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Building our DREAM Swan Lake cast (too many options 😭😭)

Ballet Reign

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If we could cast our (subjectively) PERFECT Swan Lake, here's our dream team.

Big, heartfelt thank you to Nicolas Krusek for your generous support as one of the “The Nerdiest Ballet Nerds" on Patreon! We're answering your question in today's vid :)

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#swanlake #balletdancer #ballerina #ballet #balletreign

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✦ W A T C H M O R E ✦

Swan Lake FULL ANALYSIS: Swan Lake Insights You Need to Know From D...

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✦ T I M E S T A M P S ✦

0:00 Here comes the dream team
1:28 Dream Sets
5:15 Dream Corps de Ballet
8:05 Dream Rothbart
11:20 Question from Nicolas (Very Certified Patron™)
13:32 Dream Siegfried
18:11 Dream Odette/Odile
23:49 Thanks for watchinggg

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✦ J O I N U S O N P A T R E O N ✦

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20 Comments

@SarahsStoryChronicle 5 months ago (edited)

Please continue with this series. I'd like to see your take on Giselle in particular.

@jagirl966 5 months ago

I have an idea for a video. "Stories That Could/Should Be Ballets". Like Beauty and the Beast or Snow Queen.

@alexm5156 5 months ago

Oh, but but but, the four little swans? It's my favorite part, four little swans! :(

@shiru_hodu 5 months ago

For me Ulyana Lopatkina is the ultimate swan queen.

@overlydramaticpanda 5 months ago

Came for the Swan Lake, stayed for the Gary Avis appreciation.
It really is such a shame that he's now fully retired from the Royal Ballet; I first saw him as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet and even just his acting was phenomenal. The bit that's always stayed with me was the moment after Mercutio was stabbed where Gary played it so well, like he was genuinely shocked and upset by it then tried to act tough about it but clearly more to save face in front of everyone else than because he genuinely didn't care that he'd just fatally wounded someone. I mean, I've done several productions of Romeo and Juliet (the play, not the ballet) that didn't have that good acting.

Also all the yes to Lauren Cuthbertson. I've not seen nearly as much ballet as I would have liked to but whenever I've seen her, she's been fantastic. I'm fully convinced that she could dance literally any role she wants to and knock it out of the park.

@vickyleather1147 5 months ago

I totally agree with you about Gary Avis and I am SO GLAD you recognized him. I think I read that he is retiring (or has retired). What a loss to the Royal Ballet and to all of us who appreciate his tremendous talent and versatility! Thank you for featuring him!

@tiredveena3887 5 months ago

I really love how Angel gives Siegfried this subtle himbo-aura, I'm not gonna lie...

@dennismcdermot647 5 months ago

In my (subjective) opinion, Angel Corelli and Gillian Murphy are THE Swan Lake pair.

@hannabergmann8831 5 months ago

Lauren Cuthbertson is so underrated. She is my favourite Sugar Plum Fairy. I haven't seen her in Swan Lake.

@rosyface_ 5 months ago

I think you missed an opportunity to cast different dancers for Odette and Odile. It’s a fantasy cast, who says they have to be the same dancer?

@ElliotMarwood-l4b 5 months ago

Cuthbertson's Odile could manipulate me into handing over my cinnamon rolls. That casting is FLAWLESS

@jessaglenny 5 months ago (edited)

Gary Avis is wonderful. I was devastated when he recently retired from the RB following a knee injury. Also such a lovely man.

@9938-q6n 5 months ago

My favorite Odile is definitely Gillian Murphy (and not JUST cause of nostalgia, though she was FIRST ever exposure to Swan Lake, so I'll ALWAYS feel quite reverent toward her,) but I also genuinely enjoy her interpretation of the roles. THAT SAID, Svetlana is a VERY close second, that little triumph in her eyes when Robert Bolle lifts her over his head, that little moment where the "mask" breaks, before her composure returns, is what made me want to write!

@juliadagnall5816 5 months ago

My favorite Odette is Svetlana Zakharova. I love the recording with her and Roberto Bolle. I like the slightly elusive quality she brought to Odette, I feel like it really makes it easy to read how trapped she is, both between her swan and human forms and between her desire to trust Siegfried and her responsibility to the other swan maidens. As for Roberto Bolle even though he’s kind of a big guy he comes off as youthful and innocent without seeming like a prat and you can see how Rothbart played him like a fiddle in the second act by whisking Odile away whenever he tried to talk to her.

@katiehickey4539 5 months ago

Here are my New Dream Roles for Swan Lake Ballet; Odette, Odile, Fairy, Witch, Cupid, Maiden, Big Swan, Medium Swan, Little Cygnet, White Swan, Black Swan, Princess, Queen, Dwarf, Wine Dancer Maypole Waltzer, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Hungarian.

@skp7577 5 months ago

I have never agreed with any of your top picks in your costume videos, so I’m pleased that I agree with three of your picks in this: the Bolshoi corps, Gary Avis and Lauren Cuthbertson.

@Opus61Nerd 5 months ago

I love how Cuthbertson deploys stillness like pianists use rests. Terror and tenderness in that negative space. Respect for highlighting mental health too

@gillianashley1820 5 months ago

I’m so glad that you chose Lauren Cuthbertson as Odette/Odile, as she is an artist whom I greatly admire. The fear that she transmits when she first meets Siegfried at the lake is so utterly tangible and real, and I also love her grand and sophisticated Odile. I also adore her crystalline Sugar Plum Fairy in Nutcracker. Your whole selection has been a treat - so many amazing dancers and productions.

@Ohana1-l4y 5 months ago

Couldn’t agree more with you what you said about seeing dancers more as the humans they are and not just as dancers. Normalizing injuries, way too less payment and eating disorders shouldn’t be the standard anymore. I’m not the typical ballet body, not what people would normally consider fat, just curvy, but in the ballet world I’m technically too big. Sometimes the little voice in my head tells me to just give up because I don’t have a chance anyway but I’m not gonna listen to it, if I have to be the first booby ballerina, then I’ll be that. Thinking about people like misty copeland and the few other black dancers in the last century fighting their way to the top and also making the way for the next generation (I mean being black isn’t such a big deal in ballet anymore thanks to them), I can do that too. I just have to be good enough for the company’s to want me, regardless of my curves, thats something I can work with. And there are already a lot of company’s who are improving in my opinion, I see more and more healthy Bodys or even a bit „bigger“ body’s in even company’s like the Royal ballet or ABT. I think the anorexic body ideal is so old minded anf shouldn’t be the standard anymore, now we know our body’s better and that not becoming your period is not a good thing etc. and I think diversity in ballet is a beauty on its own. I love seeing how different body’s can bring a whole new direction to a character