Swan Lake ABT Prima Ballerina

Skylar Brandt

The Artist’s Point of View

Black Swan: The Movie

Everyone knows the fantastical and dramatic movie Black Swan, but are the experiences of actress Natalie Portman preparing for the role of a swan anything like those of a professional ballerina? Absolutely not.

My name is Skylar Brandt, and I am a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre. I am about to make my debut as Odette/Odile in the classic ballet production, Swan Lake. Considered by world standards as the ultimate ballerina role, I will portray both the white swan and the black swan in a single performance, switching back and forth between acts. As if ballet as an art form is not difficult enough, the transformation required to look the part of a swan feels nearly impossible. Just the aesthetic of the birdlike creature alone requires twisting and shaping, stretching and contorting with the near dislocation of so many body parts in order to achieve the correct look. Then, factor in characterization. The white swan must be gentle and soft, romantic and emotional. The black swan seduces and destroys, full of attitude and self-worth. So how is a ballerina, especially one making a debut, supposed to accomplish all that is asked of her, both technically and artistically, in one performance?

The process takes an enormous amount of research, hours of practice and lots of thought and patience. I am fortunate enough to be guided by such incredible teachers and mentors as Irina Dvorovenko (a legendary swan queen herself) and her husband, Maxim Beloserkovsky. I watched both of them perform when I was a young, aspiring ballerina, and though I may not have known it then, I was studying their movements on the edge of my seat, moved by their expressive dancing.

Odette/Odile

As a professional now, I start from scratch. I begin with the bare structure of the choreography, learning the steps and trying to fit each movement into a musical time frame. As I do this, my teachers point out each angle of my body, everything from the shape of my back to the focus of my eyes. Each finger needs attention. The neck must rotate in inhuman ways. Every step is precise and calculated, just in time for me to rip everything apart again to give room to artistic interpretation.
Though Odette has elements of melancholy, I cannot furrow my brows. This would not be attractive. I must speak through my body language and tell her story through the adagio (slow tempo) quality that makes her so vulnerable. Odile is a completely different kind of animal. She is sexy and cunning, but she must not look cheap. Her presence is full of elegance and grace, just like the white swan. This is what makes the prince confused. He sees Odette in Odile’s dancing, all the while succumbing to her seduction.

So much nuance is required in order to play these parts. Swan Lake entails a lifetime of work, and I am just beginning. But I hope that after the performance, someone will congratulate me on my performance as the white swan and proceed to ask who played the black swan. This would be the ultimate compliment.

Tickets for June 29th can be found at abt.org.
instagram.com/skylarbrandt