Devisor and Performer- Ivan Thorley

Music- Original Swan Lake Score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

In this short re-staging of Swan Lake, the Dying Swan is revisited by the Ugly duckling (and a unicorn in this version); part swan, part clown, part naked, there's something for everyone.

Swan Song was first developed at Culture Lab in Newcastle in 2007 during a motion capture workshop, then performed at Arnolfini in Bristol, The Bluecoat in Liverpool in 2008 and The International Student Puppet Festival at CSSD in London in 2009 and Shunt in 2010. Swan Song is a three minute solo that was especially extended for the Resolution! platform to 15mins.

Reviews- Date: 18 January 2010

‘It's a brave soul who takes a stab at re-inventing Swan Lake - surely there are only so many ways to skin a cygnet - so it's a feather in Ivan Thorley's cap that, at the very least, Swan Song offered something different. Quite what that was proved hard to define as, played out over Tchaikovsky's immortal riffs, Thorley alternately took to the stage as grumpy gremlin (in nasty big underpants) and feather-stuffed unicorn, the action punctuated by an anonymous woman with dustpan and brush. Odd, and darkly endearing, Thorley's Swan Song was as impenetrable as a half-remembered dream.’

Reviewer- Keith Watson

‘Dance always promises to be unpredictable, but last night's Swan Song truly was. In the most unique ode to Swan Lake that I've seen, the swan turned out to be a unicorn, who eventually came to his demise by having the feathers literally pulled out of him. Ivan Thorley's duckling was almost doe-like in his innocence and grace, rivalling the exquisite Odile. Cohesive ideas, constant surprises and good humour kept this piece together, and the audience eagerly awaited every twist.‘

Reviewer- Jobina Bardai

Swan Song