”Swan Lake” Premiere in Vietnam: hundreds of artists, sweats, and one masterpiece

Written with photos by Nguyen Duc Tung for Hanoi Grapevine
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Since its establishment on 6 Aug 1959, Vietnam National Opera and Ballet Theater (VNOB) has undergone a long process of development. Marking the 60-year milestone of dedication to the country’s art scene, all members of the “great family” VNOB are working hard to bring to the audience, for the first time ever, the complete Tchaikovsky’s ballet masterpiece “Swan Lake” on 7 Oct 2019.

142 years after the first performance in Moscow, the classic ballet “Swan Lake” has been reproduced into different versions at hundreds of theaters around the world. This figure shows that this masterpiece has become a standard of Western beauty, of mankind, requiring the performers to completely master the techniques. The first time this ballet was fully performed in Vietnam was in 1985 under the direction of a Russian expert. Since then, “Swan Lake” has been a significant challenge for Vietnamese ballet artists and choreographers. They could only perform short excerpts, if the duration was longer they must invite Russian ballet troupes. This is both a challenge and a goal for our Vietnamese artists. Ever since taking charge of VNOB (March 2018), Meritorious Artist Tran Ly Ly has had the ambition to bring the complete “Swan Lake”, performed entirely by the Vietnamese, to the Vietnamese stage. This was a bold decision for the theater director and all its members. Despite the limited budget, every individual is dedicated to achieving European standards of techniques. Therefore, this performance of “Swan Lake” not only expresses the great honor of the members of Vietnam National Opera and Ballet on the theater’s 60th anniversary but also marks a turning point of Vietnamese ballet.

“Ballet is much like a sport” – Choreographer Le Ngoc Van

A leading director and dancer at the Royal Ballet London, Le Ngoc Van takes the role of the choreographer for this version of “Swan Lake”. To help Vietnamese girls transform into Russian swans, he set out to practice with high discipline, improving each actor’s weaknesses in both technique and physique. Le Ngoc Van shared: “Ballet is much like a sport. If we only practice half-heartedly and just put in all the effort on the performance day, it will not go well definitely. Vietnam National Opera and Ballet hopes to bring an incredible “Swan Lake” to the audience. It is also a milestone later on, so we can enjoy ballet and truly be proud of our artists.”

The luxury you cannot buy with money

There are also 60 orchestral artists playing live for almost three hours for the show. This is very difficult for human and material resources in Vietnam. It can be described as a luxury.

“Practice sessions are very long. Van always trains overtime for the dance group, with extra sessions. The orchestra saw that it is also impossible to practice less. It is the pressure that drives them all to work. “Swan Lake” versions in the world are very majestic. It is unacceptable to play even just one note wrong. Practice cannot be measured in minutes, hours, or money. It will never be equal to the everyone’s effort. After the practice sessions, I see that everyone is tired but no one asks to go home. Our musical instruments are also not as well-invested as in foreign countries. We use what we have.

“Swan Lake” is a Russian work, is has been in their blood for hundreds of years. The conductor must also let the orchestra see that spirit so that they understand and show it in the performance. Tchaikovsky’s notes cannot be played wrong. He loved all the actors, gave them the most challenging parts, and that has to be paid with the effort of playing the right note and showing the right spirit of the masterpiece. So after hours of rehearsing in the theater and returning home, we practice again. The concert master confided that he had spent many nights awake to assemble the pieces of the orchestra.”- conductor Dong Quang Vinh.

Another difficulty is that there is no symphony orchestra in Vietnam with enough people to play the complete “Swan Lake”. VNOB’s orchestra lacks many positions in the ensemble such as Tuba, Trombone, Cor and has to call for support.

With “Swan Lake”, Tchaikovsky wrote fewer notes but the technique was more difficult. Russians are of a larger stature and can play the Cor with very long notes. Vietnamese musicians are thin, their strength and techniques are definitely weaker than the Russians. That is also a problem that requires a lot of practice to overcome.

After mastering the spirit of the work, the orchestra will rehearse with the dance group. Choreographer Le Ngoc Van chose a very edgy version for the dance. This requires the music composition to be as such. And so just a lack of only one member in one the two groups will take a lot of time to re-communicate the information.

Glorious moments under the lights

Wiping away the sweat, the actors will put on elaborate costumes to give the audience a full visual experience – 100 Italian-style outfits with the most floral motifs, especially that of the lotus, went through 9 stages from cutting patterns, 3D printing, stamping, stitching, pasting,…

Hundreds of artists of Vietnam National Opera and Ballet are still putting in their sweat so that, for the first time, Vietnamese audience can enjoy the complete masterpiece “Swan Lake” performed entirely by Vietnamese artists. A firm affirmation of the theater’s mission of service and dedication to the country’s art scene.

Translated by Hanoi Grapevine