After picking up a few tutus from the Theater Basel’s collection it was far too tempting not to slip into them myself:

The last post was written over two weeks ago — the reasons for the long silence are two: Easter, which I spent without internet access in Prague and then my own laziness over the past few days. Be that as it may, there is plenty of reporting to be done:

I was trying to get student seats in the sold-out Swan Lake performances in the Zurich Opera House. While I was unable to get any tickets for the March performances, I am not giving up yet. And because Lady Luck apparently wasn’t in good spirits over easter either, I also missed out on the Prague State Opera’s production, for they weren’t performing Swan Lake till easter Monday, by then I was back in Basel.

I did, however, finally get around watching the DVD of the 2006 Swan Lake production of the Mariinsky Ballet while I was in Prague. I am glad I did so with my mother and grandmother, for they got around to reminiscing about the time when Joëlle Mazet, a French ballerina, stayed with them in the late sixties and how my grandmother became good friends with Stanislaw Szymanski, an excellent Polish dancer, through a translating gig.

Ballet pictures from my grandmother’s bookshelf: A postcard from Belgium on the left and a signed photograph of Stanislaw Szymanski

Also while in Prague, I coincidentally stumbled upon an article about the accomplished Czech prima ballerina Marta Dottnerova in the newspaper Dnes. Serendipitously, the photograph the paper chose for the article shows the dancer getting ready for her role as Odette in a 1975 production of Swan Lake.

Dnes, 6 March 2008 p. B6

To fully surround myself with, even immerse in, ballet was my goal as part of the preparations to this project. I am happy to report that I am dutifully succeeding:

Last Wednesday (Feb 27) I attended the Swan Lake Talk Party at Bergli Bookshop – to which Richard Wherlock, Ballet Director at the Theater Basel, was invited to speak but had to cancel due to illness. In his place Catherine Brunet, the Company Manager, hosted the discussion. She answered my question, why so many ballet photographers were ex-dancers, with the obvious reasoning that it was their innate timing as dancers which helped them press the release button at the right time. Though not completely satisfactory to me – as I am not interested in the mere documenting of dance in my project, but more so in a staging especially for photography – her response was logical and appreciated. Ms Brunet, while almost immediately dismissing the possibility of incorporating dancers of the Ballet Basel in my project, kindly offered me her business card and provided me with contacts within the Basel independent ballet scene.

Tonight (Moday, March 3) I went to see A Swan Lake at the Theater Basel. With a seat in the very last row up in the gallery I was able to overlook the stage well, but had little chance to really get drawn into the piece and no way of recognizing any mimics. I would also like to point out at this time that I am in no way a ballet connaisseur and that all following remarks are strictly my humble opinion as a layman.
I did appreciate the new take on the very traditional piece – I specially enjoyed the addition of the scene where the princess’ mother’s ghost appears to her, helping her lost daughter grow into a woman and bestowing on her the secret to the reversal of the counselor’s evil spell which transformed the brothers into swans. Also of note is the reoccurring swan-pose which I am assuming Richard Wherlock created, where the dancers crouch down with their knees apart and one arm extended over their heads with the hand formed into a beak.

Photo by Ismael Lorenzo, Theater Basel

Overall, sadly, I was disappointed in the dancers’ performance, for there were numerous evident timing and synchronization issues. But there were exceptions to be pointed out; Ayako Nakano for example danced wonderfully in the role of Rothbart’s daugher, Manuel Renard delivered an athletic portrayal of Rothbart and one of the brothers, danced by Roderick George (?), managed to bring comical relief and his naturally friendly and compassionate mimics shone all the way to the very last ranks of the theater.