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4. THE CHARACTERS IN BOURNE’S SWAN LAKESWANSThe replacement of the female corps de ballet in tutus withthe bare-chested, feathery legged, smudged black-facedmen, almost tribal in appearance, is the most obvious ofdifferences in this piece and for many the characters of theSwans are the most memorable aspect of the production.Bourne felt that the musculature, strength and poise ofa male dancer reflected more of the swans’ feral, roughnature than the delicate, fragile frame of a female ballerina.The traditional interpretation of Swan Lake focuses onthe elegance of a swan as it glides passively along thewater, the beauty and haughtiness of its long neck andthe romanticism that surrounds the creatures that havethe same partner for life. More often than not the elegantbeauty hides the truths that are forgotten about thesecreatures. Swans can be rather ungainly when away fromwater and very sinister, they are highly protective andconsequently aggressive; in fact there have been manystories of people with broken arms after a swan attack.Bourne wanted to combine all these qualities as well asbringing out the lyrical and emotional side of male dancingthat was rarely seen before. Bourne’s research includedstudying images and films of the creatures, reading aboutthem and observing them in their natural habitat.The Swans still act as a corps de ballet in that theyrepresent a group of swans but within the group there isindividuality as seen in the Big Swans and Cygnets withinAct Two: A City Park. In the ballet tradition a corps deballet would focus on uniformity, Bourne states that helikes individuality within performers, including physique,height and a dancer’s own style.Photo by Lucy CullenACTIVITYUsing either the motif description in Worksheet A:Exercise 5 and after watching the Big Swans sectionwithin Act Two: A City Park, either teach a motif,an extended section of dance vocabulary or get thestudents to recreate or capture the essence of someof the movements used by the Big Swans. Studentscan draw on the powerful qualities that are outlinedin the character description above. The Worksheetcan be used for the students to read danceterminology used within Bourne’s choreography andthen write their own version using dance vocabulary,with a focus on the action, space and dynamics ofwhat they have learnt or created.THE SWAN/STRANGERHere we meet the Odette/Odile character fromTchaikovsky’s original story. Yet there is no enchantedspell on a beautiful princess involved in this production.The Swan in Bourne’s version is a creature of the Prince’simagination. He is strong, beautiful, masculine, lyricaland sensual but also wild, dangerous and territorial;the leader of the Swan flock. To the Prince, the Swanrepresents the freedom and spontaneity that he wishesfor. It controls the Prince’s destiny and therefore inspiresthe Prince’s greatest fears and most secret desires.When commenting on the creation of the Swan, Bournehighlights a number of key points that allowed him tobring this creature to life. One way they tackled thedifference of being the Swan in Act One and a manin Act Three was to stop all facial expressions. Facialexpressions are a very human trait, stopping themcreates a blank canvas. It strips away the human andleaves the animal. The eyes and the movement is theonly way that the performer communicates withthe Prince.Another building block that Bourne added wasintroduced when faced with the famous and popularduets from the original ballet. Danced by PrinceSiegfried and his beautiful Odette in the original, Bournefaced the challenge of creating a duet for a man andMATTHEW BOURNE’S SWAN LAKE RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS 8