Six different ballerinas partnered by six different Siegfried’s will assume the role of Odette/ Odile over ten performances. In fact, some 41 different dancers will debut a role in this run. On the matinee I attended, soloist Akari Yoshida embodied the delicate valor of Odette, while her automaton-sharp, duplicitous Odile as Baron von Rothbart’s (Fukunobu Koshiba) nefarious puppet astutely advanced the story, as the famous 32 fouettés unspooled as the decisive weapon in an arsenal of trickery. 

Coming off a fracture that sidelined her earlier this year, it is Yoshida’s second stint in the role after her debut in 2023, difficult to fathom, as her Odette resonated with the intelligence of a more seasoned performer. Marked by technical excellence, her stunning, long-legged exactness and supple, expressive back, the fluttery grace of her wing ripples and quick feet, Yoshida is my new touchstone for the role. But Yoshida’s emotional interpretation impressed me most. One of the great appeals of Wright’s version is that every Swan Maiden is a princess in her own right, and the everpresent corps rely on Odette to mirror their collective turmoil. 

In the famous Act Two White Swan adagio, Yoshida’s développé as she sweeps forward into a deep penché before flowing backwards into the stunning cambré, her arms draped like wings over Siegfried’s (a charismatic Shun Izawa) support, soulfully captures the swans’ united yearning, poised in solidarity around her. Or the forlorn bend of her arabesque around Siegfried’s body and the tilt of her head, as she projects the first tentative moments of trust, the corps’ shifting bourrées echoing this flutter of hope. 

Repeatedly the corps act as a physical chorus, emphasizing the emotions in stillness or by surrounding the lovers in their iconic movements like the sorrowful drag of the temps glissé or their encircling formations as Tchaikovsky's haunting woodwinds swell. It’s a bittersweet first meeting, as Odette carries not only her own fragile hope, but theirs. Later, in Act Four, when Odette bursts into frantic entrechat, a final, fluttering attempt to escape the spell, the entire corps painfully subsumes her agitation. Hope, a thing with feathers, broken.