Amber Scott soars on scent of romance as Swan Lake’s doomed princess

Prima ballerina Amber Scott has a unique approach to getting into character when dancing Swan Lakes’ immortal dual roles.

Each time Amber Scott danced the lead role in Graeme Murphy’s modern version of Swan Lake, The Australian Ballet principal dancer applied a dab of Penhaligon’s Bluebell perfume just before she left her dressing room. The scent was reportedly a favourite of Diana, Princess of Wales.

“Graeme Murphy’s Swan Lake is loosely based on the Diana, Camilla, Charles triangle,” Scott says. “So to me, it was important to have that associated with that ballet.”

Murphy originally choreographed his modern take on Swan Lake for the 40th anniversary of The Australian Ballet, and Scott has performed in it numerous times.

Then, for the company’s 50th anniversary in 2012, resident choreographer Stephen Baynes created a romantic new version that honoured the tutus and traditions of Tchaikovsky’s legendary 19th-century ballet.

For the Baynes version, Scott has chosen a different scent — one that is calculated to help her immerse herself in the demanding dual role of Odette/Odile.

That scent is Au Lac, which translates from the French as “at the lake”.

Au Lac, an eau de toilette spray, is “a delicate floral inspired by the love affair between Italian Princess Vittoria Colonna and Futurist artist Umberto Boccioni”, says its maker’s website.

It then describes the scent’s notes of waterlily, bitter orange, fig leaves, Italic rose, jasmine, osmanthus, papyrus and cedar wood.

This is the perfume that will accompany Scott as she dances with the handsome young Prince Siegfried, as portrayed by Scott’s Australian Ballet colleague Adam Bull.

Scott bought a bottle of Au Lac when she first danced Odette/Odile in Baynes’ Swan Lake in 2012.

“I bought it because of its name, but I did love the smell,” Scott says. “I’ll probably have to go and buy a bottle. I think I ran out.”

In Swan Lake, it is usual for the one principal to dance the polar opposite roles of Odette and Odile. Odette is the essence of purity, a youthful princess who has been turned into a white swan by the evil sorcerer von Rothbart. Odile is von Rothbart’s black-clad and black-hearted daughter, who tricks Siegfried into pledging his love to her and not to Odette. His pledge dooms Odette to remain a swan forever. Realising his error, Siegfried drowns himself in the lake of tears.

Amber Scott as the doomed Odette. Picture: Nicole Cleary

While Scott will apply Au Lac for her first scene as Odette, she doesn’t plan to reapply it during her transformation into Odile. Nor does she have a separate scent for Odile.

“I didn’t actually do that with this ballet because I don’t have time for a shower (in between scenes),” Scott says.

“I end up just having the one that I associate with Odette. For Odile, I thought it would be part of her spell that she would re-create Odette’s fragrance, to be part of the spell she casts over the prince.”

If the perfume has lost its potency by the time of Odile’s stage entrance, so much the better, Scott says. It will still be enough to help convince the Prince he is really with Odette.

“It’s just a bit of a lingering reminder,” she says.

Scott finds that perfumes help her to mentally and emotionally differentiate between different versions of Swan Lake.

Amber Scott and Adam Bull in rehearsal for Swan Lake. Picture: KateLongley

Dancing the double role of Odette and the seductive and cunning Odile is a challenge, but Scott has identified moments in the ballet that allow her some quiet time to change gear. In Act 2, when Odette first appears, Scott listens for the first, haunting notes that precede her entry.

“It’s like that F sharp, that chord sets the spell,” she says.

“It’s even dark backstage. It feels like you’re at night-time in a lake. It’s very easy to feel part of the story.”

At interval, she changes costume and headpiece to become Odile, usually putting on “a bit more red lippy”.

“I do feel like I mentally change a lot in that interval,” Scott says.

“Definitely the music when you come on as the black swan is very different. It’s confident, triumphant, mysterious. I take a lot of inspiration from that.”

Artists of the Australian Ballet in Stephen Baynes’ Swan Lake. Picture: Jeff Busby

Even swapping Odette’s white costume for Odile’s black one “helps me psychologically”, she says.

Scott will share the roles of Odette/Odile with ballerinas Lana Jones, Ako Kondo, Leanne Stojmenov and Natasha Kutsch.

When Swan Lake debuted in Moscow in 1877, it was received coolly.

Now it is one of the world’s most cherished ballets. Swan Lake is a sentimental favourite at The Australian Ballet. The company chose Swan Lake for its debut performance in 1962, and has performed it many hundreds of times since then.

● Swan Lake, Joan Sutherland Theatre, Sydney Opera House, April 1-April 20, $43-$194, sydneyoperahouse.com