The Phallic Swan Lake: Symbolism and Semiotics in Contemporary Productions of Romantic Story Ballets

Hecht suggests that ballet costumes can be explored using a constructionist, semiotic approach. A costume is both a signifier (by means of its materiality) and a signified (functioning as a semiotic element within a sign system); thus, ballet costumes cannot be dissociated from the semiotic investigation of ballet. Following Keir Elam's differentiation between cultural codes (vestimentary and cosmetic codes) and dramatic subcodes, Hecht suggests defining costume as an active sign when it is worn by a performer and allows an interaction between wearers of costumes on stage. Matthew Bourne's "Swan Lake," first produced in 1995 in London at Sadler's Wells, offers a good example of the many shifts in signification introduced not only by unconventional casting (male instead of female) but also by the costumes, designed by Lez Brotherston. No doubt, the swan as a phallic object of desire initiated this male version of this Romantic ballet, now invested with new and divergent significations.