Swan Lake

Inspired by Tchaikovsky's iconic Swan Lake

Fun Facts about the ballet Swan Lake:

It's the first of Tchaikovsky’s 3 ballets. Though the “trio” is what Tchaikovsky is most famous for today, they make up only about 11% of his total works
Prince Siegfried may have been based on a real person! After his death, a few of Tchaikovsky’s colleagues recalled that he was fascinated with the Bavarian King, Ludvig II, who was obsessed with Swans and had earned himself the nickname of the “Swan King”. Coincidentally, he mysteriously died by drowning in a lake 9 years after Swan Lake premiered, paralleling Prince Sigfreid’s fate in the early version of the ballet. Further fun fact about King Ludvig, his castle, Neuschwanstein Castle, is the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland!
The show was originally a flop! What is now today's most iconic ballet was not a crowd pleaser when it first premeired. Luckily, the Imperial ballet who had commissioned Tchaikovsky for the music and story decided to persevere and keep workshopping it into one of Ballet's greatest legacies.
While it varies from company to company, the production of Swan Lake can use around 125 costumes!
When a company performs Swan Lake, the men of the cast often get to go home early since they are not in Act 4 (except of course Prince Siegfried), while the full corp stays on as swans.