Swan Lake

It is rare to find a woman who has never taken a ballet class, either as an adult or as a young girl. It is also uncommon to find someone who hasn’t encountered the story of Swan Lake. The story of Swan Lake has endured through the years, and it continues to inspire children and adults alike both onstage and on the page. There are numerous children’s books that vary from simplified versions of the Swan Lake legend to books that center around the ballet and those who perform it. The ballet Swan Lake also often appears in diverse forms of youth entertainment, from a reference in the animated film Despicable Me to excerpts woven into Taylor Swift’s music video “Shake It Off.”  And there are many, many videos of children all over the internet dancing joyfully in productions of Swan Lake or doing Swan Lake choreography in dance classes, which demonstrates how significant and meaningful the ballet is to these children (and to their parents). What were your childhood experiences with Swan Lake in particular and dance in general? Why does Swan Lake continue to be something that we share with our children? What lessons – intentional and otherwise – does this story and this ballet teach youth today?

 

Below is a snapshot of our display from our Dance History class's Lobby installation and experience, including images of each book we had on display, links to the videos we had shown, and the questions you can ponder to bring you back to any experiences you may have had during your childhood with Swan Lake. 
 

We hope you were able to participate in our discussion board that posed these questions but we also hope that you extend them out to your friends and family and ask those around you, and yourself:

• At what age did you first see Swan Lake? What do you remember from that experience?

• Was Swan Lake important to you as a child?

• Were you ever involved in a Swan Lake in your childhood?

• What makes this story everlasting? Why do you think it is still relevant today?