Sheer magic | 20 August 2011

The term ‘circus’ is used in the ballet world with disparaging intentions to criticise any excessive display of technical bravura.

The term ‘circus’ is used in the ballet world with disparaging intentions to criticise any excessive display of technical bravura. Yet in the appropriate context, dazzling acrobatics can be high art, as the Guangdong Acrobatic Troupe of China demonstrated last week. I would never have thought that I would have raved about a version of the immortal Swan Lake in which the ballerina swivels on point while balancing either on her partner’s bicep or on his head. But there I was, gasping with surprise like a six-year-old.

The Guangdong’s is a very free take on Tchaikovsky’s ballet, the narrative of which is manipulated to accommodate the constant outpouring of phenomenal stunts performed by jugglers, acrobats, contortionists and dancers. And despite the numerous liberties, the magic of the old fairy tale comes fully to the fore, at times more than in any of those dramatically flat contemporary productions seen in more culturally elitist contexts and environments.

Set to a much adapted and not always so well recorded track of Tchaikovsky’s score, the Guangdong’s Swan Lake is an intoxicating explosion of colour and sheer fun. The turns follow each other with incredible swiftness, and by the time the curtain comes down one finds it difficult to believe that two hours and 15 minutes have passed. Indeed, the show is splendidly over the top and camp beyond any possible expectation. But beyond the naive campness is a superb expression of artistic commitment. I only wish many of the so-called artists in the western ballet world had the same sense of togetherness, and could communicate the same belief in what they are doing as the Guangdong’s artists do.