David Dawson's Swan Lake

I am a big fan of British choreographer David Dawson's work, which beautifully combines classical ballet vocabulary and a contemporary sensibility. His Giselle for Dresden Semperoper Ballet was a huge revelation and the absolute highlight for all the ballet lovers who came on the Tours en l'air trip to Vienna and Prague in 2015. It's a shame he is so little known in North America, but all the more reason to travel to Europe to see one of his ballets!

Last year he created a rethought Swan Lake for Scottish Ballet, and the BBC followed him and his two principals through the rehearsal process in this beautiful film, just released:

http://bbc.in/2eAk4nP

  
You can also see a whole rehearsal of the White Swan pas de deux here:
https://youtu.be/2ZTevPpnnkI


and the choreographer talking about his inspiration here:
https://youtu.be/b1PqFA7Jcjg


When I'm programming my Tours en l'air season I always keep an eye out for his ballets (he's resident choreographer at Dutch National Ballet, so Amsterdam is a likely spot to see his work).  If you see the name "Dawson" tacked on to a ballet title in the Tours en l'air schedule, be sure to give some extra thought to that trip!

If you love ballet, please check out my season of outstanding ballet trips by clicking here.

 

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