This week we wondered if our ballet students would like to have a go at choreographing their own Dance of the Cygnets. If you would like to have a go please read on to find out what to do…

First watch these different version of the dance of the cygnets.  They are all done to the same piece of music by Tchaikovsky.

• Traditional ballet version by the Royal Ballet

• A funny Chinese versionwhere the dancers are frogs instead of cygnets.    

• An upside down version:

• A male version of the cygnets choreographed by Mathew Bourne

Next you can watch some real cygnets walking on land and getting into the water to see how it compares to the dance.

• Real cygnets walking and getting into water

Now you are ready to have a go at making your own dance.  As you are by yourself it will need to be a solo dance rather than with other cygnets.  Here is how to do it:

1. Watch the videos again and see if you can choose 3 movement ideas that you really like
2. Have a go at dancing these movements. If you like the movements from the Mathew Bourne version with the male swans you could watch this video that teaches some of the movements.

• See if you can dance the movements to the music. You can listen to the music here https://www.audionetwork.com/browse/m/track/dance-of-the-cygnets_119972
• Once you think you can dance the movements, link all of your 3 movements together to make a short dance. 
• Play the music and try dancing your movements at the same time.

Now to make it more interesting make up 1 movement of your own.  It could be any of these:

1. A jump
2. A turn
3. A way of travelling
4. A movement of the arms and head

Now add this to what you already have and try dancing this to the music. Try to think about:

1. Where you are moving in space – do you travel around the room.
2. What are you doing with your arms and head.
3. Is this a serious or funny version of the cygnets?

Group Dance Opportunity

We would love to see and share what you have done within our createmovedance community.  So we would like to give you opportunity to join with us to create a createmovedance version of Dance of the Cygnets. The aim would be to edit all of your work together to create a single video to Tchaikovkys amazing music.

If you would like to be a part of this, here is what you need to do:

1. Video your dance: it should be no longer than 30 seconds of movement
2. Save the file and label it with your name
3. Then either:
   1. Send the video to [email protected]
   2. If it is too big you can upload it to our dropbox folder here.