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First Steps Swan Lake
Birmingham Royal BalletBirmingham Hippodrome
***** Crisp packets rustled, fidgety bums
bounced and juice boxes were slurped in anticipation for First Steps
Swan Lake at Birmingham Hippodrome over February half term. The sold-out interactive, relaxed, performance,
devised by Birmingham Royal Ballet Assistant Director Marion Tait,
allowed “cheeky banana brains” of all ages a taste of theatrical magic
and a chance to listen to a full orchestra set the atmosphere. I first brought my daughter to First Steps ‘A
Child’s The Dream’ based on A Midsummer Night’s Dream four years ago
when she was just aged three and it had a profound effect. To this day she still has the programme stuck on
the wall and tells everyone who will listen about it. She enjoyed this
time around just as much, if somewhat a little disappointed that we
weren’t viewing the whole of Swan Lake. Storyteller Owen Young dived straight in and
grabbed the attention of all the rowdy sugar-fuelled youngsters as he
explained how ballerinas use mime to tell the story. Boys and girls
jumped up and down copying Young in his demonstrations on how to portray
emotion without saying a single word. The audience, some of whom were first-time
theatre goers, were transfixed by BRB dancers Lachlan Monaghan as Prince
Siegfried and Miki Mizutani as Princess Odette as they spoke alongside
their mimes breaking down the confusion barriers and unravelling the
secrets of the mimes then allowing the audience to copy, becoming a part
of the immersive tale. Only true love can break the spell. The famous and recognisable music composed by
Tchaikovsky is performed by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, led by conductor
Thomas Jung and leader Robert Gibbs. Young gets the crowd guessing which
instruments are being played. Is it an oboe? Harp? Violin? The story so far covers Odette and her friends
being cast under a wicked spell by evil magician Baron von Rothbart
meaning by day they are swans and by night they become princesses again.
We see Odette’s friends (cygnets) Tessa Hogge, Juliette Itou, Rachele
Pizzilo and Lynsey Sutherland perform the pas de quatre, the dance of
the cygneys, exquisitely choreographed by Marius Petipa, Lev Ivanov and
Sir Peter Wright. We are all invited to a very grand reception in
the ballroom of the castle where Prince Siegfried must choose his bride
from a choice of three princesses. There are gasps as the curtain rose
to reveal lavish designs by Philip Prowse along with lighting by Peter
Tiegen. No detail is spared as the fanfares announce the princess
suitors then the surprise as two uninvited guests appear tricking
Siegfried into asking Odile for her hand in marriage as the magician’s
spell confuses Siegfried into thinking the magician’s daughter is in
fact Odette. When Odette appeared at the window in a glow of luminescent
white light Siegfried realised his mistake and the court is thrown into
confusion. First Steps Swan Lake ends with Odette and
Siegfried reunited but leaving the audience wanting more and desperate
to know what happens and demanding to know if true love prevails. A
truly fabulous taster for all, to inspire younger generations into
ballet and all that goes into this enchanting, spellbinding and
bewitching classic. BRB’s full production of Swan Lake is at
Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday 29th February so grab
those tickets online at
tickets@birminghamhippodrome.com or call the Box Office on 0844
3385000. Emma Trimble 21-02-20 |
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