Le Lac des Cygnes (acte I)

The 1st part makes use of abridged  choreographic vocabulary, taken in the third part, danced to the  extracts of a story for children.

The 2nd part consists of a marched, obsessive dance, with complex  itineraries that nurture (except when there is an acceleration, caused  by the music) a constant, minimal, unchanging atmosphere. This  atmosphere is only broken right at the very end, for a short moment  (presented as a succinct parody), copied from La Scala’s version of the Lake.

The 3rd part descends into the prison of the musical partition.
My version of the “story” of the Lake:
Prince Siegfried is already married to Aude, but he lives with Von  Rothbart. In any case Von Rothbart obtains the major pas de deux with  Aude and Siegfried is disconcerted. But it doesn’t matter very much.  They’ll all be dead at the end and the grant will arrive the week after.

At the end of the performance, there will be a debate, the dancers will answer questions from the public.

The original version of Swan Lac (Swan Lake 82) was  requested by the Official Committee of the Aix en Provence Celebrations  (director Ginette Escoffier) and performed its world premiere in this  town in July 1982.
Swan Lac then moved on to perform in Copenhagen, Lorient, New York, Avignon and Paris during the 1983/1984 season.

These performances were dedicated to the memory of Edwin Denby, poet  and greatest American dance critic, who passed away on 12 July 1983.

Source : Director’s statement, Andy de Groat