la mort du cygne

[pas_de_cheval]

No one can die quite like Anna Pavlova, though they do try and some come close.  First, the great Pavlova: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3kPxWUbU50.   There seems to be a plethora of arm flapping in other interpretations without the emotion -- they seem afraid of the awkwardness and panic inherent in death as well as the peacefulness.  Here, http

Comments

[in_omnia]

I just think it's hard to avoid feeling self-conscious when you know you're portraying a dying swan. I mean, even thinking about it makes me laugh. The music is beautiful, the dancing is beautiful, and then you add the bit about "Oh, yeah. And you're a swan...and you're dying right now," and I just want to giggle. Devoting a piece of dance---or even the poem it's based on---to the death of a swan seems so self-consciously morbid. As though you're struggling to say Something Important About Death. There's no subtlety. I can't feel touched or moved: instead images of Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd come to mind. The guys seem to have it exactly right....

[pas_de_cheval]

True, but it is a famous divertissement and only ballet can make a dying bird graceful. I guess. Then again, I doubt they've seen a real dying bird flailing around either. Pavlova had a pet swan though. I love the guys!

[in_omnia]

They do make it graceful, that's quite true. But I'm still laughing as I watch. In my head, I'm thinking, "Flap, flap, flap! Ack! Dying! Flap! Flappety-flap! Death! Flap, flap! Argh! I die!" I just have no proper sense of respect, Odette. I'm sorry.

[pas_de_cheval]

Not to worry, I'm not offended. Art is all about perspective and opinion, no?