Classic ballet 'Swan Lake' gets a contemporary re-imagining

Choreographers working on core ballet repertoire usually add their own touches to the classics. Some go further than others. Virtually everyone updates specific steps, while others may change the order of scenes or choose an alternative ending.

Then there's South African choreographer Dada Masilo, who addresses contemporary social issues in her version of “Swan Lake,” and uses African music alongside the original music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

“I am inquisitive and very ambitious. I love trying new things and I do not like to be boxed. I am following my own path, and it is definitely not about causing controversy,” she explains in an email.

“Dada Masilo's Swan Lake” will be presented on Jan. 30 at the Byham Theater, Downtown, by Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The production features a corps of male and female dancers — everyone in tutus, but the men are bare-chested .

Masilo, 30, was born in Johannesburg, which is her home today. She began dancing at 11 and began formal training at 12. Two years later, after seeing Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker's company perform “Drumming,” she decided dance would be her life.

After graduating from the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg, she did a year's advanced training with the Jazzart Dance Theater in Cape Town. She completed her formal education over two years at the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Brussels. Masilo was one of 30 students accepted from 800 who auditioned. She then returned to Johannesburg to begin doing choreography.

Masilo has already created her own versions of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Carmen,” but her newest work draws on her deepest ballet roots.

“ ‘Swan Lake' is the first ballet that I saw when I started dancing and I fell completely in love with the tutus, the music and the design. That's when I knew that I wanted to dance the work one day. At first I wasn't going to change the narrative but then I got the idea to have a male Odile,” she writes. “I guess that's when everything fell apart!”

The first of Tchaikovsky's three masterpiece ballets, “Swan Lake” was first performed in 1877 and was followed by “The Sleeping Beauty” and “The Nutcracker.”

The story combines romantic and fantastic elements. Prince Siegfried is told by his mother he must marry, but on a hunting trip falls in love with Odette, a swan he almost killed. She is a princess turned into a swan by a curse that can only be broken by someone who falls in love with her unto death. Siegfried is tricked into swearing love for another, Odile, who has been transformed into the spitting image of Odette. Siegfried and Odette are reunited at the end of the ballet, though there are different versions of how it works out.

The traditional “Swan Lake” was most recently performed by Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in February 2014.

Matthew Bourne's popular and radical production of “Swan Lake” debuted in London in 1995, and drew much attention for its gay elements, including an all-male corps de ballet ensemble of swans.

Masilo's version of the ballet sets the romantic conflict in the context of contemporary South Africa. It's a one-hour show for 13 dancers, including Masilo, who dances the role of Odette.

“In my version, Prince Siegfried is gay and is already involved with a male swan, Odile, when his parents buy him a female swan, Odette, and try to force him to marry her,” she writes. “I wanted my version to be androgynous so everyone, male and female, wears tutus. The triangle is between two men and a woman. I wanted to explore issues of forced marriage, homophobia and discrimination.”

Masilo's combination of 19th century Russian ballet with contemporary South Africa aspires to be more than a mash up.

“The fascinating thing about Tchaikovsky and African dance is that it fits very well. I was very surprised but it does! I never choose music to fit the movement; the movement has to fit in with the music,” Masilo writes. “There is no particular order or pattern. What I was interested in was creating a new movement language. I wanted the fusion to be seamless. I wanted the two techniques to coexist.”

Mark Kanny is a Tribune-Review staff writer. He can be reached at 412-320-7877 or mkanny@tribweb.com.