#TBT: Gillian Murphy and Angel Corella in “Swan Lake” (2005)
In 2018, in preparation for her performance of the dual role of Odette/Odile, American Ballet Theatre principal Gillian Murphy posted an adorable photo from her childhood on Instagram posing in costume as the Black Swan. Murphy admits that as a young dancer she was determined to master the 32 fouettés, which Odile performs at the climax of the Black Swan pas de deux. Her performance in this clip from a 2005 performance, alongside former ABT principal Angel Corella as Siegfried, makes it obvious as to why this childhood dream role is now one of her signatures.
When the dancers enter, Murphy already has a fierceness about her; Corella’s Siegfried is completely beguiled by the temptress. Murphy approaches the choreography with fearless physicality, plunging into penchés and hitting each arabesque with staccato precision. Her flexible arms trail behind her like wings. Corella is exuberant in his variation, while Murphy is devilishly cool. Both these turning whizzes seem to conjure their momentum from within themselves. In the coda, which begins at 9:20, the couple increases their intensity; Corella leaps higher than ball guests’ heads and Murphy adds thrilling, incredibly musical triples to her fouettés.
In 2017 Murphy told Pointe that while the “technical elements of Odile” feel natural to her, the manipulative character is, of course, nothing like her real personality. To portray Odile she abandons herself and lets the character take on a life of her own through Tchaikovsky’s music. Happy #ThrowbackThursday!
