Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" naturally centers on the swans, those women in white tutus, and the lead swan, Odette. But what is Odette without a Prince Siegfried to partner her through love and heartbreak?
This year, three new Princes take to the stage at Pacific Northwest Ballet, each with a different Odette/Odile. These three young men have to make Siegfried as real and as important to the audience as the swan on his arm.
Principal dancer Casey Herd partners principal dancer Carla Körbes, principal dancer Le Yin partners principal dancer Noelani Pantastico, and corps member Lucien Postlewaite partners principal dancer Kaori Nakamura.
Last week, the new Siegfrieds stole a half-hour from a hectic rehearsal schedule to discuss what it means to be the Prince in a four-act story ballet.
For all of them, Siegfried's character is set by his first appearance in Act I, when his royal and rather demanding mother tells him that he must marry one of the visiting princesses coming to the ball. The Prince, distracted by a flight of swans overhead, dismisses the potential brides and decides to go hunting in the forest.
"He is a very sheltered character, and it is a huge step for him to be defiant in Act I," said Postlewaite.
"He is just trapped," agreed Yin. "He is trying to find his own way out, but he is very naïve and he makes mistakes."
"It really seems like the whole ballet is a learning process for him," Herd observed. "At first he's just a boy who wants to remain a boy. The idea of getting married is a bit beyond him, but then he meets someone that he can love."
In Act II, Siegfried sees the lovely Odette change from a swan to a woman. He learns that she is under an enchantment that can be broken only by a man being faithful to her. Naturally, the idealistic Prince immediately declares himself as that faithful lover.
"Noe [Pantastico] makes my job very easy," said Yin. "I think acting with your partner is how you digest your character. I find the continuity of the story can be the hardest thing to keep presenting to the audience. You have to have something of your own to put out there, to make the audience see you as the character and not just as a dancer."
Working with Pantastico, Yin found that continuity of character through her reactions to him in each scene. Postlewaite talked about the "chills" that he gets from watching Nakamura make her Act III entrance and how he turned that into the emotion propelling his dance. For Herd and Körbes, the only couple in which both partners are completely new to the roles, the rehearsal process has been a joint voyage of discovery in how they want to build the characters of their Prince and Odette/Odile.
At the end of Act II the Prince invites the lovely Odette to the ball, where he can declare her his bride. She agrees, but the evil sorcerer substitutes his daughter Odile (often called the black swan and danced by same dancer). Odile arrives at the castle, enchants the Prince (who thinks she is Odette) and wins his pledge of love, so that poor Odette is doomed to become a swan forever.
This Act III scene is particularly beloved by balletomanes for Odette's 32 fouttés, a spinning turn performed by the ballerina. It is a moment when all three men admit that they are glad to stand back and watch. It is one chance to catch their breath.
"You watch her spin and try not to get dizzy," joked Herd.
"Of course, those 32 fouttés create lot of pressure on Odile because everyone is watching," said Postle-waite, "but for us, [the whole ballet] is mainly steps that we do all the time in our regular repertoire, but it's just lengthened."
"Of all the full-length ballets that I've done, this is definitely one of the hardest, if not the hardest," said Herd. "The others that I have done didn't have the grande pas de deux followed by variations. There were a pas de deux and dancing, but all separated by the story."
"The third act is the hardest," Yin noted. "We have to do all these lifts, and then we have to do a variation."
"Also," Postlewaite added, "everything has to be so seamless, especially in Act II and IV, and you have to have her, no pun intended, on point throughout. And that level of refinement is something that takes work. It is something that you build up to through the rehearsal process."
"That kind of softness and fluidity took me a little by surprise," admitted Herd. "When I rehearsed the white swan pas de deux for the Gala [in September], it was pretty simple steps. But to make it fluid and seamless, that was what was hard. Any little jerks are magnified."
Herd also commented that the black swan pas de deux in the third act is one of the most physically challenging.
"You can let it fly. But then you have to bring the emotion back down for Act IV," he said.
In that final Act, the Prince and Odile are reunited for one last pas de deux, a poignant farewell.
"And by then, your arms are tired, your legs are tired," said Postlewaite. "So acting that you're dying of grief is pretty easy, because you literally are dying."
However, all those swan maidens, constantly passing by in Acts II and IV, do create a welcome breeze to a hot and tired Prince.
"Kaori and I were standing off on the side, giving notes to each other after a rehearsal, and they were redoing that figure eight. And we were like 'Can you keep running?' Because the breeze felt great," said Postlewaite.
The other "Swan Lake" couples are principal dancers Louise Nadeau and Jeffrey Stanton, who open the ballet on Feb. 1, and principal dancers Patricia Barker and Stanko Milov.
The PNB Box Office reports that tickets for this full-length story ballet are selling briskly, so calling early is a good idea. Complete casting for the first week of performances and other information on the ballet can be found at www.pnb.org or by calling the PNB Box Office, 441-2424.
'Swan Lake'
Pacific Northwest Ballet
McCaw Hall, Feb. 1-11
Tickets: $18-$145
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