A lead swan with brawn

Alan Vincent is a man’s man. Tall and virile-looking in a Clive Owen kind of way, with a disarming smile, this 30-year-old Briton relishes any opportunity to knock back a single-malt whiskey. But these days, in his non-imbibing hours, he projects a somewhat less macho image -- that of the sexy, insinuating lead swan in Matthew Bourne’s singular interpretation of “Swan Lake.”

Bourne’s version of the Tchaikovsky classic, which jettisons a flock of dainty female swans for violent, bare-chested, barefooted males, was first performed in 1995 at London’s Sadler’s Wells and propelled its director-choreographer to international fame. After making its North American premiere in 1997 at the Ahmanson Theatre, it went on to win three Tony Awards on Broadway.

Now, as part of a 10th anniversary tour, “Swan” has returned to the Ahmanson for a two-week run beginning officially tonight, and Vincent will alternate with Jose Tirado in the lead role. It will mark the fourth time he has danced in a Bourne work for Southland audiences, after “Cinderella” in 1999, “The Car Man” in 2001, “The Nutcracker” in 2004 and “Play Without Words” in 2005.

In 1997, though, Vincent, far from swanhood, was a student at Lewisham College in his native London. Indeed, having studied contemporary movement since the age of 8, he had dropped out of dance to work on refurbishing antiques.

That hiatus was short-lived.

“I got sacked after a year,” he says while taking a break from rehearsals in a conference room of the Music Center Annex. “So I decided to get back to what I loved doing.”

Vincent, clad in a distressed leather jacket, cargo pants and torso-hugging tee, recalls auditioning for Bourne in 1997: “It was a nightmare. I attended an open call and took seven classes with Matt. In the end I lied -- I said I was offered another job, so they offered me ‘Cinderella.’ ”

Having joined the West End production of that show, he then made his Broadway debut in 1998 as one of the corps of swans in “Swan Lake.”

Bourne, whose company, New Adventures, employs close to 100 dancers, is, above all, a storyteller. Heavily influenced by film, he has the dancers look at movies as a form of research.

Vincent says he studied a lot of Brando’s work to help flesh out Luca, the American drifter he portrayed in “The Car Man.” But for “Swan Lake,” his only preparation, apart from seeing Bourne’s show numerous times, was watching a documentary about the graceful, yet fiendishly aggressive, swan.

In fact, this is one dancer who doesn’t really care for ballet. Though he loves the music of Tchaikovsky, he admits to never having attended a traditional “Swan Lake.”

“I have no turnout -- my feet are parallel,” he says. “I get bored watching ballet. I want to see the body doing amazing contemporary movement. I want to feel something.”

In Bourne’s “Swan,” feelings are rampant. Although the work is danced to Tchaikovsky, the 1895 story has been contemporized and includes a sendup of the House of Windsor. There are also homoerotic and Freudian twists, the latter coming via an unhealthy mother-son relationship a la “Hamlet.”

Retaliating against Mama, the prince falls in love with the Big Swan/Stranger -- a bold take on the Odette/Odile ballerina role but with Lez Brotherston’s silk-feathered pantaloons a far cry from a tutu and Act 2’s Stranger (the black swan) swaggering in studly black leather.

Vincent, however, claims not to see the gay bent that’s had dancegoers’ tongues wagging since the production made its initial splash.

“To me, it’s more of a human thing rather than this guy thing. It’s the prince trying to be accepted. At the end of the day, as long as you come to the theater and it affects you, we’ve done our jobs.”

Vincent says the idea of filling the feathers of Adam Cooper, the former Royal Ballet principal who originated the part of the lead swan, at first seemed daunting. But having performed the role in Britain, South Korea and France and now as part of an 11-city American tour, he says he is savoring it.

“I struggled with it, yeah. I’d gone from being Swan No. 12 to the leader. You start doubting yourself,” he says. “Adam’s a big star and has amazing technique, but I’ve got a presence and can do movement well. Matt came to Paris to see it, and if you can make your boss cry, it’s quite emotional.”

Says Bourne by e-mail from London: “Alan is a rare creature as a dancer -- a big guy who is at turns totally masculine and powerful and then tender and beautiful. He has extraordinary intensity and integrity in his acting as well.”

Hooking up with Bourne proved serendipitous personally as well as professionally for Vincent. He met Vicky Evans, who joined the company in 1995 and, after dancing in several productions, helped restage this “Swan.” The couple married in 2002.

Evans, whose title is artistic tour manager, loves not only her husband’s dancing but also what he brings to the company. “He’s a leader and role model for the other guys. People really look up to him,” she says.

“Alan’s modest,” she adds with a hearty laugh, “but he’s ideal -- as a bloke and a hunk.”

When he’s not swanning around the globe, Vincent can be found choreographing and performing with BEA Theatre, a small troupe he formed last year with Bourne dancers Emily Piercy and Belinda Chapman. Having been a frequent visitor to Los Angeles, he’d like to surf or skateboard during this stint.

But such activities are contractual no-nos, so he will dutifully work out and attend dance class instead.

“I really don’t want to do class,” he mock-grumbles. “But if I don’t, my love handles will come back.”

*

‘Swan Lake’

Where: Ahmanson Theatre, 135 N. Grand Ave., L.A.

When: 8 p.m. today through Saturday and March 13-18; 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, March 18 and 19; 7:30 p.m. Sunday and March 19.

Price: $30 to $85

Contact: (213) 628-2772 or www.taperahmanson.com