Download Swan Lake - The Virginia Arts Festival

2016-2017
Swan Lake
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet
With Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Friday, March 31, 2017
11:00AM - 12:45PM
Chrysler Hall, Norfolk
What’s Inside
About Swan Lake
The Story
The Stories Behind The Story
The Choreography
The Music
Ballet 101: A Bit Of History
Ballet Mime Dictionary
Resources
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4-5
6
7-8
9-10
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12
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Generous support has been received from Bank of America, Batten Educational Achievement Fund of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, D. Baker
Ames Charitable Foundation, Capital Group Companies, Clark Nexsen, Dominion Resources, Enterprise Holdings Foundation, Friedrich Ludwig Diehn Fund
of the Hampton Roads Community Foundation, Nordstrom, PRA Group, Ruth Brown Memorial Foundation, Sandler Center Foundation, SunTrust, Tidewater
Children’s Foundation, USAA, Virginia Commission for the Arts, Virginia Lottery, Wells Fargo, and the following cities and counties and/or their Arts and
Humanities Commissions: Chesapeake, James City County, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg.
About Swan Lake
Swan Lake
Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet
With Virginia Symphony Orchestra
Versatility, technical excellence, and a captivating style are the trademarks of Canada’s
Royal Winnipeg Ballet, qualities that have garnered both critical and audience acclaim.
Founded in 1939, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet holds the dual distinction of being Canada’s
premier ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North
America. In 1953, the company received its royal title, the first granted under the reign of
Queen Elizabeth II.
The Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s mission is to enrich the human experience by teaching,
creating, and performing outstanding dance.
When you think of ballet, do you imagine dancers in
flowing white tutus fluttering across the stage with the
grace and beauty of elegant swans? That wouldn’t be
surprising, since Swan Lake is one of the world’s most
widely recognized ballets. It’s part of nearly every
major ballet company’s repertoire, or collection of
works a dance group knows how to perform.
Despite its fame today, Swan Lake’s premiere on
March 4, 1877, at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow,
Russia, was a big flop. Critics weren’t impressed by the
choreography, or arrangement of dance steps, by
Julius Reisinger, and they found the prima ballerina,
or star female dancer, inadequate. Some thought
the score, or music, by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky was
too complicated for ballet, while others thought the
opposite, that the lackluster dancing detracted from the
intricate music.
The Swan Lake that is known and loved by the
world today is based on the ballet’s revision for the
Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia. After
Tchaikovsky’s death in 1893, the Maryinsky (now the
Kirov Theatre) asked Marius Petipa, ballet master of the
Imperial Ballet, to create a new version of Swan Lake.
A ballet master is the person responsible for the
quality and competency of a company’s dancers.
Swan Lake, photo by Paata Vardanashvili
2
About Swan Lake
Petipa had worked with Tchaikovsky on other
ballets—The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker—
so he knew the composer’s work well. Petipa asked
his assistant, Lev Ivanov, to choreograph the graceful
“swan” scenes. The new production of Swan Lake
was unveiled on January 17, 1895. This time, it was
a huge success!
Photos L-R: Pierina Legnani as Odette
in Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov's
revival of Swan Lake, St. Petersburg,
1895.
Fredrik Rydman's Swan Lake
Reloaded.
Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake.
Swan Lake has even worked its way into popular
culture, its unforgettable music, storyline, and
dancing turning up in film, television, literature,
and even video games. Despite its less-than-stellar
nineteenth-century beginnings, today Swan Lake
remains one of the world’s most beloved ballets.
Think about this: What do you know
about ballet? Have you ever seen a ballet
performance—maybe on television, in a movie,
or at a theater? Perhaps you or someone you
know takes ballet lessons. What images or
impressions come to mind when someone
mentions the word ballet?
Try this: Using what you already know—or
don’t know!—about ballet, form a hypothesis,
or educated guess, about what you might expect
to see, hear, or feel during Royal Winnipeg
Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake. Make a list of
your predictions. Revisit your list after the show.
How many of your predictions were correct?
Where is Winnipeg, and what’s it like? Locate
Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s hometown on a map of
Canada and research what else you might find
there. The ballet company received its royal title
from the queen of England. Why? Research the
history of the England-Canada relationship and
create a timeline of important events.
Swan Lake is always changing. Over the decades,
dance companies and choreographers around
the globe have given the classic story their own
special twist. Sometimes the ballet ends happily;
sometimes it ends tragically. Sometimes sections are
deleted; sometimes they’re added. In 1996, English
choreographer Matthew Bourne replaced the elegant
female “swans” in flowing tutus with spiky-haired
male dancers in feathery knickers. In 2012, Swedish
choreographer Fredrik Rydman premiered Swan Lake
Reloaded, his hip-hop/street-dance rendition of the
story.
3
The Story
Though there are many variations
to the tale, the Swan Lake story
generally goes like this…
It’s a party! Prince Siegfried is turning twenty-one.
At the castle, villagers and courtiers celebrate
the prince’s big day. The queen arrives to remind
Siegfried that he will soon be king, so the time has
come for him to choose a bride at the next evening’s
ball. But Siegfried hasn’t yet met someone who
touches his heart; he wants to marry only when he
falls in love. Siegfried is saddened by his mother’s
request but maintains his composure until the guests
go home. Alone in the dark, Siegfried sees a flock of
white swans in the sky and departs with his mother’s
birthday gift to him—a crossbow—following the birds
to the lake.
Deep in the forest, swans drift ashore and are
transformed into young women. Siegfried is stunned
by their incredible beauty and lowers his weapon.
The Swan Queen, Odette, explains that the lovely
creatures are under the spell of the evil magician Von
Rothbart and only the love of a man who swears
eternal faithfulness can break the sorcerer’s spell.
Siegfried is enchanted by Odette—he has never seen
such a beautiful maiden—and vows his eternal love
to her. Odette warns the prince that if he breaks his
promise, no one will ever be able to help the swan
maidens. As dawn approaches, the maidens are
once again transformed into swans and return to the
lake. Odette bids Siegfried farewell.
Next evening in the castle ballroom, a magnificent
ball is being held in Siegfried’s honor, with the
full court in attendance. Beautiful princesses from
various countries appear before the prince, but
no one captures his attention. Siegfried is polite
but indifferent to the young ladies at the ball; he
thinks only of Odette, who has captured his heart.
Suddenly, two uninvited guests appear, dressed in
black: Von Rothbart, impersonating a noble knight,
and his daughter, Odile. Siegfried is mesmerized by
Odile, whom he thinks is Odette, and declares that
she will be his bride.
Von Rothbart delights at the prince’s betrayal of his
love; Siegfried has broken his oath to Odette. Love
and faithfulness no longer exist and nothing can
withstand Von Rothbart’s evil power. With mocking
triumph, Odile reveals her true identity. For a
moment, Siegfried sees a vision of the swans by the
lake and, understanding the terrible trickery, rushes
to the forest in search of Odette.
At the lake at nightfall, Odette explains to her swan
maidens Von Rothbart’s treachery and Siegfried’s
unintentional betrayal. The prince promises to
redeem his misdeed and challenges the sorcerer
to combat. Von Rothbart’s powers are destroyed,
bringing an end to evil wizardry. As Odette and
Siegfried are united in eternal love, the rays of the
rising sun grant life, love, and happiness.
4
The Story
Think about this: Swan Lake opens with
Prince Siegfried’s twenty-first birthday, the age at
which he must get married and think about adult
responsibilities. It’s an important milestone, often
called “coming of age.” Think about important
milestone birthdays in your culture—when you
turn sixteen, for example, or eighteen, or twentyone. What things happen or are expected of you
when you mark those birthdays?
Try this: Research coming-of-age birthday
traditions of other cultures, perhaps the Jewish
bar or bat mitzvah or the Hispanic quinceañera.
Pretend you’re a party planner—what special
ceremonies or rituals, food, music, decorations,
and other items will you need to provide?
Research, then create an illustration, collage,
PowerPoint presentation, or Pinterest board for
your party and share it with your class.
Think about this: In Swan Lake, an evil
sorcerer has transformed young women into
swans. Can you think of other stories where
humans are transformed into animals, or vice
versa? If you could transform into an animal,
which one would you choose? Why?
Try this: Research your animal and share
what you learn with your class. Choose one of
your animal’s behaviors or characteristics that
could be turned into a dance step or action.
Demonstrate that step for your classmates—can
they guess your animal?
Do real swans live on lakes? Research the natural
habitats of swans. Where are these habitats
geographically located? Make a map for
birdwatchers looking for swans.
A swan in the pond in the Botanical Gardens
in Edinburgh, Paul Boxley.
Photos
Top: Bar Mitzvah at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, Anthony Baratier. Bottom: Quinceañera. Santa Fe,
Christopher Michel.
Source: Adapted from Royal Winnipeg Ballet
www.rwb.org/whats-on/show/swan-lake
5
The Stories Behind The Story
The Swan Maidens by Walter Crane.
The tale of Swan Lake is rooted in the ancient idea of
the “swan maiden,” which appears in various forms
in the literature and folk traditions of many countries
and cultures. In Greek mythology, swans symbolized
wisdom and creativity. Siren, the half bird and half
woman of Greek myth, could lure sailors off their
course. The swan-maiden goddess of Hindu legend,
Saraswati (whose name means “one who flows”), is
dressed in pure white and linked to purity, beauty,
and the arts. In Native American culture, the famous
Sacagawea’s name means “bird woman.”
At the time of the original Swan Lake’s creation,
people would have known of the Middle Eastern and
South Asian tales in One Thousand and One Nights
(often called the Arabian Nights), which includes a
story of Hasan of Basra, who visits the place of the
bird maidens; when these creatures remove their
feather garments, they become beautiful women.
People might also have been familiar with the
Russian poem The Tale of Tzar Saltan by Alexander
Pushkin, about a prince who saves a wounded swan
that later transforms into a woman to marry him.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who wrote Swan Lake’s
music, was likely influenced by German composer
Richard Wagner’s opera Lohengrin, the story of a
heroic prince with a mysterious past who arrives on
a magical swan-boat.
It’s not certain exactly who authored Swan Lake’s
libretto, or storyline. The program notes from
the original 1877 production make no mention of
any specific writer or sources. It may have been
penned by the ballet’s original choreographer, Julius
Reisinger; by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, director
of Russia’s Imperial Theatres; or Vassily Geltser, a
prominent Russian dancer who was well-read and
cultured. Tchaikovsky also may have contributed.
Begichev accompanied Tchaikovsky and a group of
artists and supporters who toured Western Europe in
1868 with the production of Tchaikovsky’s first opera,
The Voyevoda. Three years later when Tchaikovsky
visited his sister for a summer, he wrote, directed,
and even choreographed a lighthearted miniature
ballet, The Lake of the Swans, for his nieces and
nephews—five years before scoring Swan Lake.
Threads of all these historical tales, traditions, and
experiences appear in Swan Lake, touching on
universal themes, or main ideas, such as the longing
for true love and the consequences—good and
bad—of our actions. Perhaps that’s why Swan Lake
remains so popular: though it’s a fantasy ballet, its
themes are familiar to most everyone.
Think about this: Swan Lake’s story is
based on bits and pieces of other famous
historical tales. Can you think of any stories—
traditional or contemporary—that might work
as a ballet? Why would dance be a good
way to tell this story onstage?
Try this: Write a libretto, or storyline, for a
new ballet based on a story, new or old, that
you might know. List your cast of characters and
describe each one. What themes, or main ideas,
can you work into your new ballet?
Source: Swan Lake Study Guide, Oregon Ballet Theatre
Swan Lake Teacher Resource Guide, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
“The Swan Lake Mystery: An Amalgam of Different Fairytales,”
from Royal Opera House www.roh.org.uk
6
Swan Lake, photo by Paata Vardanashvili
The Choreography
Swan Lake didn’t start out successfully—surprising,
considering the ballet’s fame today. Critics weren’t
kind to Julius Reisinger, choreographer of the original
1877 production. One wrote, "Mr. Reisinger’s
dances are weak in the extreme.… Incoherent
waving of the legs that continued through the course
of four hours—is this not torture? The corps de ballet
stamp up and down in the same place, waving their
arms like a windmill’s vanes—and the soloists jump
about the stage in gymnastic steps." Yikes!
Apparently Reisinger failed to mesh his
choreography with the emotionally expressive music
Tchaikovsky created. Over the years, others tried
their hand at choreographing this bird ballet, but it
wasn’t until 1894, when Lev Ivanov choreographed
a portion of it for a program commemorating
Tchaikovsky after his death in 1893, that a decision
was made to restage the entire ballet. Lucky for us,
the version that famed Frenchman Marius Petipa and
his assistant Ivanov created finally got it right. Today,
more than one hundred years later, audiences can
still experience Swan Lake’s magic.
Julius Reisinger
(1828–1892)
Swan Lake’s first
choreographer, was
born in Prague, the
capital of what is now
the Czech Republic. He
began his professional
life in the corps de
ballet, dancers who
dance as a group, and
eventually achieved the
rank of leading soloist.
By 1850 he was appearing in starring roles in
Giselle and other ballets and soon secured an eightyear contract to dance in Germany and Austria. He
had stints as ballet master/choreographer at theaters
in Prague and Leipzig, Germany, during the 1860s.
He then became choreographer of the Bolshoi
Theatre in Moscow. He created more than twenty
works and is linked with two memorable events:
the first stage production of Swan Lake and the first
ballet performance for the opening of the Prague
National Theatre in 1884.
7
The Choreography
Marius Petipa
(1818–1910)
Is called the “father of
classical ballet” because
he is history’s most
influential ballet master
and choreographer. He
was born in Marseilles,
France, and began
dance training at the age
of seven with his father,
Jean Petipa, a French
dancer and teacher.
Marius was educated at the Grand College in
Brussels, in what is now Belgium, and also attended
the conservatory there, where he studied music.
In 1831, he made his stage debut in his father’s
production of Gardel’s La Dansomanie. Marius’s
father became the ballet master at the theater in
Bordeaux, France, and it was here that Marius
completed his education.
At sixteen Marius became premier danseur,
or the lead male dancer, at the theater in Nantes,
France, where he also produced several short
ballets. He toured North America with his father, and
in 1840 partnered with the famous Italian ballerina
Carlotta Grisi. He spent a few years dancing in
Spain and Paris; in 1847 he left for Russia. He had
signed a one-year contract but remained there the
rest of his life, ultimately becoming premier ballet
master of the Imperial Theatre.
Marius Petipa is considered one of the greatest choreographers of all time. He researched the
subject matter of the ballets he staged, making
careful and detailed preparations for each
production, and then worked closely with the 
designer and composer. Petipa elevated the Russian
ballet to international fame and laid the cornerstone
for twentieth-century ballet.
Lev Ivanov
(1834–1901)
Was born in Russia. He
is said to have been
placed in an orphanage
by his mother when he
was eleven months old,
but in his memoirs he
mentions being brought
up by a merchant's family
until age eight, sent to a
boarding school for two
years, and then enrolled
in the Imperial School of Ballet in St. Petersburg. In
1852 he became a member of the corps de ballet of
the Maryinsky Theatre. Ballet master Jules Perrot (one
of the choreographers of the ballet Giselle) gave
him minor roles and appointed him to the position
of dance teacher. When Marius Petipa became
ballet master there, Ivanov became premier danseur
and mime. He was known for his roles in the ballets
Esmeralda and La Bayadère, among others.
Ivanov staged many ballets—both new ones and
revivals—for the Imperial Theatre, including The
Nutcracker (1892) and two acts of Swan Lake (1895)
with Petipa. He was considered unlike any of the
previous ballet masters in that he had a deep love
and aptitude for music. He had an exceptional ability
to “feel” the music and bring its emotional intensity to
his choreography. His scenes in Swan Lake are more
lyrical and introspective in style compared to Petipa’s
virtuosic and flamboyant court scenes.
Source: Adapted from American Ballet Theatre
www.abt.org/education
Swan Lake Study Guide, Milwaukee Ballet
Swan Lake Teacher Resource Guide, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
8
The Music
There are about as many different interpretations of
Swan Lake as there are dance companies. Yet one
thing ties them all together—the stunning Tchaikovsky
score. The Russian musical giant composed just three
ballets in his nineteenth-century lifetime, and the
perpetual popularity of Swan Lake is matched only
by the success of his others, The Nutcracker and
The Sleeping Beauty. With just these three works,
Tchaikovsky is considered the most influential and
popular composer of ballet music who ever lived.
But there wasn’t always much love for Swan Lake. Its
1877 premiere wasn’t well-received, some people
finding Tchaikovsky’s score too complicated, too
fussy, to effectively showcase the dancing. Such
harsh criticism of one of the world’s most beloved
ballets seems preposterous today. But before
Tchaikovsky, audiences expected ballet music to take
a backseat to the dancing. At that time, ballet was
more a spectacle of the dancers’ technical abilities
than a dramatic performance spotlighting human
emotions. And Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake score was
full of feeling.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky was born in 1840 in
Votkinsk, Russia. He started informal piano lessons
at the age of five and could soon play as well as his
teacher. When his father moved to St. Petersburg,
the boy was enrolled at the School of Jurisprudence
there, a boarding school. He attended the opera
and theater with his classmates, enjoying works by
the Italian composers Rossini, Bellini, and Verdi and
the Austrian composer Mozart.
When Tchaikovsky's mother died in 1854, he turned
his grief into music, writing a waltz in her memory.
It was his first serious effort as a composer. After
graduation, he went to work as a civil servant in
the Ministry of Justice, though his interest in music
never left him. After four years, following his true
calling, he resigned from his job and entered the St.
Petersburg Music Conservatory, supporting himself
by teaching music. The school’s director, Anton
Rubinstein, was impressed with Tchaikovsky's talent
and encouraged it.
Tchaikovsky became a composer on the front line of
a musical revolution at that time, what’s known as
the Romantic era. Romantic composers, which also
include greats like Chopin, Brahms, and Wagner,
wanted to make music that was more passionate and
emotionally expressive. Instead of following the strict
structural disciplines of the past, Romantic composers
focused on new melodic styles and richer harmonies
to invoke drama and touch the heart. By 1875,
Tchaikovsky’s instrumental and orchestral works had
attracted the attention of Russia’s cultural elite. When Tchaikovsky was tapped to compose Swan
Lake for the Bolshoi Ballet, he was more interested in
opera than dance. But “I took on this work partly for
the sake of money, of which I am in need, and partly
because for a long time I have wanted to try myself
in this genre of music,” he wrote to friend and fellow
composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and he got to
work on the now-beloved score. A few years earlier,
9
The Music
after spending a summer vacation with his sister and
her children, he’d composed a mini ballet called
The Lake of the Swans. “The staging of the ballet
was done entirely by [Peter],” Tchaikovsky’s nephew
Yury Lvovich Davydov later remembered. “It was
he who invented the steps and pirouettes, and he
danced them himself, showing the performers what
he required of them…as he sang the tune.” And,
according to Davydov, “the principal theme—‘The
Song of the Swans’—was then the same as now.” The
music for Swan Lake, Tchaikovsky’s first full-length
ballet, was completed by April 1876.
What we now recognize as Tchaikovsky’s Swan
Lake score probably sounds very different from his
original arrangement. After Tchaikovsky’s death in
1893, the music was reworked for the Swan Lake
choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov.
Riccardo Drigo (an Italian composer and Maryinsky
Theatre conductor who had conducted the premiere
of Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty) and Modest
Tchaikovsky (the composer’s brother) tweaked the
score, Drigo lightening the orchestration and cutting
certain passages and adding others to give the ballet
an easier and less discordant feel.
This is the version that has been used by most
Swan Lake productions—and that forever altered
perceptions of what ballet music should be.
Think about this: Before scoring Swan
Lake, Tchaikovsky had composed a fun
little ballet for relatives called The Lake of
the Swans. He brought a musical theme, or
leitmotif, from that earlier family entertainment
into his composition for Swan Lake. A
leitmotif (pronounced light-mow-teef) is
a musical theme that recurs, or repeats, to
evoke a specific feeling related to a character
or situation or to signal that the character is
present. A leitmotif is often the melody stuck in
your head when you leave the performance.
Try this: Listen to a recording of Swan Lake
by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a work from the
Romantic period of musical history. Can you
identify any leitmotifs, or recurring melodies? Do
any sections seem to suggest specific emotions?
How? Do you prefer one section more than
another? Why?
Sources:
www.makingmusicfun.net
“Peter the Great: Tchaikovsky at the Ballet,” Limelight
www.limelightmagazine.com.au/tchaikovsky-atthe-ballet
“Tchaikovsky at the Millenium,” New Criterion
www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/tchaikovskyjacobs-2818
www.theballetbag.com
www.kennedy-center.org
10
Ballet 101: A Bit Of History
Ballet emerged in the late fifteenth century
Renaissance court culture of Italy as a dance
interpretation of fencing, and further developed in
the French court from the time of Louis XIV in the
seventeenth century. This is reflected in the largely
French vocabulary of ballet. Ballet went into decline
in France after 1830, though it was continued in
Denmark, Italy, and Russia.
Ballet was reintroduced to western Europe on the
eve of World War I by a Russian company, the
Ballets Russes of Sergei Diaghilev, who came to be
influential around the world. Diaghilev's company
was a destination for many Russian-trained dancers
fleeing the famine and unrest that followed the
Bolshevik revolution. These dancers brought with
them exciting choreographic and stylistic innovations.
In the twentieth century, ballet continued to
develop and exerted a strong influence on broader
concert dance. For example, in the United States,
choreographer George Balanchine developed what
is now known as neoclassical ballet, a less rigid but
complexly structured form.
The early ballet dancers were not as skilled as
dancers today. Ballet has become a highly technical
form of dance with its own vocabulary. It is mainly
performed with the accompaniment of classical
music. It has been influential as a form of dance
globally and is taught in ballet schools around the
world, which use their own cultures and societies
to inform the art. Ballet dance works (ballets) are
choreographed, and also include mime, acting, and
are set to music (usually orchestral but occasionally
vocal).
Classical ballet is the most formal of the ballet styles;
it adheres to traditional ballet technique. There are
variations relating to area of origin, such as Russian
ballet, French ballet, and Italian ballet. The most wellknown styles of ballet are the Russian Method, the
Italian Method, the Danish Method, the Balanchine
Method or New York City Ballet Method, and the
Royal Academy of Dance and Royal Ballet School
methods, created in England.
Alicia Alonso.
The first pointe shoes—which female dancers wear
to dance on their toes—were actually regular ballet
slippers that were heavily darned at the tip. They
would allow the ballerina to briefly stand on her toes
to appear weightless. They were later converted to
the hard box used today.
Ballerina Marie Taglioni popularized pointe work
when she performed the ballet La Sylphide, the first
to feature dancing en pointe for aesthetic purpose, in
1832. Before then, dancing en pointe was merely an
acrobatic stunt. Today, pointe work is a central part
of a ballerina's training, requiring great strength and
skill.
Source: Adapted from Washington Ballet
www.washingtonballet.org/ballet-101
11
Ballet Mime Dictionary
Instead of words or sounds, ballet uses movement
to express meaning and emotion. But without
words, how do dancers let the audience know
exactly what’s happening? Dancers need to not
only dance well, they must be good actors as well.
Ballet dancers use facial expressions, gestures, and
body language to help tell their story. This is called
pantomime, or mime.
In classical ballet, dancers use a language of
gestures to communicate to the audience. Read
these descriptions, then try the movements yourself
before you see Swan Lake. Watch for these during
the ballet; after the performance, make a list of those
you recall seeing and what was occurring in the
Swan Lake story when you saw them.
• Anger – fist shaken
• Ask/Beg/Please – hands clasped together in a
pleading gesture
• Beautiful – hand circling face
• Call – hand or hands cupped around mouth
• Crazy – finger circling by ear
• Dance – hands circling around each other while
arms are raised overhead
• Death – arms straight in front, crossed at wrists
with hands in fists
• Fear – body leaning away with hands open and
palms out
• Good-bye – hands waving
• Headache – back of hand to forehead
• Hear – hand pointing to or cupping ear
• Hunger – hands rubbing stomach
• I/Me/Mine – hand to chest indicating oneself
• Love – hands over heart
• Marriage – index finger pointing to ring finger on
left hand
• No/Never – with palms down, hands waving over
each other crossing at wrist
• Pray – palms together
• Promise – two fingers held together, raised upward
toward the audience (palm facing audience)
• Quiet/Don’t Speak – finger pressed against lips or
hand clasped over mouth
• Reading – hands together, palms facing upward
creating a book
• Remember/Think – touch or point to temple
• Revenge – clenched fist comes from overhead
down in front of body
• Royal – hand circling top of head to indicate crown
• Sad/Cry – finger tracing tears down face or
wiping tears away off cheek or face in hands
• Scheming – fingers moving down along sides of
chin
• See – finger pointing to eyes
• Shoot – pretending to aim bow and arrow
• Sleep – hands in praying position held on side
of face with head inclined as though resting on a
pillow
• Stop/Go away – palm out or both palms out
toward other person
• Why/Where/What – hands open, palms up in
front or on sides of body
• You – arm extending to another person with hand
open, palm up or direct point with finger
Try this: Can you “speak” in pantomime? Try
putting these sentences together using only ballet
mime.
•
•
•
•
•
•
You are beautiful and I want to marry you.
I’m afraid. I hear the queen.
Come here! I’m angry with you!
The king is dead.
You are giving me a headache.
Let’s all dance!
Now create your own silent sentences. Write
them down, but don’t let your classmates see.
Then “speak” your sentences using only ballet
mime. Can your classmates understand what
you’re saying?
Source: Adapted from Swan Lake Study Guide,
Milwaukee Ballet
12
Resources
On the Web
The Ballet Bag
www.theballetbag.com
Fun website featuring all things ballet, whose mission is to
prove that ballet is relevant, fresh, and topical. Mixes in
pop culture, cinema, rock music, and more.
Ballet Dictionary
http://www.abt.org/education/dictionary/
American Ballet Theatre’s online dictionary of ballet
terms, most illustrated with images of company dancers,
provides an accessible introduction to the world of ballet.
Learn About Ballet
Virginia Standards
of Learning
Dance: DM.14, 19, 20-21; DI.12-13, 18-19,
23-24; DII.18, 23-24; DIII.19, 21
Music: K.11-13; 1.11-14, 17; 2.8-10; 3.9-11,
14; 4.7-11, 14; 5.8-9, 11-12; EI.18-19; 6.7-9;
7.7-9;8.7-9; MIB.19-20; MII.18-20; MIAD.1820; MCB.7-8; MCI.7-9; MCAD.7-9; HG.6-11;
HIB.19-21; HII.18-20; HIAD.20-22; HIAR.2022; HCB.7-9; HCI.7-9; HCAD.7-9; HCAR.7-9
http://www.paballet.org/learnballet
Online resource from Pennsylvania Ballet offering PDF
student workbooks on ballet history, a dancer's day, and
frequently asked questions about the dancing life, plus
First Positions, an online dance magazine for kids written
by kids.
Books
Ballerina Dreams by Lauren Thompson (Feiwel and Friends, 2007).
Photo essay following a group of girls with various physical disabilities as they prepare for and perform at a
dance recital.
Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina by Misty Copeland (young readers edition, Aladdin, 2016).
Determination meets dance in this middle-grade adaptation of the New York Times bestselling memoir by the first
African American principal dancer in American Ballet Theatre history.
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel (Aladdin, 2006)
A New York City Ballet dancer's highly illustrated autobiographical story.
13
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No 14
2016-2017 Season
Romeo and Juliet
Charlotte Blake Alston
Rhythm Live!
Swan Lake
Virginia International Tattoo
November 7, 2016
February 16, 2017
February 17, 2017
March 31, 2017
April 26-28, 2017
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Virginia Arts Festival
440 Bank Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
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Robert W. Cross
Executive & Artistic Director
Christine Foust
Director of Education & Community Engagement
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2016-2017
Susan Van Hecke
Research & Writing
Lisa Dagley
Page Design & Layout
Photocopying and duplicating for educational purposes only. World Class® Education Program Guides. All rights reserved. ©2017
www.vafest.org