Swan Lake

My computer has been on a visit to the Apple spa getting its parts replaced, but it's back now (hurrah!) so I'm back to posting.

So, for a couple years now I have been going around telling people that the only version of Swan Lake I had seen was the Matthew Arnold one. And then Wendy would sigh, and nicely say, "Bourne, Meghan, Matthew Bourne." Why I constantly get the choreographer of the gay Swan Lake confused with the British poet who wrote Dover Beach I cannot begin to explain. But I do. Every single time. Beyond the fact that they're both British, and have the same--quite common--first name, I'm not sure what I think they have in common. So I should perhaps be relieved that I have now seen another version of the ballet.

Kir and I went up to see the ballet on Tuesday. I didn't like this one as much as Romeo & Juliet although I certainly like the music better. Apparently this is a shortened version put together some time ago and the parts cut were what I thought were the most enjoyable bits--the big group dances with all the swans. Oh well. The woman dancing the parts of Odette/Odile was the same dancer we saw as Juliet in Romeo & Juliet and it certainly seems to me that she's quite wonderful. Marcelo Gomes was Prince Siegfried. I didn't like him as much as I liked Corella as Romeo. But I think perhaps that has more to do with acting than dancing? Or with style? I can't tell if one dancer is better than the other as they all just seem very impressive to me. Maybe eventually, when I've seen more, I'll be able to judge such things.