SWANSONG STORYLINE
A prisoner is in a cell. Two guards come in and question him/her. The prisoner refuses to
talk. The guards try a variety of ways to make him/her talk:
Aggression

Being friendly, being gentle
Questioning
Humiliation
Fighting
Leaving the prisoner alone.
We see all of these ways in the seven different sections of Swansong.
Here they all are, showing the methods of interrogation.
Section 1: Questioning & Aggression
Section 2: Humiliation, being friendly
Section 3: Leaving the prisoner alone
Section 4: Aggression in slow motion, teasing
Section 5: Leaving the prisoner alone
Section 6: Aggression with implied weapons
Section 7: Leaving the prisoner alone – release/freedom
The end result is that the guards still have no answers. They have gone too far, and one
interpretation is that the prisoner is dead. However Bruce prefers an audience to read
that there is merely a release from whatever the character has gone through. He is keen
to point out that he certainly does not see the victim as having gone up to Heaven.
Parallel Storyline 1
In recent years Bruce has talked of a more personal storyline running through
Swansong. If ‘Pierrot Lunaire’ was the beginning of his performance career, Swansong
was to be the end of it. Bruce knew that his time as a performer was over – he was
getting older and his body wouldn’t keep up anymore. He was therefore at a crossroads
in his life and needed to change direction by moving into full time choreography. This
dance was therefore Bruce’s ‘swansong’, ie, his last dance leaving the performing stage.
Some say that Bruce was supposed to dance the role of the victim himself, but never
happened.
Parallel Storyline 2
Bruce also wanted to comment on the struggle of a dancer’s life with Swansong. It is
possible to see the victim as any dancer, pushing their body to the limit on a daily basis,
trying to beat the effects of aging. The victim is required to perform challenging balances
as the dance progresses having had no rest and as Bruce says, ‘ the fight for balance is
important because the audience observes the struggle’.
I usually avoid programme notes for my ballets because they tend to limit the audience’s
imagination to a single interpretation. My works generally contain a collage of ideas
creating several possible narratives [stories] which in turn will hopefully trigger a
personal and unique reaction in the spectator. This is true of Swansong, in which an
element of surprise also helps to build tension. However, so much has been written about
the work in reference to its ‘prisoner of conscience’ theme, which was indeed my main
inspiration, that in order to balance preconceived ideas, I would suggest a more personal
narrative connected with a dancer’s life. At the risk of sounding clichéd the dancer’s
existence is an almost masochistic [self-hate] struggle, particularly in the latter years
when, despite the increasing physical hardships, it is so difficult to let go. Personally,
Swansong also can be seen to represent those years of struggle and the catharsis
experienced when I was able to accept that a very important part of my life was over.
Christopher Bruce , 1991