The Naway Dance Company has a new promotional video out on YouTube. (Two of the dancers on my Swan Lake cast are part of Naway). Please watch and spread the word!!!

As I was browsing the internet, hoping to find a hip hop remix of Swan Lake to use at the upcoming final presentation of my project, i stumbled upon two reggae-ish versions: The first, a reggae rendering of the theme, was recorded in 1968 by a British band called The Cats (it seems they were from Brixton — though this information is from a questionable source). The second — similar, but with a stronger two tone sound — was released some eleven years later by Madness from London on their debut album One Step Beyond… .

The Cats – Swan Lake (Trojan, 1968)

Madness – Swan Lake
(Footage from Joe Massot’s 1981 Documentary Dance Craze)

Oh, and yes, I am aware of the classic Blackalicious track Swan Lake produced by DJ Shadow and Chief Xcel. But while it actually did sample Tchaikovsky’s music — it is too subtle to be immediately recognised as such.

Blackalicious – Swan Lake (Solesides, 1994)

Swan Lake in animated films…:

Clip from Karo Yabuki’s Sekai Meisaku Douwa – Hakuchou no Mizuumi (Swan Lake), (Japan, 1981)

Opening from the same film dubbed in English

Opening scene from Richard Rich’s The Swan Princess (USA, 1994)

Trailer for Owen Hurley’s Barbie of Swan Lake (USA, 2003)

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…and comic strips:
In 1998 Tachibana Higuchi created a manga with the title Swan Lake. You will find it for download at dragonvoice.org and a review at sunny side up.

As the example of Kerli showed, Swan Lake — and ballet in general, for that matter — is still present in popular culture. And because I am fascinated by the various forms this presence can take on, I decided to compile some of the ways in which ballet and Swan Lake have appeared in popular culture. A few music videos…:

Labutí píseň – Jiří Suchý, Vlasta Kahovcová, TOČR, Karel Krautgartner (Czechoslovakia, 196?)

Toni Basil – Mickey (on the Kenny Everett Video Show) (USA, 1982)

Ballet Dancer – The Twins (Germany, 1983)

Today I stumbled upon Estonian pop singer Kerli playing creepy little White Swan/Black Swan in the video to her song “Walking On Air” which premiered on May 20 of this year. — Seems like I am not the only one still inspired by Swan Lake.

Sylvie Guillem rehearses Petipa and Minkus’ Don Quixote :

American Ballet Theatre – Danse des petits cygnes from Ivanov and Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake :

Julie Kent and Ethan Stiefel (ABT) in Finesse d’amour (?) from Petipa’s Le Corsaire :
[Unfortunately, the video is no longer available through YouTube (2.3.2008)]

Getting sidetracked on YouTube is really easy — luckily I can always justify it as part of my plan to completely immerse myself in ballet.

Miyako Yoshida and Jonathan Cope, Royal Ballet :

Christine Blanc and Domenico Levré, Béjart Ballet Lausanne :

One of my favorite pieces of music of all time, this portion of Tchaikovski’s The Nutcracker has proven an effective remedy for writer’s block on many occasions. Here’s hoping it will keep the words flowing for the bachelor thesis paper as well.

A clip from Édouard Lock’s film Amelia (2002, Opus Arte) featuring the dancers of LaLaLa Human Steps.

Not really classical narrative ballet but so incredibly astonishing I had to post it.