Fowl-play in Boston's 2006 best of dance article

As I was reading the Boston Globe article on Boston.com about dance in Boston, a year in review, I realized my personal favorite dance event in Boston from 2006 was excluded.

The article by Karen Campbell, a Globe correspondent, titled "Anniversaries, birthdays were uplifting events" talked about major companies and choreographers who celebrated birthdays and company anniversaries with outstanding performances in and around Boston. But during April 2006, Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake" (not Tchaivosky's vision exactly) came to town at the Colonial Theatre on Boylston Street. And the fact is, it was hands down PHENOMENAL.

It had been more than 10 years since his "male-centric" version of the classical Russian ballet emerged, but the gusto with which it was performed in Boston enhanced the experience greatly for me. And for the first time, this homo-erotic version of something that was strictly a tutu kind of show, was performed in Boston.

I took my boyfriend, not the biggest ballet fan to say the least (he's a Bruins-loving, football-watching, weight-lifting, hard-core exercising kind of guy) to see the ballet, his first. And I had forgotten to mention that this plot was slightly different from the original, as the frustrated prince was attracted to a flock of bare-chested men. But in a city like Boston with its liberal tendencies, universities and laws, this storyline could easily be appreciated if not lauded.

And while I leaned on the edge of chair, trying to memorize some choreography and and swing to the music, my boyfriend slept through the more classical ballet portions, he genuinely enjoyed the more modern-dance incorporated into the production. Set to Tchaikovsky's elegant and entrancing classical music, a car/club scene became vibrant, not just because of the bright fuchsia and orange flapper costumes. The dance was jazz, mixed with swing and other modern dances, which left the audience intrigued and happy.


For those of us who aren't into classical ballet, Bourne's version is a great alternate, which still has those technical elements and musical composition that makes the original "Swan Lake" a masterpiece, but with 90s, and now 2000s appeal.

I've digressed. Now after my brief description of a dance performance I could go on and on about, you can see why I was in disbelief when this wasn't mentioned in the Globe article. But I understand, they were merely focusing on how company anniversaries and choreographer birthday parties were a central theme throughout amazing dance performances in Boston in 2006.


I am going to post the links for the two articles discussed in my blog in a separate post, so stay tuned.