Theatre
'J‘!‘
Bird games
ANY DANCER CAN REPRESENT ANY CHARACTER
The minds behind BIRDBRAIN, a reworking of Swan Lake, tell Kelly Apter why school uniforms and techno music are replacing tutus and the classical score.
atthew Bourne used male swans. Jan l‘ahre strapped a liye owl to a man‘s head. and now .'\ustralian Dance Theatre l:\l)'l‘l has transl'ormed the ballet into a .llulri.\‘-style romp. Sim/i lat/w has certainly seen some changes oyer the past decade. The tale of. a disillusioned young prince who finds solace in a cursed princess has inspired many chiireographcrs. and (iarry Stewart is no exception. ‘lt's something that I‘ve wanted to do since I first started choreographing.‘ explains .»\l)'l”s artistic director. 'But I wasn’t interested in reinterpreting it. or simply contemporising the narratiye. i wanted to explore why Swan Lake holds the position it does in classical canon classics. And to undercut. with a
sense of irony. the traditional representation of
gender. hierarchy and pow'er.’ So out went 'l‘chaikoysky‘s legendary score. grandiose costumes and lakeside sets and in came BTI'r/hl'tlht. Set to a throbbing electronic score. the dance action moyes at breakneck speed. with school uniforms and T-shirts replacing the starched white tuttis. The traditional roles Prince. King. Queen. ()dette and her dark adyersary ()dile — haye also undergone a radical change.
'I took all the characters and turned them into words on 'l'-shirts. so that any dancer can represent any character] explains Stewart. '.-\nd the emotions experienced in the ballet are also reduced down to single words or phrases. such as “peasant joy". “royal disdain" or “more pointless reyelry“.‘ But it‘s not just the design that sets Stewart‘s production apart. Hax ing tired of the constraints of classical ballet and contemporary dance seyeral years ago. Stewart began spicing up his choreography with new moyement styles.
92 THE LIST ‘ ‘ Lets-3 \‘J.’
'I started fusing elements of hreakdance. gymnastics. martial arts and capoeira because I was more excited about those l‘orms than conycntional dance.~ says Stewart. "l'here‘s something really extreme and inyentiye about them. and with
hreakdance in particular there‘s a real sense of
humour.‘ Such a fusion has allowed Stewart to incorporate dynamic moy‘cs which ha\c revolutionised the company‘s entire ethos.
Formed in l‘)(i5. :\l)'l’ is currently celebrating 40 years of dance diycrsity. Prior to Stew art. the company has been led by ex-dancers from Ramhert. Nederlands Dans Theater and l’ina Bausch. But Stewart has taken ADT in a more physical direction and picked up some new tans along the way. 'My interest in electronic mUsic. contemporary design. lilm and Video has attracted a lot of young people.‘ says Stewart. ‘When I lirst arriyed at .>\l)'l‘. it was a hit of a culture shock for the company‘s traditional audience. but they'ye now come back into the fold
and in the meantime w'e‘ye also accrued a younger
crowd.‘
.-\ IZ-week liuropean tour has yielded capacity audiences. with their ['K dates set to do the same. It would seem Birrl/H'uiii's mix of deconstruction and deference has made this particular reworking well worth a look. ‘l‘m paying homage to Swan Lake Bin/brain isn‘t simply a parody.‘ assures Stewart. ‘liyen though there‘s a sense of irony coursing through it. this isn't just a case of poking fun at a stodgy old classic. There's a degree of reyerence to the work.~
Macrobert, Stirling, Fri 18 Feb; Theatre Royal, Glasgow, 22 & 23 Mar
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