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January 12, 2006
Swan Lake
If you ever have the chance to see Wendy Whelan dance a ballet, please take it. We saw Swan Lake (NYT Review, photo, NYCB schedule) on Tuesday and she was breathtaking as Odette. She was extremely swan-like, floating over the stage with smooth, fluttering arms and perfect form. The scenes with a stage-full of swans are also mesmerizing -- the dancers weave in and out of formation, moving together and then gracefully breaking off to form undulating patterns and sad nocturnal dances (the story involves an evil sorcerer who turns women to swans --they become human again at night and dance in the woods). Derek was also very taken with Tschaikovsky's score. It shifts quite a bit between upbeat, fast tempos and slower music (there's a harp to accompany the swans), and seems to have inspired a great many movies scores (Harry Potter most recently, perhaps).
Posted by csageday at January 12, 2006 09:57 PM