1. Art techniques
2. Ballet
3. Betrayal
4. Dance
5. Death
6. Emotions
7. Fairy tales
8. Magic
9. Music
10. Mythical creatures
11. Wordless picture books

Swan Lake is possibly the most famous of all classical ballets. The combination of breathtaking choreography, exquisite costumes and brilliant dancers combined with Tchaikovsky’s sublime music creates long-lasting memories for those who see it performed. ‘Swan Lake’s’ enduring story of love, of good and evil and of betrayal and loss is in keeping with the best traditions of folk and fairy tales.

Artist Anne Spudvilas explains that she has always loved ‘Swan Lake’ and as a child spent hours lost in a family book ‘Stories of the Ballets’ particularly a black and white photo from a scene in ‘Swan Lake’. This image of the swans emerging from the lake never left her and the move to live at the confluence of the Murray-Darling rivers with its abundant bird and plant life rekindled a passion for ‘Swan Lake’ and became the inspiration for the book.

The book is presented, as is the ballet, in three acts. At the start of each act are brief program style notes. The story, like the ballet, is wordless. In the ballet the story is carried by the choreography and the emotions of the dancers. Here the story and its emotions are portrayed by the artwork. The illustrations are predominately black, white and muted gray charcoal drawings, softer and dreamier between the Prince and the Swan Queen and dark, heavy ominous feeling for the Sorcerer. The contrast between purity of the whiteness of the swans and the black tones used to denote the evilness of the Sorcerer and his daughter are crucial elements in the story. There are splashes of colour used to soften or intensify the emotional atmosphere, pastel colours of the flower crown in the Swan Queen’s crown creating a sense of gentleness and purity and red, the colour of danger, blood, passion, and desire used when the Black Swan deceives the Prince in Act Two.

Although the story is about love, the story hinges on the deception of the Prince and the betrayal of the Swan Queen. There are various theories on the origins of the story and there are links to traditional European folk and fairy tales in particular the German story ‘The Stolen Veil’ by Johann Karl August Masäus and the Russian fairy tale ‘The White Duck.’ Many of the ballet’s themes, the swan maidens with their idealised feminine beauty and purity, the ‘false bride’ deception and the black and white/good and evil are common throughout European traditional stories.

Whatever its origins, ‘Swan Lake’ is one of the world’s most popular ballets and Anne Spudvilas has created a wonderful introduction to it.

1. Allen & Unwin Teachers’ Tips November 2017. Teaching notes for ‘Swan Lake’ by Anne Spudvilas. https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/dimo.allenunwin.com/assets/teaching_resource/97817433184541.pdf
2. From Words to Worlds April 16, 2018. Review of ‘Swan Lake’ by Anne Spudvilas. https://fromwordstoworlds.wordpress.com/2018/04/16/australian-artist-anne-spudvilas-retells-the-classic-ballet-by-pyotr-ilyich-tchaikovsky-in-a-stunningly-illustrated-picture-book/
3. Kids’ Book Review October 29, 2017. Leanne Barrett reviews ‘Swan Lake’ by Anne Spudvilas. http://www.kids-bookreview.com/2017/10/review-swan-lake.html
4. Groove Radio New Zealand November 1, 2017. Review of ‘Swan Lake’ by Anne Spudvilas. Includes interesting comments regarding the differing responses of her three daughters to the book. http://grooveradio.blogspot.com/2017/11/groove-book-report-swan-lake-by-anne.html
5. lassic FM November 3, 2020. Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake: the story and music of the Russian composer’s ballet. https://www.classicfm.com/composers/tchaikovsky/music/swan-lake/
6. Snow White Writes blog [n.d.] ‘Swan Lake: the origins of my favourite fairy tale’. https://snowwhitewrites.com/swan-lake-fairy-tale-origins/#