One of Sweden's national treasures is in town this week, bringing with it a flock of somewhat ungainly swans. The Cullberg Ballet Riksteatern began its three-night run at the National Theater last night with Mat Ek's retelling of Swan Lake -- a stripped down, sexed up and gender-bending version of a prince besotted by an enchanted swan maiden, set to Tchaikovsky's classic score.
Taipei has seen male swans, comedic swans and dying swans -- but bald and barefoot swans are something new.
Mat Ek's swans are not the silent, ephemeral, gliding beauties of romantic lore. They're earthy -- clunky even, with their flexed feet -- waddling ungainly on the ground, like swans out of water.
But what else should be expected from one of the premier modern dance troupes in the world, if not a very different take on a ballet that even non-balletomanes know about?
The Cullberg was founded in 1967 by modern dance icon Birgit Cullberg, whose Miss Julie, had become a staple of ballet and modern dance companies around the world since its 1950 premier. Begun with just eight dancers, the Cullberg quickly became noted for its dramatic, psychological pieces and the versatility of its members.
In 1973 Cullberg's son Ek joined the company as a dancer, at the very advanced age of 28, after having already established himself as a theater director at the Marionette Theatre and the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm. Dancing was clearly in his blood, as was choreographing, and just three years later he began to create dances for the Cullberg troupe.
In 1985 he succeeded his mother as artistic director of the troupe, a post he held until 1993. Now he is a freelance choreographer but is still closely associated with the Cullberg. He continues to create works for it (the latest was last year's Fluke) and his pieces are, as current artistic director Margareta Lidstrom said, "still the pillar of the company's repertoire."
Lidstrom and Lena Wennergren-Juras were jointly named artistic director in 1995, two years after Ek left the company. Lidstrom had been with the troupe for three years, following a career with the Royal Swedish Ballet. Wennergren-Juras has been with the Cullberg since it was founded.
They decided to bring Swan Lake back into the company's repertoire in 2000 after an eight-year absence and Ek agreed that the time was right to revive it and that there were enough dancers in the company who could dance it.
At a press conference at the National Theater on Monday, Lidstrom said they decided to bring it back to the repertoire because it is a very good ballet.
"It's very important in this kind of repertoire -- with many characters -- to have dancers who have experience, experience with life," she said, adding that the 20 dancers range in age from 22 to 40.
"It has lots of humor in it and lots of seriousness. It deals with human relationships and human feelings," she said. "The dancers are dramatically strong and also very physically strong."
With just 18 dancers to tell the story each night, everyone is very busy, with many doubling up on roles.
Swan Lake is a very demanding work, whether the original Marius Petipa/Lev Ivanov version, or the myriad reworkings of this classic over the years. But Ek was the first choreographer to attempt to bring this fairy tale of idealized love to a more contemporary, earthier level, albeit one with Freudian overtones.
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