Swan Lakes
Gauthier Dance

We all know the images: a moonlit lake, the dance of the little swans, Prince Siegfried torn between his love for the white swan Odette and the seduction of Odile, the black swan, manipulated by an evil sorcerer. Countless readings have been made about that imaginary world of “Swan Lake”. Eric Gauthier, director of Gauthier Dance, the dance company of the Theaterhaus Stuttgart, wanted to create new versions and for this he called in some of the best current choreographers. This is how these works by Hofesh Shechter, Cayetano Soto and Marco Goecke arose, a triptych of “Swan Lakes”, with stylistically divergent choreographies, which are based on already known history. There are no white swans here, nor tutus. The works take specific aspects of the original ballet and then develop their own style.

Hofesh Shechter, a politically engaged Israeli choreographer and composer, does a dark version, with eight dancers on stage the whole time, dancing together, as if in a trance. It's kind of a dark swan party. The dancers twist, turn, crawl, lavishing here and there a few nods to the original ballet, even in some passage of the music, composed by Shechter himself.

The Spaniard Cayetano Soto makes visible the magical moment of transformations: from human to animal, from woman to swan. Soto's dancers do not look like swans, but they allow us to imagine what happens on the gloomy nights on the shores of the lake. The atmosphere is complemented by the specially prepared score by the young English composer Peter Gregson. A digital clock at the top of the stage marks the countdown to the second in which the inevitable transformation is complete.

Finally, Marco Goecke completes the program with a dark and trembling work, with fragmented but incredibly precise movements, made from music by Björk. At first glance, there is little to suggest swans or lakes. However, the references are present and point to one lake in particular: the Shara Nur, in the Republic of Tuva, near the border with Mongolia.

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