Gotta love a man in feathers

[geoviki]

Both ravurian and isiscolo are laughing at me because I am inarticulately muttering: Swans! Swans! Check out the icon if you don't believe me.

I took a day from the salt mines to see Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake. Live! You cannot imagine a more slashy ballet. Well, okay, male ballet dancers do have that rep, but that's offstage, you know what I'm sayin'? This was all about The Prince! And the Swan! And the Prince and Swan dancing together! With lots of other male swans all swanning about. No subtext necessary. It was a slasher's paradise.

I was in the third row, and I could hear the special swan breathing and the special swan hissing, and see the special swan sweat, for God's sake!

So maybe it wasn't feathers, actually, more like llama wool-looking stuff. But it looked swan-like. And the choreography was very swan-like.

This is the ballet performed by the grown-up Billy Elliott in that film, if you remember.

In honor of my new swan fetish, I link you to copperbadge's Swan!fic: No Treaty

Comments

[luci0logy.livejournal.com]

Oh honey, welcome to the fan club. That ballet is amazing and you can get the DVD from Amazon. Here it's known as 'the gay Swan Lake. I was lucky enough to see Adam Cooper (in your icon) perform the lead swan in 1998 and the spark between him & the prince, when they dance in the park, was palpable to say the least - made me squirm in my seat. I saw him again last August at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in his production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses (he stripped on stage - guh!).

http://www.adam-cooper.com/gallerymenuset.htm

Remember La fashionista - Harry in his birthday suite? Well in the sequel he talked about this very ballet & the effect Adam Cooper had on him before describing his fantasy to Draco on the train home from the Royal Opera House.

[yeats.livejournal.com]

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

ADAM COOPER OMG YAY!

*saw dangerous liaisons and died*

[luci0logy.livejournal.com]

saw dangerous liaisons

Wasn't the set incredible? I think my jaw hit the floor when I saw the scale of it. Did you know it was based on the mirror room at Versailles? I loved those psuedo Death eater costumes, in fact all the costumes. But oh, the way Adam moves, even when just walking across the stage it's like watching sex on legs. *swoons*.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Don't make me jealous...oh, wait. Too late!

[luci0logy.livejournal.com]

Sorry to make you jealous, but this really was an incredible production. I was in heaven but my husband hated it because it wasn't like a traditional ballet - mind you, he'd have hated that too. I sat drooling at Adam, all elegance and grace as he moved across the stage, while hubby listened to a comedy show he'd downloaded earlier on his mini palm thingy. Mind you, I had to spend 6 hours in the Imperial War Museum the next day to uphold my end of the bargain. I'm happy to hear you enjoyed your read of ATBIO more the 2nd time. *must get me an Adam icon*

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

It was so much fun to see it live! Denver sometimes gets lucky with tours.

I watched the final scene of Billy Elliott again and again and again just to see Adam Cooper (that was him, right?) dance. It was so breathtaking.

This swan guy was good too, though. The choreography makes it hot!

[luci0logy.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is Adam Cooper at the end of Billy Elliott. Both my mother & I were amazed at the swan-like movements of the dancers. Adam helped choreograph the swan movements. Next month we're off to see Matthew Bourne's version of Edward Scissorhands, but without Adam - unfortunately.

For more Adam goodness here's his web site:

http://www.adam-cooper.com/index.htm

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

Ooooh I would have loved to have seen it.

And don't you think the "Enchanted Lake" suite is ever so slightly creepy? There's an undertone of menace (the strings) and it's just... creepy.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

The choreography really enhances the creepiness, too. The swans aren't all tame and safe there - they play up the dangerous nature of wild animals. Like the story I linked to says - a swan can kill a man with its wings. I don't know if that's true, but it could be. Of course, you'd end up in the newspaper for dying a weird death.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

If you're ever bored, look on wikipedia under "unusual deaths". It's oddly fascinating and lots of Darwin Award material.

God, I'd have loved to have seen that...

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Oh, no! That's so sad. They're such beautiful birds.

[scoradh.livejournal.com]

I read a review of that last year in the Times. OH HOW I WANTED IT.

[luci0logy.livejournal.com]

Sorry for butting in, but you can buy the DVD with Adam Cooper as 'the swan' from Amazon. Just search for Matthew Bourne.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

It was... gah! Beautiful. Erotic. Moving. I wanted to take a swan boy home as a souvenir. The t-shirt wasn't acceptable as a substitute.

[mad-martha.livejournal.com]

I saw that ballet live years ago, with Adam Cooper in it, at the Plymouth Theatre Royal. Wow. I like ballet generally and have seen a couple of fantastic conventional performances of Swan Lake, but this one really makes the brain fizzle :-)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

You Brits are all lucky! For this and other reasons, too, of course.

The only ballets I seem to see are The Nutcracker and...er, the Nutcracker. It's like the music in Crowley's Bentley in Good Omens, that all turns into Queen tapes.

I'm so glad I caught it while it was in town.

*swans! swans!*

[elfscribe5.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, bare-chested gorgeously buff men in tights. What's not to like? Wish I could have seen this one. Sounds marvelous.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Yeah. Swans. Mmmmm. But the tights were swan leggings, which was cool, too. You can see a bit of them in the icon, but I kind of clipped them off in favor of the bare chests and swan poses.

Oh, a belated Happy Birthday, too.

[elfscribe5.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the bday wish. Much appreciated.

Swans ♥

[talanoa.livejournal.com]

Hi, total stranger here... :D

... I followed the swans! I saw your icon in a discussion somewhere, went OMG!squee!Swan Lake! Adam Cooper! (and in a recognisably "H/D" person, too!), and came here out of icon love.

I've seen it, too, years ago, in the UK, and I also sat close enough to almost smell their sweat as I saw it trickle. ;) It one of my absolute favourite ballet experiences ever, so much love for that version...

Anyway; thank you for reminding me, and bringing back loads of lovely memories and flashes of the show. ♥

As luciology, I'd really recommend to consider getting it on dvd - seeing the Swan and the Prince again and again (and that yummy dance at the ball!) is very addictive. :D


Best wishes,

Clara

Re: Swans ♥

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I took everyone's advice and got the Swan Lake DVD! And it's a wonderful as I remember. It really was a powerful thing to watch all those male dancers, even if my live version didn't include Adam Cooper.