HISTORIC ARTICLE

HISTORIC ARTICLE

Feb 20, 1877 CE: Swan Lake Ballet Premieres

Feb 20, 1877 CE: Swan Lake Ballet Premieres

On February 20, 1877, the ballet Swan Lake, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, made its debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia.

Grades

9 - 12

Subjects

Arts and Music

Image

Ballerinas, Berlin

Photo: Dancers sitting in costume

Photograph by Maria Helena Buckley, My Shot
Photo: Dancers sitting in costume
Selected text level

On February 20, 1877, the ballet Swan Lake, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, made its debut at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, Russia. Today, Swan Lake is a standard in both classical music and ballet repertoires. In particular, the leading ballerina’s dual characters of the “White Swan” and “Black Swan” is one of the most demanding roles in dance. Swan Lake has been called Russia’s “national ballet.” Swans are a traditional symbol of romantic love in Russian poetry and folklore, and some critics say the story’s tragic ending appeals to the country’s dramatic national identity. Even the choreography of the corps de ballet is based on Russian and Slavic folk dances. Swan Lake has been adapted by choreographers all over the world. The version most often performed is by the French choreographer Marius Petipa, while Russian immigrants Rudolf Nureyev and George Balanchine contributed their own versions of the ballet. One popular version, by British choreographer Matthew Bourne, replaces the traditional female corps de ballet with male dancers.

Media Credits

The audio, illustrations, photos, and videos are credited beneath the media asset, except for promotional images, which generally link to another page that contains the media credit. The Rights Holder for media is the person or group credited.

Writer
National Geographic Society
Producer
National Geographic Society
other
Last Updated

October 19, 2023

For information on user permissions, please read our Terms of Service. If you have questions about how to cite anything on our website in your project or classroom presentation, please contact your teacher. They will best know the preferred format. When you reach out to them, you will need the page title, URL, and the date you accessed the resource.

Media

If a media asset is downloadable, a download button appears in the corner of the media viewer. If no button appears, you cannot download or save the media.

Text

Text on this page is printable and can be used according to our Terms of Service.

Interactives

Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. You cannot download interactives.