Swan Lake, State Ballet of Georgia
Nino Samadashvili and Oleg Ligai in the Stage Ballet of Georgia's Swan Lake © Katja Ogrin
Two years ago I was very lucky to review the State Ballet of Georgia’s Swan Lake at the London Coliseum at the beginning of my critic ‘career’.
It occurred midway through my Swan Lake ‘tour’, a time when London hosted five versions of Petipa’s ballet in a year and I travelled to Italy to view a sixth. It was one of my lesser favourite versions. There was a lack of chemistry or acting between the leads for one thing. However, the night was redeemed when I was introduced to my favourite version of the Spanish Dance in Act 3 [read review]. The backbends in the choreography were like something from a contortionist show and quickly entered my catalogue of Roman Empires: I think about it often. So please understand that seeing the companies new version of Swan Lake was met with a level of hesitancy and intrigue: would it improve upon their previous production? Would the back bends make the cut?
Alas, their latest iteration of the most famous of ballets remains a mixed bag.
Nino Samadashvili and Oleg Ligai in the Stage Ballet of Georgia's Swan Lake © Katja Ogrin
The first half of the ballet (Acts 1 and 2 before the interval) covers Siegfried’s party in the forest and his meeting, and falling in love, with Odette, a girl transformed into a swan by Rothbart (played menacingly by Marcelo Soares) who can only be released from the spell by a promise of true love. In an attempt to shorten the work (it was a ‘mere’ 2 hours 10 minutes long) the initial meeting between Siegfried and Odette was cut a little, skipping to their duets straight away. I understand that love at first sight is needed in works like this, but this was really taking the biscuit and made it harder to be swept up in their romantic journey. Where was Odette’s hesitancy? The building of trust in this random boy?
More jarring however was the choreography itself. Much has been reworked in the first half by Nina Ananiashvili (the company’s Artistic Director) and Alexey Fadeechev, and unfortunately it was to the piece’s detriment. The pas de trois (dance for three) between two women and Benno (Siegfried’s friend, danced with much vigour by Masaaki Goto) featured uninspired choreography (a string of variations on the pirouette) which ignored the possibilities offered by Tchaikovsky’s intricate score. As Adelina, Tomone Kagawa was a standout here and throughout Act 1, with a surety and lightness of foot which stood out amongst a company still adapting to the Coliseum’s small stage.*
After the interval, the choreography found its footing, bringing back my favourite Spanish backbends and sticking to the traditional where it mattered most. Our Principal pair (Nino Samadashvili and Oleg Ligai, the same as two years ago) came into their own during the famous Black Swan pas de deux (duet), with a fabulous glint in the eye and teasing last-minute move of the hand from Samadashvili as Odile, flirting, goading and leading Siegfried on towards his disastrous misplaced declaration of love. Dancers often favour this pairing over the ‘white duets’ between Odette and Siegfried and it was clear that these two were having a blast. Their acting and chemistry has improved vastly over the last two years: in the final act, the devastation at Siegfried’s costly mistake was clear on both their faces and seen in the limpness of their arms. It’s just a shame the orchestra was pushing them along at an ungainly speed.
Mariam Lomjaria in the Stage Ballet of Georgia's Swan Lake © Katja Ogrin (included to show different sets, but not the reviewed cast)
A new staging of Swan Lake also means new sets, so a final note has to be given to the designers. David Monavardisashvili’s painted backdrops depicting forest scenes, castles on hills and opulent ballrooms were exquisite, while arched trees encasing the stage from the wings were the cherry on top. The costumes too were gorgeous. Cyrille Gassilline’s choice of glittery fabrics were a fun twist that felt more fairy tale than gaudy. However, the silver designs on Odile’s black tutu were not my favourite and the decision to include black swans in amongst the white during Act 2 caused quite the debate in the interval.
As seems to be an on going pattern, Swan Lake rarely occurs once in London. The return of the State Ballet of Georgia heralds in a forthcoming ballet season which includes at least two versions of Swan Lake (The Royal Ballet and English National Ballet, plus a plot-twisted version courtesy of Northern Ballet hits stages next Autumn). Although shaky in places, this has certainly got me in the mood for my Royal Ballet Swan Lake marathon next year.
*It is worth noting that the first half of this performance of Swan Lake was disrupted for a long portion of time by noise created by an audience member. My assumption is that this audience member had some form of disability making it hard to control their speech, however this had the unfortunate impact of distracting the audience (who became increasingly tetchy) and the dancers themselves. I don’t write this to call out the audience member (if anything, it highlighted why theatre’s having well publicised accessibility policies and accessible performances are so important), but to keep in mind that the dancers weren’t able to perform their best on opening night, and I was unable to pay attention as I would have liked to bring you sufficient commentary. Therefore, performances later in the run could be vastly different (in terms of quality) to the described.
★★★
Swan Lake, The State Ballet of Georgian
London Coliseum, London / 17 July 2026
Until 26 July. Tickets →
Press ticket
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