Ballet: April 2008 Archives
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By Rudy Land on April 10, 2008
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Tomorrow I am going to NYC to watch Uliana Lopatkina dance The Dying Swan, one of the most challenging ballet solos not only for its technical demands, but because it requires immense emotional fortitude.
Originally choreographed by Fokine for the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, The Dying Swan captures the last moments of the fragile creature in beautiful agony before its death. A ballerina who dances this role is challenged not only to portray the frailty of dying, but to display defiance in the face of impending death, to struggle to the last breath, gracefully. Dancing this piece is one of the defining moments of a ballerina's career - like Swan Lake, The Dying Swan is a piece with which a ballerina's virtuosity is judged.
Originally choreographed by Fokine for the great Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, The Dying Swan captures the last moments of the fragile creature in beautiful agony before its death. A ballerina who dances this role is challenged not only to portray the frailty of dying, but to display defiance in the face of impending death, to struggle to the last breath, gracefully. Dancing this piece is one of the defining moments of a ballerina's career - like Swan Lake, The Dying Swan is a piece with which a ballerina's virtuosity is judged.
Continue reading The Dying Swan.
