With all the fuss over Sylvie Guillem's changes to Giselle, one wonders why this production of Swan Lake hasn't been the subject of more controversy:

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<small>[ 27 February 2005, 12:04 PM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Follow this link to the thread on the:<P><a href=../../../ubb/Forum11/HTML/000666.html target=_blank>Galway Arts Festival</a>

Punchy, but it's Swan Lake to a T-shirt

'BIRDBRAIN' Reviewed by Jill Sykes in The Sydney Morning Herald

[QUOTE]Like Shakespeare's plays, the ballet Swan Lake can lend itself to endless versions without losing its original power - and these fresh takes on the classic can be invigorating and entertaining.

Garry Stewart's Birdbrain qualifies for both these descriptions for most of its short, punchy duration. It has come a very long way from two versions I saw on a creative journey that began in 1997.

What audiences see now is a refined, precisely focused fusion of themes that Stewart, as choreographer and artistic director of the Adelaide-based Australian Dance Theatre, has developed with dramaturg David Bonney and various groups of dancers over those four years

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<small>[ 10 March 2005, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

ADT's Birdbrain is definately worth a look. It's not exactly a deconstruction of Swan Luck, rather it's somewhat of a parody with a twist. <P>The dancers are incredible athletes and the concept is interesting. The music can be somewhat monotonous and Craig Proctor, the guest Yogi, shows us that Yogis, like contortionists, are a special breed - one wonders where they put their bones.<P>The troupe was considering cancelling its trip to New York in October, but it seems none of the dancers could resist the temptation of performing in the Big Apple, despite the recent tragedy. Alas, they'll be there with bells on!<P>------------------<BR>[This message has been edited by Jennifer]<BR>

Paula Citron - Classical 96.3 FM,10.03.01:
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[This message has been edited by Marie (edited October 05, 2001).]

<small>[ 10 March 2005, 04:09 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Wish I could be there:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Birds and Kangaroos<P>Deborah Jowitt, Village Voice<P>Sketches of dancers from Carlo Blasis's 1829 Code of Terpsichore gaze down on the Joyce stage and Garry Stewart's Birdbrain. As members of Australian Dance Theatre hurtle, dive, roll, and spin through this rude pomo take on Swan Lake, do I only imagine the expressions of puzzled distaste from the population of Gaelle Mellis's backdrop?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0143/jowitt.php target=_blank>More</a>

Impressions from Tobi Tobias:<P><a href=http://www.newyorkmag.com/page.cfm?page_id=5334 target=_blank>Wizards of Oz</a><BR>Chunky Move and Australian Dance Theatre bring the standard postmodern flash up from Down Under; a different Drumming in Brooklyn.<BR>TOBI TOBIAS, New York Magazine

<BR><I><small>Birdbrain</small></I><P>Australian Dance Theatre's <I>Birdbrain</I> is in Singapore at the University Cultural Centre Theatre (June 1-3) for this year's <A HREF="http://www.singaporeartsfest.com" TARGET=_blank><B>Singapore Arts Festival</B></A>. So they say it's a deconstruction of <I>Swan Lake</I> and recontextualises some of the original ballet's central themes. But I really didn't get it. <P>Not that the dancers weren't something to behold; what they do is extremely difficult, up there in the don't-try-this-at-home genre. Classical positions and balletic turns only occasionally surface in relentless, stylish passages of rolling, popping, slithering, writhing, jerking, falling, spinning, hurtling. Painful stuff. And of course, it's well-known by now that the barefoot dancers are only in t-shirts and slacks; the tees, which are constantly changed, are labelled accordingly, from "corps" and "prince" to "legend" and "f***ed up". (If you're sitting right at the corner, as I was, you get to see them changing in the wings.) Even Siegfried can be played by two men - say hello to "sieg" and "fried". <P><I>Birdbrain</I> can actually stand on its own, but there are references to <I>Swan Lake</I> that the regular dance-goer will be able to recognise. There are the four cygnets, their hands all locked, weaving in and out of each other. As a man in a white t-shirt and a woman in a black t-shirt dance together, a woman in a white t-shirt behind the background screen madly flaps her arms - a scene from the Black Swan pas de deux. Don't forget the 32 fouettés, now distributed among a line of dancers, counted on the background screen. However, it's quite unlikely that the everyday handphone-crazy Singaporean will click into all of this in an instant.<P>So there's no point in a review on my part, since others have done a much better job of describing the work, notably <A HREF="http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0143/jowitt.php" TARGET=_blank><B>Deborah Jowitt</B></A> in The Village Voice and <A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/06/arts/dance/06ANDE.html" TARGET=_blank><B>Jack Anderson</B></A> in The New York Times. One sentence in Jowitt's review accurately sums up how I feel about <I>Birdbrain</I>:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>In this deconstructed world, the choreographer relies on labels to signify plot and character, but of course they can't make us feel much beyond the choreographer's cleverness and the dancers' stamina and virtuosity.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P>Or maybe I'm just a little thick tonight.<BR><p>[This message has been edited by Malcolm Tay (edited June 02, 2002).]

Thee are no hard and fast rules on where things should go, as life isn't like that. But I have to say that the word 'ballet' doesn't spring to mind when I read these descriptions. Better off in 'Modern' perchance?

Obviously The Straits Times liked it:

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<small>[ 10 March 2005, 04:10 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

<img src="http://livelyarts.stanford.edu/images/aust.jpg" alt="" />
<font size=-2>Australian Dance Theatre in Birdbrain</font size>

They'll be performing at Stanford Lively Arts in the SF Bay Area tonight!

Wow.

Care to elaborate?

I will but let's just say for now those who went to LINES or Oakland Ballet instead missed something special. Last night's performance of "Birdbrain" was the only engagement by ADT in the SF Bay Area.

Mmm. I didn't think so :p