‘Swan Lake’ Casts Uneven Spell in Swedish Ballet Performance

A defining moment in the Royal Swedish Ballet production of “Swan Lake” occurs when Siegfried falls under the spell of his tutor’s narration of the legend of Odette’s fateful transformation into the Swan Queen.

As the new Siegfried, Friday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Brendan Collins changed at that moment from an unperturbed, naive adolescent into a man with a purpose, confirming his resolve moments later by reading his future in the tutor’s book.

Even Collins’ technique, heavy and earthbound in Act 1, would become transformed into buoyant elevation when he finally got his big solo in Act 3. But he never developed the character much further, and naivete remained his strongest trait.

The long-limbed Collins consistently partnered sympathetically, though, making Anna Valev, his Odette/Odile, soar effortlessly. Also new in the dual role during this engagement, Valev was not the first company principal to look more comfortable and expressive in the fast challenges of Odile than in the lyric adagios of Odette, although she was always daring in extensions and balances.

Still, surprisingly, Valev didn’t even attempt the Black Swan fouette marathon, substituting instead a circuit of single and multiple turns. The substitution, though securely done, was shocking and disappointing, and perhaps unfairly did little to strengthen her case as a bravura dancer.

As the lovers’ nemesis, the threatening and lanky Mats Lindstrom, completing the new lineup, made a commanding Rothbart.

Renat Salavarov again conducted.