A reimagined production of “Swan Lake” will take the stage at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts as part of Grand Kyiv Ballet’s U.S. tour.
The Ukrainian ballet company brings the familiar tale to audiences with a series of new visual elements that include illuminated costumes and updated lighting effects, according to artistic director Oleksandr Stoianov. The company calls it “Swan Lake: Symphony of Lights.”
“(This) will be our fifth tour in (the) United States, and every time we try to bring something new for the audience here,” Stoianov said. “Everybody already knows ‘Swan Lake,’ and everybody knows the story, but we try to give the people a new experience and new emotions.”
Planning and production for the new costumes and lighting began more than six months ago, Stoianov said. While the production features new lighting effects, he said the story and dances remain true to Tchaikovsky’s original “Swan Lake.”
“It will be a classical version of ‘Swan Lake.’ The choreography is the same, but with new costumes and new lighting because we updated the costumes with lights,” Stoianov said. “(The) second and fourth act will also have special light effects, with more haze, smoke.”
However, according to Stoianov, the illuminated costumes will primarily be worn by members of the corps and dancers in smaller roles. Principal dancers will not be wearing the RGB lights as the additional equipment would interfere with their more demanding movements like lifts and pirouettes, Stoianov said. The company had initially experimented with illuminated costumes for principal dancers, but ultimately decided against using them due to safety concerns, he said.
The lights can display four colors: red, green, blue and white, which will change and dim depending on the scene in the ballet, Stoianov said. The additional electronics have also added around 2 kilograms of weight to the costumes, proving slightly more challenging for dancers to perform in, he said.
Stoianov added that Grand Kyiv Ballet has a cast of more than 160 dancers and performs across the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, Latin America and other regions.
Principal ballerina Gillian Smith said all of the travel is one of the highlights of being in the ballet.
“I’m grateful we get to travel to different cities and we get to see a lot of beautiful theaters. And there’s a lot of historical theaters that we get to perform in as well,” Smith said. “Just the experience of performing and getting to do that almost every day is – I mean it’s wonderful. I think almost any dancer can say that, but it’s nice to feel that you’re connecting with new cities every time that you’re performing.”
The performance the audience sees is the final step in a much longer process, Smith said. Behind each show are hours of classes, rehearsals, travel and preparation, she said.
“People don’t realize how much extra work there is …,” Smith said. “But I think that’s the biggest thing that people might not realize when they come to a performance … it’s not the beginning of our day; it’s the very end. The show? There’s already been a whole process.”
Smith added that this process is part of what makes live performances meaningful.
Whether audiences are longtime ballet enthusiasts or seeing a production for the first time, Smith said she hopes they will appreciate the performance and the new lighting effects.
“I think especially (with the) lights, it’s just a new kind of added extra experience they get to have with it … you’ll feel a lot just from this ballet in general,” Smith said. “Hopefully they enjoy it and they’re entertained and they appreciate the beauty of the ballet.”
Tickets to Thursday’s performance are $41-$57. The Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts is located at 500 Castro St. For tickets and more information, see tinyurl.com/SwanLakeLit.
