Until recently, viewing the revered classical genre of Russian ballet and other performing arts in India was the exclusive domain of cultural diplomacy between India and countries, where the control mechanism of cultural treaties signed between two governments dictated presentations of cultural productions in either countries. The audiences who got to see the Russian performative galore were those who had access to government links and these productions were usually open to those who could acquire passes. The coming of private players through the emerging event management industry has introduced a new cultural economics characterising neo-liberal market and consumption economies in both countries. The foremost illustration of which has been the initiative by Navrasa Duende (NB), a one-year-old production house, which has collaborated with the mere 8-9 year old private Ukranian Royal Russian Ballet (RRB) to bring a high quality production to India which has had a successful run in a multi-city programming for the second time in one year.
Says Dinesh Singh, founder of NB and managing director of Energo Engineering Projects Limited, “… Despite advice from several quarters that ballet will not find an audience in India, we decided to bring it, simply based on keen insights on the modern Indian’s entertainment choices. Audiences today are very experimental in the kind of entertainment they like to consume and are also looking to explore more sophisticated performing arts like classical music and dances, both Indian, as well as Western. The resounding success of our production of “Swan Lake” in New Delhi last year is a testament to the changing tastes and preferences of urban Indian audiences, who are seeking more of such artistically and culturally driven entertainment.”
The “Swan Lake” is a four-act romantic ballet whose musical score was written by the legendary music composer Tchaikovsky where Prince Siegfried falls in love with Odette who is under the charm of the villain magician Von Rothbart. Under the spell, Odette is a swan by day and a woman by night. The charm can be broken by commitment of true love. The Magician tricks the prince by presenting his daughter Odile (presented as a black swan) to the prince thereby making Siegfried break his promise to the Swan queen Odette. The prince on realising his mistake attempts to make amends. The original ballet ends in a tragedy where the two lovers die. But in the present production the lovers are united to live happily ever after.
The production follows the 1950 renewed choreography by Konstantine Sergeev as opposed to the original by Marius Petipa. The Swan Lake as a production has retained in its over 100 years of journey an appeal among contemporary audiences. On the one hand, the directors have adhered to the sacrosanct aspects such as the original music score written by Tchaikovsky in 1875 and the trademark tenets of the Vaganova dancing technique which is stylistically marked by precision, sublime control, strength, power, sculptural balance and regal carriage of the body and defined by the internalised classical movement that breathe years of structured classes, while on the other hand ballet masters have had to innovate bringing in contemporary dance techniques to keep in tune with changing sensibilities.
Seamless sophistication
The present round of the multi-city tour of the Swan Lake in Delhi was projected in the weightlifting venue of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium. The choice and transformation of the sports venue into a sophisticated performative space fit enough for the classical ballet was an illustration of the great Indian genetic iconic resource, jugaad . The RRB accompanied by a formidable production team led by director and producer Anatoliy Kazatskiy conjoined with efforts of an equally impressive Indian team was illustrated in the work of technical riders that included among other things the craft of the fly-man who operated the magnificent cloth set curtains (brought from Ukraine), and the front curtain drape despite the challenges they confronted. Said Singh, “ There were several norms to be followed, we could not install anything on the walls or the ceiling in sports event space,” this meant that the technical team installed, for example, sophisticated lighting consoles and hanging speakers.
The team of over 40 dancers comprised a mixed lot from Russian and Ukranian nationalities and were graduates from powerhouse ballet schools in Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The choreographic structure marked perfect geometrical formations by the corps de ballet which was interspersed with solos by solo characters and variety in the pas de deux performances. The director Anatoliy Kazatskiy was in almost all sequences able to illustrate the exotic, dramatic and emotive elements required in the ballet score to bring out the integral content of the narrative.
The performance of Denis Tarasov as the Jester displayed strong elegant jumps and athletic virtuosity that appeared effortless communicating a sense of purpose and significance. Olga Kifyak playing the contrasting characters of the Swan Queen Odette and the anti-hero Odile executed with delicacy and power dancing required by the roles. The female and male corps de ballet was excellent, particularly those who performed the inventive induction of impressively executed Russian folk dances in the third Act. However, one did hope for a greater strength of technique and power dancing to bring out the nuances in the choreography by Anatoly Khandazhevskiy, the lead male dancer enacting Prince Sigfried although his emotive performance was well executed.
For the time being, Navrasa Duende is tapping in the novelty and the open markets where audiences view such productions as a class status in the ticketed shows, however, the challenge will be to sustain such demand for a market who knows little about the Indian Classical performative arts and even less about the Western ones. The present production has a happy end without the classic dance of the dying swan, one hopes that the ballet too is absorbed as part of India's glocalised syncretic identity in the future.
