Emma Hawes and Aitor Arrieta
(Picture: Laurent liotardo)In a week when a spare princeling consumes our thoughts, English National Ballet’s Swan Lake reminds us that being the heir is also no feather bed. Forget fisticuffs and Elizabeth Arden cream – Tchaikovsky raises the stakes with implacable curses and moonlit swan maidens.
Siegfried is a prince without purpose – his face falls when his mother reminds him it’s time to marry and perpetuate the dynasty. Plunged into sulky perturbation, he throws up his arms, lost in a thicket of confusion. Aitor Arrieta, the Basque dancer leading ENB’s first-night cast, is an elegant if unshowy performer, and portrays an introspective, none-too-bright hero. Draw your own princely parallels.
