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HOW TO TELL A STORY

Swan Lake uses a number of different devices in telling its story and establishing its characters. Most obvious among these is the use of formal miming using the gesture language established by long usage in classical ballet. Long passages of dance are broken up using this device, and it serves to advance the action.

Telling a story through mime

For example, in Act I, the Princess-Mother enters and, through mime, tells her son to give up his merrymaking and join the others in the castle, for soon, six prospective brides will come and one must be selected by Siegfried as his bride.

Mother: I (right hand pointing toward the breast, hand open) ask (both hands clasped together, extended toward Siegfried) you (left hand extends toward Siegfried, hand open, palm up) this party (sweeping gestures right and left while looking toward guests) not (hands cross and recross one another at waist level, while shaking the head "no").

Tomorrow (three steps right, raising and lowering the right arm in an arc) six (count off on the fingers of the right hand 1-2-3-4-5, then rotate the hand and extend the index finger 6 [note how the rotation of the hand and the extension of the finger makes an Arabic numeral 6 in the air. This gesture may be the origin of the numeral]) beautiful women (the right hand, open, circles the face) come (both arms sweep from shoulder height, down and to the left). You (see above) promise (right hand extends almost straight up, two fingers pointing up) marry (right hand closed, point with index finger to ring finger of left hand, held at waist level, hand open)

(NOTE: this mime sentence is the most important in the ballet, being repeated in various forms by Odette, Siegfried, and Von Rothbart)

It is also a good thing to notice that this language was codified basically in 17th- and 18th-century France, so its sytax and grammar are in old-fashioned French. The main verb is usually at the end. A question inverts the order of the words, as:

Rothbart (in Act III, tricking the Prince into betraying Odette): You marry promise.Well? (open arms, palms up at chest level, leaning toward Siegfried)

In Act II, there is a long mime monologue for Odette that lays out why she is there, and the nature of her curse:

Odette: I Queen (right hand circles top of head outlining a crown) Swan (arms rise and fall in a ribbon-like port de bras, imitative of wings).

You see (point to one eye, then the other with index finger) lake (points to lake painted on backcloth).

Mother (make a cradle with both arms, as if holding a baby) wept (both hands traces tears running down cheeks)

Over there (takes a step in the direction of Von Rothbart's castle) evil man (both hands, fists clenched, raised high and shaken) me carried away (make a seizing gesture with both hands, and pull toward body).
(and)
I Queen Swan but (right hand extended up, index finger pointed, other fingers toward "listener")
one me loves (both hands open, pressed over heart)
one me promise marry
I Queen Swan not.

Siegfried: I Queen honor (bow from the waist)
I you love
I promise... (stepping forward, right hand with index and middle fingers extended)

Enter Von Rothbart

Rothbart: You here why? ...etc.

These mime sequences are not supposed to be intrusions into the dance structure, but their execution is supposed to be almost in the form of dance by themselves. This danced mime quality was lost for a long time, and recent restagings have sometimes sought to recapture this style of miming. We will
speak more of this matter in The Nutcracker, where mime is an integral part of the Act I choreography.

Telling a story through dance

Another means of conveying character and ideas about them comes from accent and emphasis in the dance vocabulary itself. For example, Odette's
distinctive "swan" port de bras is done softly, with an almost boneless look to the arms. Odile's port de bras is done more violently, emphasizing power and strength. Likewise, the Swan Queen's pas de bourree suivi (connected pas de bourrees - a long series of them done traveling) are delicate and gentle, while the impostor's are intense and hammer-like.

Margot Fonteyn used to have a device that she used in this line at the end of Act II when she bourreed toward the upstage left corner, beating her "wings";
then, as she reached about up left center, would transition to the "boneless" port de bras, tighten down on her bourrees and glide off into the up left wing at the same time the Queen Swan figure appeared, tracking along the backdrop. Everybody could see how it was done, but the house usually went wild!

Some parts of the story of Swan Lake are told through a device that's part step, part mime. For example, in the pas de deux in Act II (once danced with Benno as a friendly onlooker), Siegfried dips Odette low to the ground. This was a step-gesture for "kiss." Classical ballets were not realistic, and ordinary expressions of affection or passion were not choreographed.

It is further no accident of plot that the lovers obtain release from evil by drowning. The metaphor here is to baptism, and the newly-cleansed souls are seen in new form, ascending to blessed realms, sanctified by their sacrifice and the immersion in water.

The original ending, in which Odette chooses to die in human form and Siegfried chooses to die with her, was considered a happy ending by its original audience. Good had triumphed over evil. Odette had found someone who loved her enough to die for her, and that selfless love released the Swan-Maidens from their curse and destroyed Von Rothbart. The two lovers would be together in Paradise.

Read about some of the themes and social background for Swan Lake

or go back to Swan Lake