State Ballet of Georgia: Swan Lake

London Coliseum
August 28, 2024

The 21 years after the Rose Revolution are mirrored by Nina Ananiashvili’s now 20-year artistic directorship of the State Ballet of Georgia. Its home, the Opera and Ballet Theatre, founded in 1851, has since 1896 boasted a neo-Moorish décor that reflects Georgia’s straddling of east and west. The company repertoire however, points much more to the uneasy relationship over the centuries with Russia and the opening of relations that enabled Ananiashvili, a product of the Bolshoi, to dance for lengthy periods in America and Britain.

It’s taken 175 years for the State Ballet of Georgia to visit London, and it’s the company’s Russian roots that they have chosen to highlight, perhaps mindful that Swan Lake is usually guaranteed to sell. That choice is a double-edged sword, though, there being many other productions and dancers that can be used for comparison. This is particularly true of stolidly traditional stagings like this one, seemingly toured by every company that resulted from the fragmentation of the Soviet Union.

It doesn’t help that there is little attempt to set the scene and introduce the characters. The result is an Act I in which the dances feel bland and, given the lack of characterisation, meaningless.

Nino Samadashvili plays Odette as being mesmerised by Rothbart. This is fine as an approach, but she was then unable to demonstrate the contrast when she partners Siegfried. There was no tenderness or vulnerability to match the blank eyes; and if that’s not a plea for the inclusion of the ‘lake of my other’s tears’ mime, I don’t know what is. Without it, Siegfried’s vow is just a mere pledge of marriage by an infatuated teenager.

There is a reason that Odette extracts a firm promise. Samadashvili’s lengthy limbs should be imbued with feeling. Her ports de bras should stem from the spine and shoulder blades, her foot reaching its zenith after measured resistance from the retiré through the developpé. Instead, arms seemed to merely waft and legs are placed functionally without feeling. This is the flight of a sparrow, not a powerful aquatic bird.

Oleg Lihai’s Siegfried was equally void of emotion. He too is long-limbed but lacks ballon. Maybe it was first night nerves, but this was a performance with all the stops in. There was no sense of inner turmoil, either as he discovers first love with Odette, or huge betrayal with Odile, nor any excitement engendered by the dancing for its own sake.

Efe Burak was a much more charismatic Benno. Whilst he was useful in a charming Act I pas de quatre with Mariam Eloshvili and Nino Khakhutashvili, the choreography does not allow him to establish a credible relationship as Siegfried’s friend. There is so much scope, if he is included, to create tension as he is clearly by far the most sensible of the pair. Don’t shoot the swan. Don’t make rash promises. Look, Odette is outside so don’t be fooled by Odile, etc.

Samadashvili made a better Odile than Odette, and she is far from first dancer to shine in one role more than the other. But even her Odile lacked bravura. One excellent dramatic innovation, although puzzling initially, is the separating of the Spanish dance from the other national dances so that Odile and Rothbart become the leading couple, the pizzazz (ouch! those back bends!) of the Spanish dance a fitting introduction.

Elsewhere, the summer opening scene giving way to a sudden hoar frost at a rimed lake is simply odd. Tomone Kagawa, Ana Ksovreli, Sesili Guguchia and Tatia Isakadze were good cygnets, always popular with the audience. Tata Jashi, Salome Iarajuli and Mari Lomjaria did not stand out from the corps as the Big Swans, however.

The corps, in turn, were neat but prosaic; lakeside scenes lacked mystery and could have been helped by more atmospheric lighting. Each humble swan should imbue a sense of menace and urgency. Even a comparatively small corps de ballet can create the impression that the flock is endless by the energy that is invested in the entrances.

The biggest talking point surrounding any Swan Lake is usually the choice of ending. Perhaps the Georgians were already on the defensive as the programme notes are at great pains to point out how much the libretto has changed over the last 147 years. It seems clear musically that a tragic ending is called for, though; and probably dramatically too. Siegfried’s impetuous romances have, after all, caused the fall of a presumably benevolent but fragile dynasty. Here, Rothbart is repelled by the not-quite-massed ranks of the good swans enabling the release of Odette from the spell and she ends, via a nifty on-stage costume change, as a mortal woman again.

Conductor Papuna Gvaberidze cut a lively figure in the pit with English National Opera’s orchestra. Intonation, especially in the violins, was not always secure and brass and percussion were at times unbalanced, however. Gvaberidze seemed determined to showcase extremes of dynamics and tempi which tended to be jarring.

There are many aspects of the State Ballet of Georgia’s Swan Lake that work logically and even dramatically on paper. The production does rather lack a heart and soul, however. With the notable exception of the splendid Marcelo Soares as Rothbart (who perhaps has the least to go on), individual performances were largely disappointingly two-dimensional. Company technique is functional but no one had a ‘wow factor’ which, when combined with an inability to create characters that cross the footlights, made for a somewhat pedestrian evening.

The State Ballet of Georgia perform Swan Lake at the London Coliseum to September 8, 2024.