The all-male reworking of "Swan Lake" by English choreographer Matthew Bourne has become a dance and stage legend since its November 1995 premiere at Sadler's Wells Theater in London. This powerful piece of ballet zeitgeist toured widely before arriving in Japan in spring 2003. With nonstop curtain calls, its charismatic main dancer Adam Cooper, in the role of the Swan, shot to pop-idol status. He's since returned here to dance several times, while "Swan Lake" itself again packed the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo for a two-month run this spring.
Cooper, though, is not the only dancer to have been propelled to worldwide stardom by Bourne's "Swan Lake." Back in 1996, 18-year-old Will Kemp was just another unknown hopeful when he was chosen to dance the role of the Swan. From there, it was a Cinderella story, as Kemp not only gained fame on the stage but also on the big screen, and even in Gap commercials.
In Japan, however, Kemp is still relatively unknown. That is all set to change with the arrival of Bourne's 1994 hit "Highland Fling," which will run for three weeks in Tokyo from June 23. In this reworking of the classical ballet "La Sylphide," Kemp dances the central role of James, a young Scottish aristocrat who is engaged to a woman who truly loves him. However, James falls under the spell of the nymph Sylphide, and midway through his wedding, he runs away to join Sylphide in the woods -- with heartbreak and tragedy following close behind.