Dying Swans Project: Bringing the past into a digital present
By Jenn Edwards
Gauthier Dance, the resident dance company of Theaterhaus Stuttgart in Germany, has reimagined one of the most recognizable images in classical ballet in a collection of neoclassical and contemporary dance solos released online. The Dying Swans Project is an eclectic mix of fresh dances for the camera, all paying homage to Mikhail Fokine’s iconic 1907 solo created for Anna Pavlova. Each of the project’s choreographers, eight women and eight men, created a solo on one of the 16 members of Gauthier Dance Company. The resulting films, each about four minutes, premiered on Theaterhaus Stuttgart’s Youtube page on April 16.
Montreal-born Eric Gauthier was a soloist at Stuttgart Ballet before founding Gauthier Dance in 2007. His goal with The Dying Swans Project was to create opportunities for a large group of artists during uncertain times, and to open up new creative possibilities within the limitations of COVID restrictions. The project’s main financial supporter, Daimler Automotive Group, helped fund a total of 64 artists involved in the project, including dancers, choreographers, composers and film crews
Pavlova’s Swan shows up to varying degrees inside each choreographer’s work — a rippling arm, hyper-articulate fingers or a soft bow over one leg. Some of the sound scores also reference or sample the original music, Saint-Saëns’s cello solo, Le Cygne. In the most successful films, the original Swan is clearly present, but not enough to overshadow the choreographer’s voice. For instance, Gauthier’s own film, COVID cage, cleverly folds the image of a swan into a lockdown-themed piece. Bird-like movements are used to show the dancer’s descent into isolation-induced madness, as he explores his apartment with creature-like curiosity, for instance perched in the sink as if having a bird bath. Dancer Andrew Cummings’ clownish staccato movements and crazed smile are well-supported by music right out of a horror movie, composed by Victoria Hillestad and Julian Erhardt.
Some films draw inspiration from the iconic Bakst costume in interesting ways. Emovere, choreographed by Itzik Galili, repositions the white tutu as some kind of alien plant pod, sprouting feet, then entire legs. Set in a white void, it’s unclear which way is up as we watch dancer Izabela Szylinska’s disembodied legs explore, tangle and twist in very un-balletic ways. Deconstructing the tutu and feathers even further, Mauro Bigonzetti’s La Cigna features dancer Gara Perez Oloriz thrashing in a white basin of what looks like cappuccino froth.
Another standout is Off White by Montreal-based choreographer Virginie Brunelle. In one long take, the camera follows dancer Barbara Melo Freire, dressed in an androgynous white suit, across an overpass in what feels like a stream-of-consciousness soliloquy of movement, ranging from pedestrian to release-based contemporary to classical ballet. In a satisfying ending, she flops one limb at a time down onto the concrete, disassembling a statuesque, swan-like pose to become very human, and leaving viewers with a sense of surrender.
A stage version, The Dying Swans Live Experience, is set to premiere at the Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele near Stuttgart on May 22, 2021. With Gauthier as master of ceremonies, the evening will include a blend of live and video performances of the solos, insights from video artist Rainhardt Albrecht-Herz who documented the complex rehearsal process behind the online project, and a performance of the original solo on pointe by a Gauthier Dance Company member.
