LAC

Jean-Christophe Maillot presents us his personal’s vision of Swan Lake.

Audiences often associate Swan Lake with its Act II, a stalwart of  the classical repertoire so powerfully identifiable by the whiteness of  its choreography accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s legendary score. Act II of  Swan Lake can be considered as one of the first abstract ballets. A  ballet to be contemplated without worrying about what is being said.

LAC by Jean-Christophe Maillot is another narrative ballet.  In Swan Lake, everything is obscure, complicated and rich in meaning…  Tchaikovsky himself came up with the idea of writing a symphonic ballet  about a human creature whose metamorphosis would make any love  impossible. The creation of the swan, from Greek, Nordic and Russian  legends, makes it a fascinating hybrid being from its very conception.

In collaboration with the writer Jean Rouaud, Jean-Christophe Maillot  revives the torments of a story connected to our nightmares. These  buried experiences are resurrected and combined against a Machiavellian,  family backdrop used to present a ballet of contrasts. The change from  animal into human being infuses the entire work and questions our own  nature. We believe that we differ from animals because of our ability to  make choices. But is this all we are capable of? Are we not after all  just as lost as this Prince? Jean-Christophe Maillot shows him faltering  between white and black, good and evil, innocence and eroticism.  Perhaps our humanity ultimately lies in this unsophisticated  insatiability that defines us from our first cry – We want everything!

Source: J.-C. Maillot

More information: www.balletsdemontecarlo.com/en