The damn bird is supposed to die!

I had high hopes for a performance of Swan Lake (Labude jezero) that we got tickets for tonight (7/17/06)at the Zetra Center.

For hours, the Imperial Russian Ballet delivered, giving us ingenius setting, lucious costuming, anorexically sculpted ballerinas, impeccable dancing and a Prince Siegfried with a, ahem, excellent FORM. Miranda, Zeljka and I from CIN loved it and we weren't alone. The dance toward the end when Odile -- evil twin of the Swan-Maid Odette -- seduces Siegfried just brought people out of their seats. The ladies next to me sighed.

As the final act began, I promised, "This is the best. Everybody dies."

That is only as it should be in high drama, opera and ballet.

Imagine my shock as the play ended then when the Swan and the prince were not only alive but kissing and happy.

This is not a view of true love that accords with my current perception.

It turns out that Swan Lake actually has a number of possible endings. In America, the most popular versions -- what I have always seen -- end appropriately in betryal and misery. The Russians prefer to sugarcoat things.

Here's the background: The prince having mistaken Odile for Odette (why her black tutu doesn't tip him off as it does the audience I cannot explain) swears eternal love for the wrong woman. Then suddenly he sees Odette and realizes he has messed up. By getting engaged to her twin he condemns Odette to a lifetime in feathers. A curse on her will remain and she'll stay a swan until death.

In the final act I like Siegfried runs to the lake to beg forgiveness of Odette -- and she dies in his arms.

Or, Odette is called away into swandom and the prince is left alone, bereft on an empty stage.

Or, Odette,hopeless, commits suicide by throwing herself into the lake (again, I cannot explain why a swan would pick this method of suicide) and the prince does the same.