A Swan’s Song
When the Russian choreographer Michel Fokine created the 1905 solo ballet dance The Dying Swan for prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, he meant for it to be a symbol of everlasting struggle. Danced to “Le Cygne”, the 13th and penultimate movement of The Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saens (c1886), the ballet interprets the fight against death of a badly injured swan. Little did Fokine know that 115 years later, his iconic work will play an important role in the struggle of ballet itself against a real threat to its existence.
“The music echoes what the dancers are feeling about the loss of their love, which is dancing” — JOSEPH PHILLIPS
The Covid-19.
