The fairy tale “Swan Lake” arose from a very famous German legend, called Swan Queen, during the Romanticism era in Russia.
It was the first ballet piece composed by Tchaikovsky.
The “Bolshoi Theatre” in Moscow paid to produce this masterpiece in order to please the Russian aristocracy of the time, who loved ballet.
The first version of this choreography was created in 1877 by Julius Reisinger.
“Swan lake” was the first symphonic ballet.
For being part of “swan lake” it was necessary not only to have great dance skills but also to have certain anatomic requirements, such as a long neck, long legs and arms without defects and a small head, all this with the purpose of making a stylish impression and to look like swans. Some of the famous ballerinas with that look are Ulyana Lopatkina, Cosmina Maria Sobota Zaharia, Lucia Macíková, y Nina Poláková.
The third act of this piece is famous because of the 32 fouettés turns performed by Odile. It was a complete achievement in the ballet world. It was really challenging because the dancer had to keep her balance while she was revolving 32 times with only one leg. What only a few know is that this wasn’t part of the original piece; it was an idea incorporated later on by Tchaikovsky.
The first show, on March 4th, 1877 was such a failure that even critics thought Tchaikovsky’s music was too noisy.
The french choreographer, Marius Petipa, was who revived this iconic dance piece, after Tchaikovsky’s death.
Pierina Legnani was the first dancer who played both, Odile’s and Odette’s role, in the choreography version by Marius Petipa done in 1895.
This ballet piece is based on the story: “The Nutcracker and the mouse king”, written by Hoffman. However, the literary version is much bloodier and darker than the ballet reproduction.
In Germany, people used to give wooden nutcrackers to children for Christmas, as a symbol of luck and protection from bad spirits. Fanaticism is that much than in 2008 they won a Guinness Record for the biggest Nutcracker, with a measure of 33 feet.
Its premiere was at the “Mariinsky theatre” in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on December 18th, 1892. However, it wasn’t until 1945 that started getting popularity with George Balanchine’s choreography. His Nutcracker piece has become the most popular version nowadays.
For “The waltz of the sugar plum fairy” Tchaikovsky used a celestial that he had smuggled from Russia to Paris, to bring a different sound for the act. People didn’t like that performance, and Tchaikovsky’s compositions were judged as “simple” and “easy”.
The Nutcracker ballet has become an infallible show for Christmas time, since the ’60s.
More than 450 shows of this masterpiece are performed, by different ballet companies, every single December only in the United States.
There is a Museum in Leavenworth, Washington, dedicated to the Nutcracker ballet show, with more than 6000 figures; in case you feel compelled to visit it. The Nutcracker’s melodies belong to the Romanticism and the most famous ones like “The dance of reed flutes” and “The waltz of the sugar plum fairy” nowadays are used for advertisement and movies such as: “The Nutcracker: the movie” (1986), “The Nutcracker Prince” (1990), “Barbie in The Nutcracker” (2001) and “The Nutcracker in 3D” (2010).
In a Christmas episode of “The Simpsons” tv show in 2005, the characters were singing and dancing this ballet piece.
This piece was written by Theophile Gautier after his inspiration on Heinrich’s book, called “L’Allemagne”, a German legend that tells us the story of how brides who died before getting married, took their grooms to the woods and danced until death.
The hairstyle of the main ballerina, performing the Giselle rol, became such a success in 1841, that all women wanted to have it, so this ballet piece helped to grow the hair salon industry.
It was the most famous piece during the Romanticism age and it was a hit in the Paris Opera. However it wasn’t the first piece of this epoch. The first piece of the Romanticism era was “La Sylphide”, which inspired the composition of Giselle.
The first ballerina who played Giselle’s rol was Carlotta Grisi, who made this ballet piece such a success; and Marius Petipa’s younger brother, Lucien Petipa played Albrecht rol.
Adolphe Adam composed the music and it took him only 3 weeks.
Only some of the original musical compositions are still preserved.
Giselle was the first ballet piece, in which all the cast danced on their tiptoes.
Giselle’s world premiere was in the Paris Opera in 1840.
Giselle has an afro version! It was choreographed in 1984 by Arthur Mitchell, the first African American ballet dancer in New York.
Ballet was, is and always will be the classical and traditional dance style by excellence; it has been the starting point of a lot of rhythms and styles that exist nowadays, it doesn’t matter how different they look, because their foundation is this classic dance style by excellence.
Ballet does not only understand about ballet itself, it also understands body movement, fluidity, flexibility, harmony, beauty and strength. Any serious dancer who dances any dance style shall at least take some ballet lessons to improve the technique of the common moves in all styles: turns, spotting, jumps, walking, etc… Learning the right technique will make dancers’ lives easier and more enjoyable!
