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2. THE PLOT OF SWAN LAKEMuch of Bourne’s dance works areplot and narrative driven. He has apassion for developing characters andthen choreographically exploring theintricacies of how the characters relate toeach other.Although Bourne has a keen interest in traditional ballets,as seen within other choreographic works, he has afascination for making the narratives more contemporary,both in terms of dance vocabulary and content as well asmaking them more relevant to new audiences.This is the case with Swan Lake. Below is a brief outlineof the original Swan Lake narrative as choreographed byMarius Petipa to the Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky musical score.PETIPA AND TCHAIKOVSKY’S PLOTThe original story tells of a prince named Siegfried anda princess named Odette. Odette is kidnapped by theevil sorcerer Von Rothbart, who turns her into a swan byday but allows her to return to her human form as nightfalls. The curse will be broken however when someonesacrifices their life for the Swan Princess or if a princedeclares eternal fidelity to her. It is on one night thatPrince Siegried, out hunting sees the beautiful Odettedancing in the moonlight by the lake and immediatelyfalls in love with her.Von Rothbart is furious and threatens to kill Siegfried butalthough this would free her from her curse, Odette stopshim. Seeing that a sacrifice will not work Von Rothbartdecides to trick the Prince into declaring his eternal loveto someone else. He takes his own daughter Odile intothe court and makes her look identical to Odette. ThePrince dances with her and proclaims to the court thathe wants to make her his wife. At that moment the realOdette appears outside the window and Prince Siegfried,realising his terrible mistake flees the castle to followOdette. She disappears into the lake and he pursues herthere. Unable to be wed in life, they are united in death.Von Rothbart’s power and his castle fall and the swanmaidens are set free and become human again.BOURNE’S PLOTBourne’s Swan Lake is a diverse work usingchorographic techniques taken from contemporarydance, ballet, social dance and mime. His emphasisis on the narrative as opposed to the dance itself. Hisreferences are many and varied, from the Royal family,characters from different 19th and 20th Century eras,to popular culture and films. Although the key narrativefocuses on the Prince’s life and his inability to fit intothe confines of the Royal family and his search foraffection and wanting to be needed, the piece is opento an individual interpretation and imagination givingthe audience a sense of being involved in the storyunfolding before them.Bourne’s Swan Lake was created in 1995 when the BritishRoyal family were in the spotlight. Obvious nods to thiscan be seen in the use of corgis, well known for beingthe Royal family’s favourite pet. However, it is certainlynot exclusively about the British Royal family. BourneJonathan Oliver. Production photo by Bill CooperMATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS 4