Swanville is the Theatre development of Lanigan's hula hoop variation of the ballet divertissement The Dying Swan.

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Using projection, live performance, and circus skills, Swanville explores the last moments of the Swan's life re-experiencing as she dies.

 

A vaudeville ballet melodrama with hula hoops.  It is said a Swan only sings in the moments before her death. A Swan is dying, chased in an epic series of 'near death' experiences through her memories of her life. Based on the ballet solo choreographed for Anna Pavlova by Michel Fokine and performed by hula hoop virtuosa and clown Judith Lanigan, Swanville is a "hilarious' and "beautiful' exploration of the Swan's hitherto untold story, which takes you through the highs and lows of her life, including NASA's experiment using her feather on the moon, to her time as a burlesque balloon dancer and the circus cowboy that broke her heart.

 

Developed with the assistance of the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts, Regional Arts Victoria  and Arts and Culture Mount Alexander, SwanVille was the result of one of the Clown Dares during the writing of the narrative non-fiction novel Clownland and also informed by a year of interviewing clowns for that book.

 

The video here explains the show visually with footage taken from Creative Development showing July 2013