Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake: Performed by The Australian Ballet

On October 12 I went to go see Graeme Murphy's Swan Lake performed by The Australian Ballet, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Although it was not your traditional Swan Lake it was still a dazzling production. It brought the old Swan Lake, we all know and love, and placed it in a more realistic and relatable setting. Amber Scott, who played Odette, had to portray a character who seemed to be losing her mind after she discovers her Prince Siegfried, played by Adam Bull, is having an affair with Baroness Von Rothbart, played by Lana Jones. Odette discovers this the day of her wedding and from their her mental state goes down hill. She is thrown into an insane asylum by the queen with the assistance of the jealous Baroness. Once Odette is in the asylum she imagines herself as one of the swans in the lake that her room window over looks. She then appears in the castle at a party that the Baroness and the Prince are throwing. The prince then decides that he made a mistake choosing the Baroness over Odette and wants her back. Once Odette realizes this she then feels that she is "complete" and commits suicide in the next act by drowning in the lake.  

The dancing in this ballet was more contemporary and modern ballet fusion than classical ballet. A great example of this is when Odette is in the insane asylum and is visited by the prince she performs bare foot, which is rarely done in ballets. Graeme Murphy also decided to take out a lot of the character dances and only left the Hungarian character dance.

Overall this ballet was beautiful and The Australian Ballet did an amazing job. Each dancer was able to not only perform the dances, but also portray their characters emotions and project it onto the audience, which is a huge part of dance.    

This is a preview of the ballet and it shows a section from each scene. Enjoy. :)

Blog 8: Research and Working EQ

1. My working EQ is "What is the best way to train as a dancer?"

2.What is a possible answer to your working EQ?

• Dancers should have a strong background in various dance genres.
• Dancers wanting to pursue a professional dance career should train everyday for at least an hour and a half daily.

3.What is the most important source you have used that has helped you come up with an answer to your EQ?

• The most important source that I have used is the book Basic Principles of Classical Ballet.

4. Who is your mentor, or where are you doing your mentorship and how does what you are doing relate to your working EQ?

• My mentor is Belinda Maturo the director of a dance studio, for my mentorship I am taking classes at the studio and training, at my mentorship I take various genres of dance classes so the different training helps me see the differences between genres and their similarities.

Blog 7: Independent Component Approval

1. For my 1st semester Independent Component I will be training myself in the Intermediate RAD syllabus, in order to prepare for my exams. I will be taking the Intermediate Class twice a week for an hour and a half each class.

2. To show that I have completed the 30 hours needed I will fill out the mentorship hours on my hours list and also get my instructor to sign a paper that I have completed 30 hours of training.

3.By training and preparing for the exams this will help me discover an answer to my EQ. That answer being that ballet is the fundamental building block for all dancers.