Say no to Soviet Swans.

Sasha Pepelyaev, the edgiest choreographer to emerge from Moscow's contemporary dance scene, collaborates with Estonia's absurdist Von Krahl theater on--what else?--a new Swan Lake. This multilevel, multimedia work, coming to Dance Theater Workshop December 10 to 13 as part of the Central Station series, seems more like a cross between Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and Beckett than anything having to do with Petipa. In a reference to the Soviet era, films of dancing swans altenate with films of tractors. In another section, a repeating film of the four orderly "little swans" contrasts with zany rag-doll partnering onstage. Sergei Zagny's gloss on Tchaikovsky's music prunes out the "embarrassing sentimentality" but leaves in the kinetic allure--a perfect match for the gritty charm of Pepelyaev's movement. See www.dtw.org.