"The First Chinese Swan Lake"

Authors

Eva S. Chou, CUNY Bernard M Baruch CollegeFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

Fall 2015

Abstract

The first Chinese Swan Lake was produced in July 1958 as a full-length work by Beijing Dance School, founded, remarkably, only four years earlier. This moment, enshrined in ballet history, is scrutinized here. This article shows the multiple actors and cultural-political forces that were brought together: the cultural build-up for Swan Lake, Premier Zhou Enlai's personal interest, the distinguished ballet master and choreographer Pyotr Gusev, and the imperatives of the Great Leap Forward.

Comments

Ballet Review 43:3 (Fall, 2015), 59-65.