Boston Ballet’s ‘Swan Lake’ Review: A Magical Return to the Lake

Beautiful clarinet music filled the Citizens Opera House on opening night of Boston Ballet’s “Swan Lake,” welcoming patrons back to the story just three years after the ballet was last performed by the company. The ballet “Swan Lake” has an iconic history; the tale of the cursed Swan Queen, her lover Prince Siegfried, and the deception that led to their deaths was first performed at the Bolshoi Ballet in 1877 and emerged as a paragon of ballet in popular culture. Boston Ballet’s mission to “expand the relevance of ballet to the community” is realized through artistic director Mikko Nissinen’s restaging of the ballet, innovating from within to make the familiar experience something completely new.

When the curtain rises at the beginning of the ballet, audiences are brought into the Prologue set at The Lakeside. In this short scene, the character of Von Rothbart, danced by Boston Ballet principal dancer Lasha Khozashvili, descends upon a group of young people at the Lakeside, and audiences witness the beginning of the curse as Rothbart enchants a young girl, turning her into the Swan Queen, Odette (Viktorina Kapitonova). Nissinen’s addition of the Prologue is unique to Boston Ballet’s rendition, pushing beyond the boundaries of the classic ballet to provide story-enriching context for the ballet in a way that most “Swan Lake” productions do not.

Amid the muted earth tones and pastels of the corps de ballet’s costumes in Act I, Prince Siegfried — danced by Boston Ballet soloist Sangmin Lee — stands out in a detailed embroidered blue tunic at his coming-of-age party. The delicate details of the costumes match well with the precise technique exhibited by Lee and the rest of the corps de ballet. Each step is technically excellent, a mix of soft fluidity that foreshadows the swan choreography to come later in the ballet and celebratory energy that well conveys the jubilatory nature of the Prince’s party. The intricacy of each step is not chaotic, but instead highlights the high caliber of Boston Ballet’s dancers, allowing for a focus on the storytelling of the ballet as well.

Character building and storytelling plays a large part in the ballet, and the classical ballet pantomime used to express important plot details is smooth and natural, not overdone or dramatized. Audiences unfamiliar with the ballet can get a sense of the story without having to refer to their programs. The lighting also contributes to the movement of the plot as the ambience on the stage smoothly transitions from bright yellow afternoon tones to the purple-orange of evening or twilight.

Lee dances Siegfried as a young and regal character, excited to experience the world. In the final scenes of the first act, Lee performs a melancholy solo with fluidity and strength. Although on the stage by himself, he manages to fill each note of music with movement, expanding into space even with a static arabesque after landing a tour jeté. Lee dances beautifully throughout each scene, but maintains the same placid serenity in his character. The lack of dynamism makes it difficult to see the character of Prince Siegfreid as multidimensional.

Boston Ballet principal dancer Kapitonova, on the other hand, brings life to the character of Odette. When she enters the stage in Act 2, Kapitonova dances with uncannily creature-like épaulement and port de bras effortlessly convincing the audience that she is half bird, half woman. Each movement of her arms is reminiscent of wings, and the articulation of her fingers is evocative of the details of feathers. This attention to detail in the choreography extends to the 24 swans that make up the corps de ballet in the lake scenes. Each dancer is in sync both in their movement and in their acting — each melancholic but for the same reason, cursed to be half-swan, half-woman. At the end of the scene, Kapitonova dances the iconic Odette variation with a regal grace that matches that of Lee’s Siegfried.

Kapitonova’s regality as Odette almost bleeds into a maternal role, though — her portrayal of the Swan Queen as almost more mature than Siegfried makes it hard to believe that the two protagonists are falling in love at the lake.

Kapitonova’s ability to express maturity through her characters truly shines in the third act of the ballet — set at Prince Siegfried’s betrothal ball — when she appears in a sparkling black tutu as Odile, Von Rothbart’s daughter. Nissinen’s staging and costuming demonstrates the creative team’s meticulous attention to narrative symbolism. Right after Odile’s entrance with Von Rothbart, a quartet of Spanish dancers (Louise Hautefeuille, Sage Humphries, Tyson Ali Clark, and Henry Griffin) performs with one couple dressed in all black and the other in all white. Each couple dances identically and dramatically, the movements and the costumes working together to represent Prince Siegfried’s ensuing confusion between the human Odile and Odette.

Though the roles are danced by the same dancer, Kapitonova’s portrayals of Odette and Odile are distinct. In her act to trick Siegfried into thinking she is Odette, Kapitonova’s Odile feels more playful and confident — like a human pretending to be a swan — while her Odette distinctly maintains a maternal animal-like feel.

Although hidden by soft opening harp music evocative of ripples in a lake, the drama and propulsion of “Swan Lake” leads up to a majestic climax in the fourth act of the ballet. Boston Ballet’s “Swan Lake” stands out as the highlight of the performance season so far, with a production that exhibits an expert blend of music, choreography, and storytelling.

Mikko Nissenen’s “Swan Lake” is at Citizens Opera House until March 16.

—Staff writer Selorna A. Ackuayi can be reached at selorna.ackuayi@thecrimson.com.