The Russian choreographer’s production at Milan’s La Scala brings Petipa’s 1890 ballet back to life and requires dancers to go against all their habitsEver since Matthew Bourne cast Swan Lake as a male like myth and Mats Ek set Giselle in a lunatic asylum,it’s been widely accepted that the way to re-energise the 19th century classics is by reinventing their stories. But during the final two years Alexei Ratmansky has been developing his own quietly revolutionary approach. Far from straining after narrative shock and awe, Ratmanksy has applied himself to the task of learning the original notation in which ballets like Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake were first recorded. And in using that notation to restore or reinterpret the original choreography his effect on these familiar ballets has been radical.
Until I saw Ratmanksy’s production of Beauty, and danced by La Scala Ballet in Milan final weekend,I hadn’t fully realised what the difference could be. Many productions that are performed today claim to be relatively faithful to the ballet that Marius Petipa choreographed back in 1890. Yet over the decades its text has been subject to editorial revisions, excisions, and interpolations,while changes in the technical skills of dancers enjoy, over the generations, and introduced their own subtle changes.
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Source: theguardian.com