Fact Sheet
 Christopher

Bruce
Bruce was awarded with a CBE for a lifetime’s
service to dance because he was one of Britain’s
leading choreographers. His most famous pieces
include, Cruel garden, Ghost dances, Sergeant
Early’s Dream, Intimate Pages and Swansong.
 Various
Dance Companies have performed
the work including Rambert Dance Company

Rambert Dance Company, once Ballet Rambert, is a
modern touring contemporary dance company based in
Chiswick, London.
 November
1997
 Contemporary,
with physical contact and
some balletic movements. Includes
references to social dance, ballroom,
theatrical dance and tap.
 Episodic



– Story Unfolds a section at a time
1. Relating to or resembling an episode.
2. Composed of a series of episodes: an episodic novel.
3. Limited to the duration of an episode; temporary
 Dramatic




1. Of or relating to drama or the theatre.
2. Characterized by or expressive of the action or emotion associated
with drama or the theatre: a dramatic rescue at sea.
3. Arresting or forceful in appearance or effect: a dramatic sunset.
4. Music Having a powerful, expressive singing voice: a dramatic
tenor.
 Thematic


– Contains elements of drama
– It has a theme
1. Of, relating to, or being a theme: a scene of thematic importance.
2. Linguistics Of, constituting, or relating to the theme of a word: a
thematic vowel.
 Human
Rights
 Prisoner
of conscience definition
“Any person who is physically restrained (by imprisonment
or otherwise) from expressing (in any form of words or
symbols) any opinion which he honestly holds and which
does not advocate or condone personal violence." We also
exclude those people who have conspired with a foreign
government to overthrow their own.”
 The
work of Amnesty International
 Saying
goodbye to a career as a dancer
 The
experiences of Chilean poet Victor Jara
 The
novel ‘A Man’ by Oriana Fallaci
 Introduction

followed by 7 sections.
The victim remains on stage throughout and performs a solo in
section 3 which has motifs that are repeated and/or developed
in sections 5 and 7.
Swansong opens with the victim/prisoner
sitting on a chair stage right. The
interrogators enter one after the other from
stage right and, before any music begins,
perform a tapping sequence. This establishes
that the two of them form a team before
they take up positions either side of the
victims chair, alternately tapping out
‘questions’ to which the victims makes no
response. Initially this seems light-hearted,
almost a game, but with the first electronic
crash – which signals the start of the first
group dance – the mood becomes more
threatening.
At the start of the music the victim is pulled off his
chair by one of the interrogators. The opening
sequence of movement and music is repeated
suggesting a repetition of interrogation. Throughout
the section the dance changes from trios to brief
duets and solo’s. In the duets the interrogators dance
in unison, or they perform the same material one
slightly after the other. In the victims brief solo’s,
performed as if he was answering back defiantly, he
incorporates arabesques, leaps and open arm
gestures, perhaps our first indication of the idea of
flight. In this section the chair is held with the seat
towards the victim’s chest, legs facing away, as if
used as a shield for the victim. At the end of the
section the victim is sitting back on the chair with all
three dances taking up their opening positions.
The second section begins with another interrogation. This time
the victim taps out ‘answers’ in a defiant mood. The first
interrogator places a red nose on the victim, then they place
caps on their heads. Beginning upstage left they perform a
humorous, soft-shoe tango-style duet. The victim is then
drawn into this as he becomes one of the guard’s partners.
This moves in to a section where all three dance in unison.
The interrogators dance with confidence whilst the victim is
trying to follow their steps. We get the impression that the
interrogators are humiliating and playing with the victim. The
chair plays an increasingly significant role being constantly
shifted beyond the prisoners reach. The end of the dance
becomes increasingly violent and the victim appears to ‘snap’
leaping to his feet and frantically tapping out his hysterical
response. He is sat down and the red nose removed. Both
interrogators leave the stage although the first returns briefly
to light a cigarette. This is the only occasion when one of the
interrogators is seen.
The movement and the music of section 3 contrasts with
the torture of the previous section. The victim appears
to be showing his frustration and anger as well as his
urge for freedom. The section begins with a crashing
sound which suggest the slamming of a door. Te section
starts with the victim crouching as he moves off the
chair, he curves his arms behind him, in a bird like
gesture. He steps towards and reaches towards the
light, representing his longing to escape. The dance
moves a long the diagonal line formed by the shaft of
light from upstage left. The solo combines classical
dance with contemporary. He used lots of deep plies,
off balance positions, jumps, arabesques and attitudes
and lots of gestures with the arms showing wing like
actions or shapes. Twice in this solo the victim curls up
on the floor in a defensive twist perhaps representing
his tortured soul. The solo ends with the victim
returning to the chair and taking up his original position
as the interrogators return.
The fourth section begins with the victim being
escorted in slow motion with the interrogators at
each shoulder. Again the opening sequence is
performed twice but at the end of the second time
the chair is moved so the victim cannot return to it.
This is a recurring theme; the chair being repeated
pulled away or placed just beyond his reach. He is
pushed and pulled around so it looks like violence in
slow motion. The victim curls on the floor (repeating
his position from his solo), he is uncurled by the
interrogator and the torture continues. Throughout
this section all 3 dancers are involved in lots of lifts
and the chair is used as a weapon against the victim.
At the end he is held upside down over the chair,
struggling, suggesting that his head is being held
underwater. He is then left alone on the floor crushed
under the chair.
(PERFORMED WITHOUT ACCOMPANIMENT)
This solo does repeat some of the actions from the
first solo such as jumps and arabesques but it is
more mimetic, (includes more actions that are
mimed). At one point the victim lifts the chair
onto his back so he appears to be carrying a
weight, he holds it in front if his face looking
through the bars like the bars of a cell. He
stands on the chair looking into the light showing
his longing to follow it. The solo ends with his
ankles trapped in the bars of the chair as if
fettered or shackled. Here it shows that the
victim is left with a choice: remain with the
chair, his one element of security or move to the
light which represents freedom but uncertainty.
By resisting the call from the unknown the victim
is trapped, literally by the chair.
As the interrogators return to the stage the
victim sits back down on his chair and
watches as they perform a soft-shoe dance
with their canes. Gradually the canes
become weapons, they use them to beat the
victim who uses the chair as a shield.
Eventually the interrogators put their canes
down and the 3 dancers dance together. Here
they repeat movements from the very
beginning of the piece. At the end the victim
collapses and his limp body is picked up and
placed on the chair; the interrogators look at
him with frustration and annoyance.
During this final section the interrogators remain on
stage. They are motionless and remain one on each side
of the chair (the same positions they assumed at the
very beginning of the dance.) They stand, until the
curtain falls, looking at the chair and then the corpse of
their dead victim, whose spirit has escaped and the
audience see him perform his final solo.
This solo begins like the first solo, once he is stood up he
turns and walks directly into the light. Much of the solo
uses dance movements from the earlier solos and is
characterized by the use of arabesques, jumps and bold
arm, bird like gestures. However, there are more of the
bird like movements and less of the tortured
movements. The solo travels further and further
upstage left towards the light source. He smiles as he
looks back at his prison, then with a gesture of flight he
takes off for the world of freedom as he walks offstage
into the light. The ending brings a sense of optimism to
Swansong whatever the audience’s interpretation may
be.
3
male dancers
1
prisoner
2
guards
 By
Phillip Chambon
 Electro-acoustic
with digitally sampled
sounds, vocals, a reed pipe and popular
dance rhythms.
 Unaccompanied interludes enable us to hear
the tapping of the feet.
 Composed
in collaboration with the
choreographer.
 By
Christopher Bruce
 Everyday
clothes associated with the role
 Uniforms
for the interrogators
 Jeans
and red t-shirt for the victim
 By
David Mohr
 Overhead
lighting
 Diagonal shaft of light to suggest natural
light from upstage left
 Footlights create shadows
 Atmospheric
 By
Christopher Bruce
 Bare
stage except from chair, suggests a cell
 Interrogators always exit stage right,
suggests a door?
 Props – Chair, Canes, Cigarettes and a Red
Nose are used to degrade the victim.
 The Chair has many purposes, is used
symbolically as a weapon, a shield, shackles,
a window, a safe place and defence.
 Proscenium
Arch
 Write
a description of what you think
happens
 The
dance is about a prisoner who is being
interrogated by two guards.
 The
guards bully him and mock him but at
time try to be friendly to him in a ‘Good
Cop, Bad Cop’ way.
 Eventually
the prisoner gives up and dies, he
feels he is set free and I think the light in the
back corner represents heaven.
a pair of blue jeans and a red t-shirt worn by the
prisoner/victim and the interrogators are
wearing khaki officer suits
 The convict wears a casual pair of blue denim
jeans. The two guards are wearing khaki uniform
with dark trousers and a lighter coloured top.
Their uniformity helps to emphasise the
prisoners isolation. The officers wear
camouflaged hats for one of their dance/duets
together which help to portray their job as the
guards over the convict. The costumes are
therefore basic but effective as it is simple to
distinguish the characters and depict their
various emotions while allowing freedom of
movement.

 In
the Up Stage corner there is a shaft of
light which could be seen as a window. The
window represents the Prisoners freedom or
could be represented as heaven, as he goes
into the light at the end. The prisoner dies symbolically - he walks into a white light.
This refers back to the title - as a swan is
supposed to sing its most beautiful song just
before it dies