep into Stepanov notation — a system created in Imperial Russia to record choreography — and other archival materials, Ratmansky wanted to home in closer to the Petipa/Ivanov intent for his Swan Lake. He revived discarded technical elements — differently angled legs here, more demi-pointe footwork there — and hairstyles and costumes that hark back to the original era. Tender flesh reigns here over feathers, and the vintage glow brings revelations.
Working with Ratmansky to inhabit this setting can be transformative. As Atkins attests, "He wants me to emphasize establishing positions and use transitions simply as that. He's trying to create more inflections in my dancing. For dramatic interpretation, he stresses how important it is to keep the pantomime interesting, saying I need to become each word — for example, 'love' or 'evil.' This allows the storytelling to come alive and not just be gestures."
While Atkins fits the profile of first-time Swan Queens who, without fossilized notions, wholeheartedly take to Ratmansky's construct, Stanislav Olshanskyi, her Prince Siegfried, brings a long personal acquaintance with this classic. Yet the project at hand equally excites him. "It can get boring to do the same thing every time," he says, referring to his lengthy resumé.
Olshanskyi already danced the male lead in Ratmansky's Giselle in Europe with the United Ukrainian Ballet, formed in the wake of the Russian invasion of his homeland. Now, this will be his seventh version of Swan Lake, and he admits, "Some of the variations are still very difficult to do. So you need to be really smart how you rehearse."
Renan Cerdeiro and Samantha Hope Galler were paired in the 2002 production of Miami City Ballet's Swan Lake, so this will be their second go-round working with choreographer Alexei Ratmansky.
Photo by Alexander Iziliaev
Olshanskyi and Atkins have developed a special rapport dancing together this season. "That helps us very much," he says, "because we have trust and a possibility to learn from each other's way of being on stage to the point where we can predict what the other is going to do."
And he's putting the man before the fairy-tale prince. "He's just a human being exploring life and looking for something as we all are — for happiness and basically himself. I always say I'm not trying to act. I'm living in this world."
Brooks Landegger, another Siegfried, like Atkins new to his role (the gifted Taylor Naturkas debuts with him as Odette/Odile), finds inspiration in his colleagues. "I had the opportunity to watch Dawn and Stas rehearse, and it was very impactful," he says, and the addition of Benno to the scene (the steadfast Damian Zamorano) made it "extraordinarily touching."
Playing Siegfried is quite a quest for Landegger. But he draws from dramatic know-how, having toured in the Broadway musical Billy Elliot and earned a standout performance recognition in 2022 from national magazine Pointe for his lead in MCB's Romeo and Juliet. He links his right-on course to guidance from his earlier teachers and MCB's artistic team. "There have been such generous voices around me every day," he says.
Among cast members with established Swan Lake credentials (she also performed a different version at Alabama Ballet), Samantha Hope Galler — alongside Renan Cordeiro in their second go-round at MCB — is focusing on fortifying the narrative through pacing, real-life experiences, and pantomime as natural as conversation. This balances Odette's fragility with her swan-clan protectiveness and adds sparkle to Odile's sneakiness (acting out mischief, Galler concedes, is great fun).
Happy to report her husband is the love of her life, Galler also confesses she's no stranger to heartbreak — a source of her authenticity in this ballet. Now, the schoolgirl who once swooned over Swan Lake music at bedtime is about to realize her best ballerina dream at showtime. "My goal is to bring real emotional connection at a deep level," she says. "That's what this is all about. I hope audiences at the end will have to take out their tissues."
– Guillermo Perez, ArtburstMiami.com
Miami City Ballet's Swan Lake. 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 18, and Friday, April 19; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20; and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 21, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 26, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 27; and 2 p.m. Sunday, April 28, at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 305-929-7010; miamicityballet.org. Tickets cost $39 to $189.
