“There are no mothers-in-law in ballet,” said George Balanchine, meaning there are some details you can’t express through dance steps. Actually, a lot of details. If you’ve ever watched dance and thought “what’s going on here?” you wouldn’t be alone. Even the best-known ballets can be baffling to a newcomer: a woman has been turned into a swan, you say, and can only be returned to human form by a man swearing his true love to her? And then her doppelganger comes along, played by the same dancer, but it’s actually an evil sorcerer’s daughter? You what now?!
Big ballet companies, not wanting to alienate audiences, stick with the same titles so they don’t have to explain what’s going on. But no one wants to see the same five stories for ever, nor feel stupid by not understanding what’s happening. “Be sure to read the programme beforehand” is critic’s shorthand for a very confusing story. But Scottish Ballet founder Peter Darrell used to say that if you have to read the programme, a ballet has failed in its job.
