Review: Royal New Zealand Ballet dusts off Swan Lake with decadent new show

Mayu Tanigaito and Laurynas Vejalis, as lovers Odette and Siegfried, star in RNZB's 2024 restaging of Swan Lake. Photo / Stephen A'Court

The Royal New Zealand Ballet turns to tradition for an ornate restaging of this classic, the first time it’s performed Swan Lake in over a decade. From opulent art direction to the pretty packed house, Emma Gleason reports from opening night.

It’s the coldest night of the year in Auckland so far and everyone’s bundled up and on their way to the Kiri Te Kanawa Theatre. Some people are dressed for a fancy evening – it is opening night after all, as the Royal New Zealand Ballet lifts the curtain on its new season of Swan Lake – while others are dressed for warmth (a forecast “polar blast” predicated a drop to 3C) with sweaters, down jackets and scarves. Lots of good scarves.

There are no dress codes for the ballet – I checked – but I spy both a tuxedo and a tutu in the crowd. They’re two different generations of guests. Both are well represented in the crowd, as well as everyone who falls in between.

Lots of mother-and-child duos, family outings, some solo attendees. It’s always interesting seeing who goes to these things. RNZB artistic director Ty King-Wall calls ballet a “generational art form”. There’s a young girl clutching a red booster cushion, another in the line is “so excited”.

Do you need to be an expert or aficionado to appreciate the ballet? Not necessarily. That’s the beauty of Swan Lake.

Much like a dying swan, it was originally a flop. But, since premiering at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in 1877, it’s ascended to be one of the most well-known and beloved ballets, and a cultural touchstone – Tchaikovsky’s score has backdropped everything from the fall of the Soviet Union to Sesame Street.

There are swans – though really they’re maidens cursed with transmogrification – a conniving sorcerer, a tragic romance, and, like all good stories an interloper.

Laurynas Vejalis and Mayu Tanigaito as Siegfried and Odette in RNZB's new Swan Lake. Photo / Stephen A'Court

That’s the CliffsNotes version anyway, one I relayed to my date beforehand; this was my partner’s first experience of the ballet, so groundwork was needed before seeing opening night.

And that we do. At 7.30pm it’s curtains up, following the housekeeping reminder about no photos or videos (a dictate that’s refreshingly démodé in our over-documented, content-driven age) and dancers take the stage. Tradition is the order of the day.

Auckland Philharmonia launch into Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s famous score; conducted by Hamish McKeich, the orchestra is a highlight of the night and in fine form. The show opens to beautiful painterly sets (there was at least one audible gasp in our section) with layer upon layer of trees and monumental buildings in the classic theatre-set style. It’s our first taste of the late Kristian Fredrikson’s creative vision, which is reinforced through the show with the sets and costumes.

Shaun James Kelly provides comic relief as the court jester in RNZB's 2024 revival of Swan Lake. Photo / Stephen A'Court

We meet the villagers and Prince Siegfried (Laurynas Vėjalis); court jester Dane Head’s lengthy pirouette earns the first big applause of the night (he also gets a big one at the end).

As Swan Lake’s famous story plays out across its four acts, the dastardly sorcerer Rothbart (a malevolently good Branden Reiners) swaggers across the stage, and the soldiered swans perform their famous choreography. Their repetition and uniformity is affecting – all that pitter patter of feet, graceful arms and birdlike mannerisms – and the final tableau, lit with the red light of dawn, was quite breathtaking. Also affecting is Mayu Tanigaito, who plays the dual roles of Odette and Odile with aplomb.

Mayu Tanigaito takes on the roles of Odette and Odile in RNZB's new staging of Swan Lake. Photo / Stephen A'Court

Leaving the swans and their lake, the third act transports the audience to the lavish court­, and by the fourth – there are two intermissions, although the second does feel a little unnecessary with the pacing – we’re back in the forest for the climactic act.

The flock of swans includes dancers Ana Gallardo Lobaina, Kirby Selchow, Catarina Estévez Collins, Cadence Barrack, Monet Galea-Hewitt and Rose Xu, rounded out by the rest of the corps de ballet, who also take the roles of peasants and courtiers.

The titular swans of Tchaikovsky's classic ballet, revived by RNZB for 2024. Photo / Stephen A'Court

The dancers’ physicality and mastery are mesmerising, and even someone with a layman’s knowledge of the vocation can appreciate the strength and control required. Principals and soloists earn applause throughout the show, as do the corps de ballet and the students from the New Zealand School of Dance.

Staged by Turid Revfeim, the choreography is by the late arts laureate Russell Kerr – after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, who premiered theirs in 1895 – reviving what’s arguably the world’s most famous ballet is a big responsibility.

RNZB hasn’t performed this version of Swan Lake since 2013 (though there was a stripped-back, post-classical version in 2019). Kerr died in 2022, and the 2024 programme honours his legacy – so reviving this show must have been an emotional experience for Ty King-Wall, Turid Revfeim and everyone involved.

First seen on stage in 1996 years ago, it’s a rare ballet to still be performed in its original production. The 2024 cast were rehearsing for around six weeks.

The duality of Odette and Odile loom large in public imagination, and the enduring fairy tale retains appeal to modern palates.

Laurynas Vejalis and Mayu Tanigaito as Siegfried and Odile in RNZB's new staging of Swan Lake. Photo / Stephen A'Court

Between the opulent outfitting and the artful sets, the effect is quite baroque. A mélange of period and geographic references, you can’t pinpoint a specific time or place, which adds to the fantasy of the show.

Notably traditional are the costumes. From the ballet’s archive and designed by the late Kristian Fredrikson, they’re an execution of fantasy that, in this 2024 revival and broader context, presents a vision of fantasy and escapism – things many people go to the ballet seeking.

And what a show; the velvet and gold trim of the elaborate court attire, heavy velvet gowns and Byzantine-like headwear; Rothbart’s brilliantly sinister mask and, during a plot-pivoting appearance at court, a magnificent silver coat. The folkloric costumes of the villagers are a highlight, too, and the layers of skirts and aprons are effective costuming. So too are the swans’ tutus, with all that feathery tulle quivering with every movement.

Branden Reiners as Rothbart in RNZB's Swan Lake. Photo / Stephen A'Court

In March RNZB put out a call for donations to help it repair its Swan Lake costumes, now almost 30 years old. There are 110 costumes in the ballet, made up of more than 450 individual pieces, and after national tours in 1996, 2002, 2007 and 2013, the garments needed TLC.

The money from its appeal meant Fredrikson’s decades-old costumes could be restored or recreated – an experience that RNZB executive director Tobias Perkins describes as inspiring and humbling. Repaired, handwashed and resized by RNZB head of costume Donna Jefferis and her team, they were all on stage last night.

It’s a classic ballet and the costuming is too, something I discuss with the attendee seated to my left. She’d been to many ballets over the years, and noticed the stylistic shifts to contemporary minimalism and back again. Also a regular was the guest on our right, who looked to be around 10 years old and said she’d been to several already.

Classic ballet Swan Lake has been revived by RNZB for 2024. Photo / Stephen A'Court

As Ty King-Wall said, ballet is “generational”.

Like many women of my demographic and background, I’ve romanticised the vocation since childhood – a real-life foray ended swiftly with expulsion from the class – and ballet has returned to the zeitgeist recently. There’s a renewed interest with fashion (younger generations have dubbed it ballet core, but it’s really leotards and cardigans and those Miu Miu flats) and we should also put a pin in Luca Guadagnino’s 2018 remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria (1977), TikTok’s many transfixing videos of dancers breaking in their toe shoes, and the enduring aesthetics of Black Swan (2010).

The latter was smartly noted in the RNZB programme and, by returning to the lake, it’s clear the company understands the need to play to an audience and be commercial. (Beyond the revenue from ticket sales, its core funder is the Ministry for Culture and Heritage, alongside other foundations and partners like Avis and Ryman Healthcare).

From the looks of the crowd at opening night, Swan Lake has struck a chord with audiences young and old. Everyone wants some fantasy.

The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s 2024 season of Swan Lake is on from May 1 to June 2, in Auckland, Napier, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill. For information and tickets go to rnzb.org.nz.

Emma Gleason is the New Zealand Herald’s lifestyle and entertainment deputy editor (audience). Based in Auckland, she covers entertainment, fashion and culture, and recently caught up with comedian Alice Sneddon and Tuareg band Tinariwen - all performing this month - visited an exhibition that excavates Kiwi style, and unpicked a new report on New Zealand’s fashion industry.