Swan Lake: A Graceful Lesson in Being Unprepared

Last night, I believe I unintentionally ticked off a clause for the Adulting is a Challenge badge. I enjoyed a new experience, and learned a few lessons for next time.

A friend and I attended the wonderful Victorian State Ballet performance of Swan Lake. In our defence, we usually attend musical productions where the story is explained via dialogue and enhanced by memorable lyrics. Even with a background in dance, this show left us with absolutely no idea of the story unfolding on stage. We needed subtitles.

We were aware that the dancing was brilliant and truly amazing to watch. And although we didn’t know the name “Four Cygnets’ Dance”, we recognised it as the iconic Swan Lake pas de quatre. 

But the storyline totally alluded us.

Assuming we were the only clueless audience members, we made the most of the interval break to subtly invoke the power of AI to explain to us what we had just witnessed — and what was still to come in Act 3.

It turned out that the people sitting beside us were more experienced, yet almost as confused. As we passed on our newly acquired knowledge, the row in front turned around and confessed they were also mid-Google. This was a fun revelation that put us all on the same level, bewildered but bonded in ballet confusion.

Lesson learned: attending a ballet requires a degree of preparation we hadn’t anticipated. Researching the synopsis beforehand would have been a really good idea.

I had actually confused Swan Lake with the story of  The Ugly Duckling. I was truly waiting for the black swan to transform into a white one.

That’s not what happens. Nor is there a Disney-style ending with a happily-ever-after.

There is probably no need to warn of a spoiler alert for a story that has been around since 1877, so this is what the ballet is actually is about:

🦢 Act 1:
During a birthday celebration for Prince Siegfried, his mother reminds him he must soon choose a bride. He is not thrilled about that at all.  He decides to go hunting during the night with a crossbow he was given as a birthday gift. He discovers a flock of swans on a lake, and when he raises the crossbow, one of the swans transforms into a beautiful woman. This is Odette – the queen of the swan maidens.

🦢 Act 2:
Odette explains that she and her friends are under the curse of the evil sorcerer Baron Von Rothbart (who is also Siegfried’s mentor). By day they are swans, and by night they return to human form. The spell can only be broken by a man who pledges his love solely to Odette. Prince Siegfried promises to love her forever.

🦢  Act 3:
At the royal ball, Siegfried is required to choose a bride. Rothbart is still scheming, and arrives with his own daughter Odile, who has been magically disguised to look exactly like Odette (she represents the Black Swan). Siegfried is completely fooled, declares his love to Odile, and asks her to marry him. The real Odette appears in despair, realising she’s been betrayed. The trick has doomed Odette to remain a swan forever.

🦢  Act 4:
A heartbroken, guilt-ridden Siegfried rushes back to the lake to beg Odette’s forgiveness.

Now this is where it gets even more confusing, as there are several versions with multiple endings.

• In the traditional ending, Odette forgives him, but the spell is unbreakable, and they both throw themselves into the lake to be united in death.
• In some modern versions, the power of their love destroys Rothbart, and the two are reunited in spirit.

They lose because of the black swan. I’m not accustomed to stories where the bad guys triumph. I guess this ballet is a reminder that not all stories end the way we want or deserve; in dance or in life.

Sometimes in life, the black swan wins.

You already know how confused we were, but our interpretation of this particular performance was that in the final scene, Siegfied turned into a swan and Odette was transformed into a human. That might be as close as we can get to a Disney-style ending.