ENB, My First Ballet: Swan Lake, Peacock Theatre

Ballet casts its spell on children very early on. Yet parents often wonder whether a typical four-act, three-hour Swan Lake running late into the evening really is the appropriate treat for the little ones.

Mindful of that, English National Ballet (ENB) in association with English National Ballet School (ENBS) has devised a series of special adaptations of the classics under the banner My First Ballet, aimed at children from three-years-old upwards.

My First Ballet: Swan Lake, with its bewitched swan princess, evil sorcerer, besotted Prince Siegfried, and massed ranks of white tutu-ed swans premiered in 2012 and has since enchanted a succession of young audiences. Now it returns to the stage at the Peacock Theatre as a special Easter treat.


Choreographed by ENB's ballet master, Antonio Castilla, with dramaturgy by Lou Cope, this version of Swan Lake focuses on Odile. In the traditional 'grown up' Swan Lake she is the dark side of the swan princess Odette; here, though, she is presented as a friend of Odette's from before the princess is bewitched and, in Castilla's words, the narrative follows 'her journey and the difficult decision she must make, allowing us to explore important themes of friendship, forgiveness and honesty.'

Bearing in mind the need to make the work accessible to very young children, a narrator has been introduced, who picks out the mime and some important story elements.

Using a skilfully abridged version of Tchaikovsky's famous score, My First Ballet: Swan Lake is danced by 17- to 19-year-old second-year students from English National Ballet School, who get their first opportunity to dance this great classic.

To complement the performances, ENB is putting on a series of creative ballet workshops onstage at the Peacock Theatre. Full details here