Famous Ballets To Know

Every Ballet is worth knowing, but everyone has to start somewhere!

Here at Tutu School Laguna Niguel, we know just how important ballet stories are to the foundation of ballet – we even included a famous ballet story at the end of every class! Your little dancer is likely an expert by now when it comes to stories like The Nutcracker, but we’ve decided to create a list for the grown ups, who may be too busy gathering up all their littles belongings in the last five minutes to hear the ballet story.

Swan Lake, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Even if you’ve never seen the ballet and you only vaguely know the story, the music of Swan Lake is one of the most identifiable scores of all time. Part of the Tchaikovsky Trio (don’t worry – we’ll get to the other 2 on this list as well!), Swan Lake premiered as an unfortunate failure at Moscow in 1877. The music was too big, the choreography too weird, and poor Pytor died in 1893 without knowing that Swan Lake would become the cornerstone of classical ballet and a global phenomenon. Two years later, the ballet was revived in St. Petersburg and this time it was a hit! It goes to show if you don’t succeed the first time, try and try again!

As for the fantastical plot, there is actually no published proof of who first came up with the story of Swan Lake, but multiple Russian and German folk tales have certainly lent some inspiration to this tragic tale. The original plot that debuted was changed subtly in 1895, to the version all are familiar with today. However, there have been many variations of Swan Lake throughout time: One features a malevolent Black Queen, one replaces the female corps de ballet with entirely male dancers, and one even adds a love triangle to the story!

But today, we will share a link to the Grand Kyiv Ballet’s performance of Swan Lake: ENJOY HERE!

Sleeping Beauty, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

The Sleeping Beauty, Tchaikovsky’s second ballet, premiered in St. Petersburg in 1890 and by 1903 was the second most popular ballet in the world (The Pharaoh’s Daughter, was the first). With intermissions, the ballet lasted nearly 4 hours with 3 total hours of score! Today, the ballet clocks in at half that time. We imagine the original was a masterpiece, but 2 hours is certainly more accessible for a modern audience!

There are many versions of The Sleeping Beauty story, but Tchaikovsky based his orchestration on the Brothers Grimm version, where everyone survives the 100 year sleep and is around to celebrate at the end! The director of the Imperial Theaters in St. Petersburg, Ivan Vsevolozhsky, incorporated other fairytales into the story: Puss in Boots, Little Red Riding Hood, Bluebird, + more! The result is a magical story about good versus “evil” so compelling that even Disney was inspired to make an animated version in 1959 – if you recognize any of the iconic musical themes, they are taken straight from the original ballet!

Got two hours to spare? Watch the Berlin Ballet + Berlin Orchestra perform The Sleeping Beauty: HERE!

The Nutcracker, with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Onto the last in the Tchaikovsky trilogy – perhaps the most well known due to its magnificent score popping up in any winter holiday movie – is The Nutcracker. The ballet premiered in 1892, a year before Tchaikovsky’s untimely departure, and was another unsuccessful ballet. Everyone loved the score, but were confused by the plot (based on a short by Alexander Dumas and adapted from “The Nutcracker and The Mouse King” by ETA Hoffmann), which left out parts from the original story, and bemoaned the use of child dancers in the main parts of the ballet. As time went on, The Nutcracker twirled into many different stage versions: some eliminate the Sugar Plum Fairy entirely, while some cast only adult dancers as Clara and The Nutcracker. Almost every ballet company’s version of The Nutcracker is at least slightly different from the next!

George Balanchine, one of the most influential ballet choreographers of the 20th century, created a version in 1954 that inspired most stage versions today (The Sugar Plum Fairy was performed by famous Ballet Dancer Maria Tallchief, America’s first prima ballerina + first Native American to hold the title).

You can catch The Nutcracker every December at any nearby theater, but if you’re craving a journey to the Land of Sweets – dive right in HERE! And if your dancer is tutu obsessed with Clara this summer, join us for our Tutu Camp at Tutu School Laguna Niguel where we’ll be celebrating Christmas in July!

Coppélia, with music by Léo Delibes

A favorite amongst our dancers, Coppélia is a comedic ballet from 1870 – also based on a tale by ETA Hoffman (A German Romantic author!). This ballet was first performed at the Paris Opera and while eventually it became one of the most performed ballets in Paris, its run was interrupted by the siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. The ballet eventually spread to the rest of the world, where it again was re-imagined by choreographer George Balanchine.

Coppélia was most recently adapted into a modernized film version of the ballet in 2021, starring American ballet dancer, Michaela DePrince. As usual, there are several adaptations of Coppélia performed around the world, but the astounding score by Léo Delibes remains constant. Delibes was a famous French composer, who also created the music for Sylvia + Lakmé.

You can hear the twinkling sounds and watch the performance of the Bolshoi Ballet Company HERE!

Of course – some ballets are classified as tragedies, and may not be quite suitable for young dancers to view in full. Giselle, Romeo & Juliet, and La Sylphide are all beautiful ballets, but feature some mature themes (like death) that your dancer may or may not be ready to view. You can always search brief performances of each ballet on Youtube by searching “BALLET NAME variations” to view some magnificent solos, pas de deuxs, and more!

If you have access to certain streaming platforms, or a library card, you can also rent any Barbie movie that features your favorite ballet! For a twirling run in the early 2000s, Barbie followed her ballet dreams and starred in kid-friendly movies about Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, 12 Dancing Princesses, and The Pink Shoes! The movies used actual recordings of orchestral renditions of the ballet and each dance sequence was animated using motion capture imaging of real ballet dancers performing the scenes. A true love letter to ballet!

Let us know if you give any of these, Barbie or real life at your local theater, a watch.

xoxo, Hannah from Tutu School Laguna Niguel