Bridgend and Valleys Recorder
by Don John
Little did Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky know when he composed the score for a controversial new Moscow ballet in 1875 that it would become one of the world's most enduring works, subject to endless artistic interpretation ever since, from classical to avant-garde.
Amazingly, when it was first performed, Tchaikovsky's legendary tale of the swan-maiden - now forever linked, in the west at least, with imperishable names like Pavlova, Nureyev and Fonteyn - excited passionately-mixed reactions both behind and in front of the theatre curtain.
Rehearsals for the first strife-torn production, it seems, went on for almost a year - with choreographers and performers complaining that the great man's innovative music was too complex and "undanceable". For a while, the stigma stuck, until Swan Lake eventually took its unassailable place as the epitome of classic Russian ballet. However, in light of that initial reception by the cream of world dance at the time, one wonders how they would have responded if they had been required to perform this demanding work on a stage covered in ice!
That, though, was the challenge faced and met with stylish aplomb - not by dancers per se, but by the Imperial Ice Stars - a talented group of world-class, largely Russian skaters, who have been thrilling audiences at Swan Like an Ice in the Wales Millennium Centre over the festive season. Theirs is truly a collective tour de force. Combining athleticism and split-second timing of high-speed figure skaters with subtle poise and sinuous grace of classical ballet dancers, in a seemingly effortless fusion of these two contrasting art forms.
The result was a uniquely-satisfying experience, that at times reached dizzying heights of excellence, with the audience bowled along by the exhilarating pace and masterly virtuosity displayed by gifted performers, many of whom are celebrated international champions in their own right. No matter that along with the thrills came occasional spills - hardly surprising, given that the skaters performed this full-scale ballet, not on a spacious ice rink, but on a confined stage measuring only about 15m x 15m.
The whole magical effect was enhanced by the array of sumptuous costumes and wonderfully painted backdrops that metamorphosed before our eyes from palace courtyard to ballroom, to glistening lake in the woods - while through it all, of course, ran the sublime music of Tchaikovsky, sensitively performed by the (unseen) Manchester Light Symphony Orchestra.
All in all, this stunningly beautiful Lunchbox Theatrical Production offered an eye-popping piece of creative theatre par excellence to be relished by old and young alike.