Cover Ye Feifei as the
Black Swan in
‘Swan Lake’ (Photo: courtesy of SW Kit and Hong Kong Ballet)
Ye Feifei as the Black Swan in ‘Swan Lake’ (Photo: courtesy of SW Kit and Hong Kong Ballet)
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A former Bolshoi principal dancer and the Hong Kong Ballet transform the romantic tragedy of ‘Swan Lake’ into a modern classic with new choreography and revamped storytelling
Swan Lake’s heart-wrenching love story of the swan queen Odette and Prince Siegfried, Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov’s beautiful choreography, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s iconic music have dazzled audiences around the world since its 1887 premiere at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre.
This year, Yuri Possokhov, a former principal dancer at the Bolshoi Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Royal Danish Ballet, and now the choreographer-in-residence of the San Francisco Ballet, will collaborate with the Hong Kong Ballet on a new interpretation of the classic, slated for its world premiere on May 31, 2024.
Tatler sat down for a chat over video with Possokhov and Septime Webre, the artistic director of the Hong Kong Ballet, to talk about their vision for this version of the all-time classic.
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Above Ye Feifei as the Swan Queen in
“Swan Lake” (Photo: courtesy of SW Kit and Hong Kong Ballet)
Ye Feifei as the Swan Queen in “Swan Lake” (Photo: courtesy of SW Kit and Hong Kong Ballet)
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How is this version different from the original?
Webre: Last time we danced Swan Lake, which was about four years ago—and I was proud of the dancing—the production was a generic Swan Lake. This time is a world premiere with classical, traditional elements retained but with new life breathed into it. So much of the ballet has been rechoreographed over and over.
Possokhov: Every choreographer has their own language. [But] we’re not trying to make something new; I don’t think we always have to invent, invent, invent. We’re making something that comes naturally from me and the company today. It’s a [dance] language that belongs to our time; maybe this language will help [the audience] to look at Swan Lake a little differently in terms of architecture and musicality. I hope the audience, especially the young generation, will find something [that speaks to them].
Yuri, how has your ballet language evolved?
Possokhov: There was a dancing part of my life at Moscow’s Bolshoi Ballet. [Since then,] I’ve worked with so many choreographers, teachers and schools. I mix and digest everything. San Francisco Ballet is such a unique company that has produced so many great contemporary ballets. For 20 years [there], I’ve been working with such great choreographers such as Mark Morris, James Kudelka and Christopher Wheeldon. They gave me the strength to start choreographing myself, which I hope to continue to [channel] in Hong Kong.
Above Yuri Possokhov (Photo: courtesy of Chris Hardy)
Above Septime Webre (Photo: courtesy of Hong Kong Ballet)
Yuri Possokhov (Photo: courtesy of Chris Hardy)
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Why Swan Lake? And how does it relate to a contemporary Hong Kong audience and the ballet world today?
Webre: We do a lot of repertoires that reflect Hong Kong culture. But there’s nothing particular about Hong Kong in this production. I think Swan Lake today, as imagined by the classical aesthetics now and some new ideas and freshness, is compelling because it’s universal and just so overtly beautiful. This is a great story of good versus evil, which continues to be important to us. Secondly, the marriage of dance and music cannot be overstated. The Tchaikovsky score is just transcendent. Thirdly, the ballet pushes the dancers to their limits in many ways. There are some novelties that were created for this ballet, like the signature 32 fouettés [turns] in the third act: the mere act of doing this elevates the human condition. It’s a metaphor for the audience’s best self, that you can be this amazing and there’s nothing conceited about that—it’s really about inspiration.
How did this collaboration come about?
Webre: I was looking for someone who might bring a fresh perspective to the scenes that need to be re-choreographed, and someone with a classical, probably Russian background, where the ballet was first created, someone who understood the source material inside and out. Someone who is strongly rooted in classicism, but also have today with something to say today. Yuri seems like the perfect match.
How does your understanding of the Hong Kong Ballet dancers’ personalities and techniques add to this collaboration?
Webre: We’re an international company with dancers from all around the world, as is the case in San Francisco. The Bolshoi is less international, more specifically Russian. So there are advantages to the international dancers bringing rich perspectives to the process. But with international dancers, who are trained all around the globe, that’s [also] a bigger challenge, which is to ensure that there’s a unified feeling based on Yuri’s ideas and the classical language we’ve inherited.
How is the Hong Kong Ballet playing a part in changing the narrative on representation of the Asian community in the traditionally Eurocentric ballet world?
Webre: In all the repertoire we do, we just cast the best dancer for the role, regardless of where they’re from. About 60 per cent of our dancers are from Greater China, and the rest are split between other parts of Asia, the west and Down Under.
Yuri, aside from the ballet, what’s the plan for your first visit to Hong Kong?
Possokhov [miming]: Food.
Webre: Food first. In addition, I’m super-proud of how vibrant the cultural life in Hong Kong has become; in particular, the top three relatively new experiences one can have are M+, the Palace Museum and Tai Kwun. And I hope Yuri gets to experience the natural beauty of Hong Kong too.
Zabrina is the Senior Editor, Arts and Culture of Tatler Hong Kong. She specialises in performing arts, visual art and film. Her wanderlust was first fuelled by the Mighty Rovers Antarctica Expedition 2010. Over the years, she has interviewed A-list artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winners Chlóe Zhao and Tim Yip, Golden Horse winner Sylvia Chang, In the Mood for Love cinematographer Christopher Doyle, Pachinko author Min Jin Lee, and Coachella’s first Chinese solo singer Jackson Wang. She won gold at the WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards for her 2021 feature on the waves of hate crimes targeting Asian Americans.
