For ballerinas, ‘Swan Lake’ is a dream in black and white
Ask a ballet dancer about “Black Swan,” the creepy thriller starring Natalie Portman as a ballerina who will sacrifice anything for her art, and you might get an earful about everything the movie gets wrong about the ballet world. But there’s one thing it got right: Dancing the lead in “Swan Lake” is fiendishly difficult.
Tchaikovsky’s quintessential fairy-tale ballet tells the story of Odette, a princess cursed by an evil magician to transform into a bird by day and return to human form only at night. She meets a charming prince and they fall in love, but the magician schemes to break them up by transforming his daughter into Odette’s doppelganger to fool the prince into marrying the wrong girl.
The evil princess, Odile, is the ballet’s famous “black swan.” The role doesn’t have to be played by the same dancer as Odette but usually is. It’s part of what makes “Swan Lake” magical. And hugely challenging.
“It’s tiring. It’s a lot,” says Jillian Barrell, who will dance her first Odette (and Odile) as Ballet Arizona opens its season at Symphony Hall the weekend of Halloween. “It’s physically very demanding, and then to play the two different characters on top of that is even more difficult.”
Barrell, who joined the company in 2007, will rotate the lead in “Swan Lake” with two other company stars, one a 12year veteran, Natalia Magnicaballi, and one in just her second season, Arianni Martín. makes you feel strong.”
Magnicaballi, unlike her two compatriots, has danced the role before, most recently in 2009.
“Every time I do it, it’s different,” she says.
Magnicaballi is a researcher, paying attention to how the greats have interpreted the iconic roles.
“Margot Fonteyn was more like a woman than a swan, then Natalia Makarova was more like a creature,” she says. “So it’s up to the dancer how she wants to approach it and what story she wants to tell. I like a little bit of both, personally.
“It’s not about how high your legs go. It’s what you tell the audience with your movement.” When: Through Sunday, Feb. 1. Where: Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. Admission: $12-$15; $10 for students; $6 for ages 6-17; free for age 5 or younger and museum members. Details: 602-257-1880, phxart.org.