In Swan Lake Solo, there are neither white birds nor princes. In collaboration with composer Anton Svetlichny, Olga Dukhovna proposes her own version of Swan Lake,

to turn this classical ballet into a modern performance.

Let’s clear up any ambiguity: Swan Lake Solo is not Princess Odette’s solo, nor is it a contemporary version of Tchaikovsky’s ballet. Swan Lake Solo is a topical dance show. On 9 March 2022, the front page of the Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta featured the silhouettes of four ballerinas from Swan Lake against the background of a nuclear explosion. Since the fall of Gorbachev, television has broadcast Tchaikovsky’s ballet whenever the news gets too hot.

The war dealt a final blow to her project after two years of lockdown : Olga Dukhovna gave up the idea of choreographing Swan Lake for 32 dancers, an orchestra and singers, commissioned by the new Moscow museum. In an undertaking of ecological deconstruction, the Ukrainian choreographer then concentrated the entire corps de ballet in that of a single performer: herself. Together with Russian composer Anton Svetlichny, the duo tuned it to Tchaikovsky’s music that was as playful as it was respectful. An essential and dynamic dance show was born from all these constraints, giving Swan Lake Solo the tones of joyful and delightful freedom.

About the choreographer

Olga Dukhovna recycles dance the way others recycle objects: she collects, transforms, diverts. Born in Ukraine and trained in Brussels (P.A.R.T.S.) and Angers (CNDC), she fuses forgotten folklore with contemporary dance, embracing improbable collisions. Her works (Korowod, Hopak, Crawl) deconstruct traditional dances to reveal their political charge, while her solo Swan Lake, crafted in her room during lockdown, gained international recognition. She is now pursuing research on the transmission and memory of movement.

The performance is part of the Reykjavík Dance Festival program. The festival program can be found at https://www.reykjavikdancefestival.com/