Let's geek out about artistry in ballet

Is ballet art or sports? Swan Lake gives you the answer.

I last performed Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake (the Kent Stowell version performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet) in 2015. Fun fact: My wife and I performed the principal parts together shortly after we were engaged.

I had no idea at the time that it would be my last performance as a professional. This ballet taught me so much about technique, storytelling, and artistry. There’s a reason it’s considered the hardest ballet, and the peak of any dancer’s career. Either you will define your character well and end with goosebumps, or you will deal with the sheer endurance of pain and stamina needed to get through a three hour, four act ballet. I was able to perform it uninjured, which is an accomplishment that’s made possible by understanding story and mechanics. I was a talented dancer, sure, but I was nowhere near what we call legend. Take it from me, someone who was only considered the jumping and trick dancer—I’ve learned how to be an artistic dancer. It takes day and night thinking about it, but it’s worth it. I want other dancers to use what I learned.

You can be an incredible artist.

Let’s go for a swim in the lake, shall we?

The Swan Lake summary you didn’t know you needed

All stories have some main building blocks: Characters, problem/conflict, events that drive the story forward, and resolution.

Characters are most important. If you deeply understand the character that you are playing, you have a very solid starting point. In the case of Swan Lake, most often the focus of the ballet goes to the White Swan (Odette) and Black Swan (Odile). But the true main character is the Prince Siegfried. Sorry, not sorry, ladies. It’s the story of Siegfried becoming an adult, rebelling against his mother, falling in love with a mysterious woman (or a bird?) at the lake, promising to save her by his love, getting fooled by villains, making the biggest mistake, which finally leads him to a devastating ending (usually the end of Swan Lake contains some version of death, or in the Stowell version, a permanent separation).

Now I’m not saying that other characters don’t matter. There are very important characters that drive the story in most exciting ways, and sometimes it can be even harder to understand these characters compared to the main character. The White Swan is a human that was cursed to be a swan except under the moonlight. She unexpectedly meets a random man, Siegfried, at the lake, while she is thinking no one would ever understand who she really is again. She gets pursued by Siegfried and convinced he can save her with his love. But the Prince gets wickedly tricked by the villains (which include the Black Swan who is a human that is good at pretending to act like a graceful swan). Then Odette is cursed forever because of Siegfried’s foolishness, and gets a punishment for trusting such a foolish prince (either by death, or staying a swan forever).

How to make ballet into art

The story develops through a series of events. Let’s look at the act two pas de deux, which is an event where Prince Siegfried takes the White Swan by her arms and makes her fall in love with him by showing what it would be like to be free in a life together. Then at the end of act two is where they proclaim their love for each other.

The White Swan pas de deux from the second act is technically not the hardest. But definitely the most difficult. It’s crucial for both dancers to understand that the dynamic of the whole ballet changes because of this second act pas de deux. If it’s not done right, the art of this entire ballet is lost.

We’re not talking about pantomime here. Neither are we talking about super sad and emotional facial expressions. This is about the internal understanding of the character in this moment of the ballet. The choreography itself (that develops over ten minutes) will transform the two principal characters completely.

And your understanding of how to approach each of the individual steps sets you apart as either an “artist” or a “show stopper.” That’s where ballet technique comes in to play.

How to approach pas de deux

Ballet steps can be done beautifully. Pas de deux choreography can look impressive. Some dancers are more gifted than others in that sense, but I’m the Ballet Wizard that has the knowledge to show you that artistry can be explained, and with the right mindset, it can be learned. But first things first, I need to make it clear that many ballet teachings, in my opinion, are not taught well.

Let’s start with the whole concept of a pas de deux.

Typically, during a pas de deux, the female is taught that she must be able to do every step on her own. Turn, balance, get onto one leg, lean out, and jump all without help… In fact, in order to tell a story like Swan Lake (or any other ballet), the opposite must be true. The female shouldn’t be able to do anything without the male, even if it’s just walking. For example, if the White Swan is hesitant to trust the Prince, would she actually walk by herself allowing him to follow next to her wherever she goes? Let along hold hand and other hand on her waist! No, she will have to allow him to take her wherever he wants her to go, so that he can show her that he can be trusted. Otherwise she might just run and fly away, and a runaway swan wouldn’t make a good story.

The first thing you must learn when it comes to pas de deux is that the male has to lead and the female has to follow. It is easier said than done. The female has to loosen the control she wants when she dances, and the male has to really take the responsibility to manage every single step that she must take. And if one of them is lacking in these qualities, then it just turns into steps that get stacked on top of each other to show how pretty the choreography looks, while constantly managing to not fall off legs. Unfortunately, stories cannot be told with just one character talking and the other trying to keep up.

So for example, let’s look at something as simple as walking onstage together. Walking has to be lead by the male, and the female must follow at his initiation. That means the male must initiate the walk by pushing her forward, and the female must not move until the male pushes forward. Walking has a purpose wherever it occurs in the ballet, so there’s a story already built in to the two characters’ relationship.

Once you can figure out how it feels with walking, you can apply it to other steps. It’s a great place to practice leading and being led. And once you understand the dynamics that exist in that one action, you can start applying that concept to everything such as pique into arabesque, a partnered penché, or even turns from fourth. Everything.

But this is not a partnering article. This is about artistry. So here is how you can use these concepts to tell a story:

In Swan Lake, especially in the second act pas de deux, if the two principal dancers use the leading and being led concept, then each step becomes how the Prince builds trust. And the White Swan is listening to him, and paying attention to him throughout the whole pas de deux. Which leads to a beautiful moment in the end where they both believe they can be freed by love.

The ballet technique we practice daily must apply to the character you’re playing. So it’s not just one shape after another shape. Each character has different nuances, and even their port de bras must match their character’s perspective. And the way they move has to have a reason.

That is how a story needs to be told with ballet choreography. The steps become the tool for building the story.

Ballet: Sport or art?

People constantly debate whether ballet is a sport or art. Truly, it is art. And because it is art, there needs to be more than just movement to tell a story. Technique has to align with intention; it’s not just lines and execution. And those impressive tricks which require a lot of athleticism is a form of expression too.

Learning ballet technique in terms of power is the most important approach. Human emotions are power, not shape. It’s not even just feeling the feelings when you dance. When you learn power-based technique, you will naturally have nice lines and have a sense of intention rather than just showing straight legs or hitting multiple pirouettes.

Ballet is telling others what you’re saying through your movement. There’s a reason for the ballet steps. Figure that out, and you’ve got the makings of becoming a true artist.