Ilona Landgraf January 5, 0 Comments. For those familiar with a traditional Swan Lake , a few names of the characters, Inger included, ring a bell. There, she takes a rejuvenating bath once a year and lives out her secret love affair with Benno. Zeno, however, finds out about it and, tearing up the veil, puts an end to further escapes for Queen Zoe. Act II features Zoe twenty years later. She is now widowed and cannot keep her son, Kallisto, from going to war. He gets wounded and is nursed back to health by Benno, of all people, near the Swan Lake.
He falls in love with her and steals her veil to prevent her from leaving. Both settle down to family life. Years later, events take a tragic turn when Odette discovers the veil. Deeply disappointed, she leaves Kallisto and their child to reunite with the swans.
Zoe, having observed the scene, takes care of her son and his child. It sounds as if the story has the potential for a great ballet. Inger, however, delivered an utterly tasteless interpretation. Zeno believes himself hot but is disgustingly primitive. To what lows has the Semperoper fallen? Inger draws on limited creative resources, often recycling old ideas and movements. His unorthodox style cartoons the classical vocabulary; that is witty at times and quirky at others.
In Dresden, he made most of the dancers look like fools. She briefly covered her face, was shaken twice by what might have been a hiccup, stepped left and right, flailed her arms like a boneless puppet, and finished with a desperate glance. Then she repeated the same routine. Benno, during his search for Zoe, first ran into a Pippi Longstocking-like woman who was eager to find a match. Her behavior testified to her dim wit. As his journey continued to southern lands the spacious arena depicted on a huge circular mirror hanging from above hinted at Spain , he met toreadors and Hungarian folk dancers, who taught him some steps.
Armed with sticks, Kallisto and his warriors set off for war. I assume that the slow-motion mode was chosen for reasons of safety and lack of training. Light effects made it appear spectacular. The male and female swans, wearing hooded, skin-colored full-body suits, resembled prehistoric earthlings but actually portrayed souls who transformed into swans the moment they covered their heads with a shimmery white veil.
