Swan Lake

The main idea and basic issue in Idan Cohen's Swan Lake is to bring to life the different questions of identity behind Swan Lake, the monumental musical piece of Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky which is considered one of the foundation stones of Western culture, music and dance. The meaning of the piece is to shed the 'classical' garments out of the story and the dance, and to try and reveal the personal and contemporary story which hides behind it.

The dancers are checking persistently their identities, and through their personal stories and biographies, each dancer sets a sketch of behavioral rules and codes, and designs the space, the other dancers and the new story. Which behaviors and values does each of the characters carry with them in their endless search for freedom and salvation: those of a human, a swan or the hybridization between human and animal?

80 min, including intermission

• choreography Idan Cohen
• dancers Reut Levi, Rita Komisarchik, Daniel Gal
• music Pyotr IIyich Tchaikovsky
• rehearsal director and stage manager Melanie Berson
• artistic advisor Ran Ben-Dror
• costume design Anat Shterenshos
• stage design Rotem Tashach
• lighting design Netta Koren
• producer Einav Tal

• world premiere Silesian dance theater, 28/06/09, Bytom, Poland

• supported by Tanzplan Dresden residency (funded by Tanzplan Deutschland, an initiative of the German federal cultural foundation)