The Dying Swan

C. Saint-Saens Ballet 6+

Choreographic miniature to the music of The Swan from Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of the Animals

Choreography by Michel Fokine

The ballet was first staged in 1907. This version was first performed in Perm in 2010.

The best-known of the 14 pieces inCamille Saint-Saëns’s suite Carnival of the Animals is The Swan, for cello and piano. In 1907, Michel Fokine staged a choreographic monologue to Saint-Saëns’s music at the Mariinsky Theatre; it has gone down in world ballet history as The Dying Swan. Fokine wrote the number for the inimitable Anna Pavlova. On account of her inspired rendition, the swan, like the Moscow Art Theatre’s seagull, became a symbol of academic ballet, and ever since then, Fokine’s number has been considered a secret test for all those aspiring to stardom.

Age category: 6+