“Swan Lake” is not all it is quacked up to be.
Indeed, with apologies to the great Russian composure Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his celebrated ballet about Princess Odette that has been mesmerizing audiences ever since premiering in Moscow’s elegant Bolshoi Theater in 1877, was transcended this past weekend by the dance “At the Pond – Ducks” in an outdoor amphitheater in a park in Torrance with picnicking patrons seated on a grass hillside.
Princess Amara was one of the six Ducks who graced the cement stage wearing frilly tutus as bright yellow as the spring sun and smiles that shone even more radiantly. The Ducks were actually Ducklings for they are all quite young. Princess Amara, for example, is four months shy of turning three years old – which I happen to know because she is my granddaughter.
Naturally, this connection has nothing at all to do with my critique that Princess Amara, despite her ballet slippers barely moving during her first dance number, was the prima ballerina of all the Ducks and merited the florist shop worth of bouquets she received from adoring fans afterwards.
By the way, getting one’s ducks in a row surely has never been more challenging than with these little Ducklings – as well as the 3-year-old Dragonflies, 4-year-old Lily Flowers, 5-year-old Frogs, and even the much older Disco Snails who amazingly turned Sunday afternoon into “Saturday Night Fever.”
A second Duckling in particular also stole my heart. It happened during the “Daddy Dance” when this danseuse went off script and wandered away from the practiced choreography – and also away from her father, who continued performing with his other slightly-older daughter – and began twirling around and around and around, with her face tilted heavenward, like someone trying to purposely make herself super dizzy.
Here is the best thing about the dizzy Duckling: her dad did not chase her down and make her dance with her sister and him; nor did an instructor step in from the wings to make her perform the dance the proper way; and, wonderfully, the audience did not judge her harshly, but instead rewarded her throughout with a rising ovation!
The priceless life lesson – and really, the hour-long production with many dozens of students of all ages was all about learning self-esteem and confidence, practice and dedication, performance and joy – was to dance like no one’s watching, even when a few hundred are.
Something else I loved about all the Daddy Dances (each Duckling, Dragonfly, Lily Flower, and Frog had a moment in the spotlight alone with her daddy) was that the fathers dressed up in suits and ties. The message to the daughters was that this was a Big Day and they were worth all the fuss.
For the dads, meanwhile, it was a glimpse into the future many years off – yet only a blink away – to another Big Day and a similar pas de duex with their grown daughters again wearing lacy dresses, of wedding white instead of yellow or blue or green or red.
Certainly this is what I was imaging as I watched Princess Amara and her daddy –
Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev were less perfect in “Swan Lake” – dancing to Rod Stewart’s “Forever Young” and I wished for its lyrical message to come true for all of these tiny dancers:
May sunshine and happiness surround them always; may they always be proud and brave and strong; may they experience good fortune and love, and in their hearts remain as forever young and joyous as Dragonflies, Lily Flowers, Frogs, and Ducklings dancing under the sun.
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Essay copyrights Woody Woodburn
Woody’s new novel “The Butterfly Tree” is now available in paperback and eBook at Amazon (click here), other online bookstores, and is orderable at all bookshops.
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Woody writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram at @woodywoodburn.