Plenty to appreciate in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’

SEATTLE — My husband went with me to see the dress rehearsal of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s current production of “Swan Lake,” which runs through April 19 in McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center.

After the first act, dear husband says, “How are you supposed to know what’s going on?”

Wow.

If the expressiveness of the talented dancers isn’t enough, read the synopsis in the program.

To be fair, my husband isn’t a ballet aficionado and, unlike me, he did not study ballet as a kid.

But “Swan Lake,” perhaps the best known and most loved of all the classical ballets, is perfect for people who don’t have a dance background.

“Swan Lake,” composed by Tchaikovsky in the late 1800s and fashioned after Russian folk tales, is the story of Odette, a princess who has been turned into a white swan by an evil baron who practices sorcery. Odette awaits an oath of true love that will set her free.

Meanwhile, in another kingdom, Prince Siegfried is looking for a wife. One night he and his friends are distracted by a flock of swans and they go off to hunt the birds. By the lake he meets Odette, who at night regains her human form, and they fall in love.

Siegfried’s mother, insistent on her son marrying, throws a royal party and invites many young maidens. The evil Baron von Rothbart shows up with his daughter Odile, dressed as a black swan.

Siegfried thinks Odile is Odette and he pledges his oath to the black swan. As he does this, the image of Odette appears in the doorway and Siegfried knows he is doomed and that his beloved will remain a swan.

As do most ballet companies, PNB assigns the same ballerina to play Odette and Odile. In the current production, the swan is played by retiring principal dancer and PNB star Carla Korbes and on alternate days by her colleagues Laura Tisserand and Lesley Rausch. The prince is danced by principals Karel Cruz, Batkhurel Bold and Seth Orza.

On dress rehearsal night, the cast was led by the talented duo Tisserand and Bold. (Local audiences may remember Bold’s recent appearance with the Edmonds-based Olympic Ballet Company.)

Pacific Northwest Ballet founder Kent Stowell is the choreographer of this version of “Swan Lake” and his critically acclaimed final act of the ballet (first performed in Seattle in 1981) is what makes the PNB production especially beautiful. Anyone who has lost love can relate.

And as ballerina Rausch says, the staging and the music makes one want to cry. And many audience members do.

Before the dress rehearsal last week, Rausch sat down to talk about the ballet with PNB coach Elaine Bauer, who early in her career danced “Swan Lake” opposite the legendary Rudolf Nureyev.

The women agreed that acting is a big part of the portrayal of Odette. And the emotions expressed must be felt by the people in the last row of the second balcony.

The character is portrayed in broad, easily recognizable body language in a tour de force exhibition of artistic strength.

Rausch demonstrated the evolution of the movement of Odette’s swan wings, from flapping to a rolling movement.

While choreography can be notated, passing it from generation to generation is primarily an oral tradition. Today, however, watching cataloged video plays a part in the dancers’ preparation for roles.

The company worked just 10 days in the studio and a week in the theater before opening night April 10, Rausch said.

The corps de ballet swans turn in perfect performances, as do all the leads and ensembles, especially the women who dance the pas de quatre.

“My goal with dancers is to give them the tools,” Bauer said. “Then I want them to crawl up inside their characters and make the roles their own.

“It takes 100 percent lower-body strength and 100 percent upper-body strength, so each dancer is giving 200 percent.”

And, that, my husband could see and appreciate.

Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427; gfiege@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @galefiege.

If you go

Evening performances of PNB’s “Swan Lake” are at 8 p.m. through Saturday, April 18. Matinees are at 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19. For ticket information, go to www.pnb.org or call the box office at 206-441-2424.