Matthew Bourne's 1995 version of Swan Lake removes the magic and sorcery from the original narrative. It is set in contemporary times and removes character names, focusing instead on universal themes of love, death, and the conflict between good and evil. Bourne gender-switches the swans from female to male to reinterpret the iconic music and choreography in new ways, exploring themes of power, aggression, and masculinity through the male swans' movement and costumes.

1. SWAN LAKE
Matthew Bourne
1995

2. Historical Overview of Swan
Lake
“Swan Lake has been re-staged, re-thought, re-choreographed,
punched, pulled, twisted and generally mangled over the last
one hundred years” (Brinson and Crisp, 1970, p.66)
1875- Score for Swan Lake commissioned and composed by
Tchaikovsky
1877- 1st Performance of Swan Lake by Wenzel (Julius) Reisinger,
Moscow- initially it was not well received
1894- Swan Lake revived by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa in
Russia (This is the standard version known today)
1995- Matthew Bourne’s version was created- UK

3. Where does the Story originate?

The scenario, initially in four acts, was fashioned from Russian folk tales and
tells the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer's
curse.

A collective of artists including Tchaikovsky developed the original plot

Previous works by Tchaikovsky influenced the Swan Lake narrative including
the ‘The Snow Maiden’ 1873 which had the same characters. ‘Lake of Swans’
and ‘Undina’ a 3 act opera created in 1869. All the works explore the love
between a mortal man and an immortal women.

The first performance of Swan Lake was by the Bolshoi Ballet in Russia

The Swans originally represented purity and innocence

Many Myths feature human beings disguised as swans or maidens turned into
swans

Over the last 100 years the focus has shifted from the Swans to the Prince and
every version ends in tragedy-love reunited only upon death

Swan Lake has been re-staged by every major Ballet company in the world
today

4. Central Themes to discuss
 Love
The different depictions of love, relationships between
characters, representation of desire, fantasy, escapism and
longing
 Death and immortality
Death & Immortality are central themes in romantic and classic
ballets. How are they conveyed in Bourne’s narrative?
 Good vs. Bad
Conflict and dichotomy of good vs. bad- between characters
and the inner battle with oneself. The traditional depiction
compared to Bourne’s updated version. Link to costume and
colour-light/dark binaries. What is the tragedy of the story?

5. 5 examples
 Using the constituent features give 5 examples of
how each theme is communicated
Love
Good vs Bad
Death and Immortality

6. Bourne’s treatment of the
narrative
 Bourne re-worked narrative using the original score as he
wanted to use the entire score for continuity and challenge
himself. He did not want his Swan Lake to feel disjointed.
 Removed the names/titles to give the production a more
universal feel-The Swan,The Queen and The Prince etc
 Developed the role and influence of the Queen
 Removed the evil sorcerer Rothbart and replaced him with the
private secretary-Bourne wanted to remove the magic
 Centered the narrative around the Prince and his search for love
 And most profoundly switched the gender of the swans from
female to male
 Using males enabled Bourne to reinterpret the music entirely as
previous scenes are so iconic that the music is lost to the dance
ie Act II Pas De Deux

7. Treatment of the Swans
 Bourne found the concept of dancer as swan
exciting-inspired by the abstract possibilities
 Bourne studied films, images and real Swans
to see how they moved and understand their
characteristics
 Most influenced by Alfred Hitchcock’s film
‘The Birds’ and how he created suspense
 Chose males instead of females to portray
the swans natural power, aggression and
violence
 Easier to create new choreography with the
sex change-male musculature lends itself well
to enormous wingspan.

8. Treatment of the Royal Family
 Bourne studied Royal Families over the last 150
years
 Exploration of Royal Protocol
 References to Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s
relationship-the Royal family disapproved of her
 Corgi’s are the Queen’s favourite dogs
 Relationship between Royalty and celebrity in today’s
culture.
 The Prince’s rebellious behaviour echoes common
teenager defiance
 Swans themselves appear very regal at times
 The use of body language and movement to depict
complex relationships between monarch and heir

9. Contemporary context
 In what ways has Bourne developed the
work for a current contemporary
audience?
Watch clips of the original work on
youtube to discuss

10. Style and Treatment
 Universal feel sets the work anywhere
between 1950’s and present day-think of
examples
 Use of multiple dance styles to tell story
including classical Ballet
 Adheres to classical structure of 4 actskeeping iconic scenes to the same sections of
score-The Palace, The lake etc
 Similarly to the classical version the dance
shifts between reality and fantasy
 Use of pastiche-celebrates rather than mocks
the work/artists it imitates- find examples
throughout….. think Elle Woods (Legally
Blonde) as the girlfriend.

11. Style and treatment
continued-Films & Pastiche
 Reference to films-The Queens wig is the same as
the bride in the horror film ‘Bride of Frankinstein’
 The relationship between the Prince and Mother
draws comparisons to MacMillians Ballet Mayerling
and Shakespeare's Hamlet
 Filmic style lighting references Hitchcock workcreation of tension and suspense
 Swans movement echoes formations seen in ‘The
Birds’ by Hitchcock
 In creating the seedy club atmosphere Bourne drew
upon images of notorious characters like the Kray
Twins, Mandy Rice-Davies, Christine Keeler, Blues
Brothers, and Barbara Windsor.
 Reference to real places like st James Park opposite
Buckingham Palace

12. Bourne’s creative process
 Bourne began by listening to the score and
devising a new narrative to follow it
 The characters were cast before movement
material was developed-Adam Cooper from
the Royal Ballet was cast as The Swan
 The costumes were designed at the same
time as casting
 Positions and poses from the 1st photo shoot
formed the basic swan motifs
 Material was created collaboratively through
improvisation and investigation of character
traits

13. Score-Pyotr llych Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)
 Powerful Russian classical composer
 Composed many Waltzes-Melodic
 Composed The Nutcracker, Swan Lake and
Sleeping Beauty
 He made Ballet music respectable
Give examples of the aural setting in Swan
Lake-The mood, power, atmosphere and
relationship to the characters.

14. Costume- Lez Brotherston
 Describe the costumes for the swans
 Why do you think Brotherston made this
choice for costume?

15. Costumes
 How do costumes contribute to the
dance work? Give examples

16. Essay questions
 How do choreographers use difference dance
styles to communicate ideas (20 marks)
 How is structure significant in dance works
(20 marks)
 Compare how choreographers use the
physical setting in dance (20 marks)
 Compare choreographers use of aural setting
to communicate meaning in dance (20 marks)