To Swan or Not To Swan.

What would ballet be without swans? Ballerinas dressed in swan tutus inhabit every young girls (and some boys) dreams. They populate music boxes. They are featured in scandalous movies that cause the general public to ask, "Is that what ballet is really like?" To try to extricate one from the other, is to swim against the strongest current in what is part of the societal zeitgeist. 

Arguably the most famous part composition to come out of Carnival of the Animals is The Swan. Whene Saint Saens wrote it, he did not have a tragic end in mind for our lovely feathered friend. He simply wrote a 3 minute piece of music that sounded like a swan drifting across the water. We can thank Pavlova and Fokine for later using the music to create the miniature ballet that captures audiences imaginations.

To be clear, "The Dying Swan" is a complete piece unto itself. It captures the last moments of life of a being , tragically cut short. Indeed, when Pavlova performed it, she had a dark spot on her chest to symbolize where the hunter's arrow had pierced her heart. Nowadays. ballerinas perform the piece as a sort of smooth. one level salute to lyricism and beautiful lines. Pavlova's swan was a desperate creature alternating between hanging on to life and resignation. 

In trying to help Jessica find her "swan", it was important to also note that the swan in the piece is a metaphor for a soul, not just a bird, and more importantly, not a Queen. There are so many similarities in the part to that other ballet swan (Odette form Swan Lake), that it is easy to try to use her as a starting off point. And that is a big mistake. To do that would make the dancer feel as if she is just doing a solo that could have been dropped in a 3 act ballet.

So we begin by starting from scratch and asking "Does the behind the almost liquid, behind the back port de bras and the slightly arched back of the Swan Queen tell the story of this poor soul who is asking for just a few more moments of life? Or do we start with something simpler, in front of the body, with a less rigid upper body?" 

And that is Step One..