The World’s First Swan Ballerinas    [15-06-2012] Swan Lake is one of the most popular ballet performances all around the world. The ballerinas wear beautiful costumes and toe shoes that look like white swans. Their movements are very delicate and amazingly beautiful. To our surprise, real swans made their debut in a ballet in France! On June 6, ballet lovers in France enjoyed watching a special performance entitled Swan. It was the first ballet ever to feature performers with feathers and webbed toes. Yes, real swans performed in the ballet with human ballerinas! The special ballet was created by a famous French choreographer named Luc Petton. Interestingly, rehearsals for the performance began even before the swans were born. Mr. Petton handpicked his swans when they were still nestled inside their eggs. When they hatched, he let the special swans live with his ballet dancers to help them feel comfortable with each other. While spending time with the swans, the ballet dancers learned many things about swans’ behaviors and movements. “After spending some time with the actual swans, we realized a classic arm gesture for flapping wings in Swan Lake is actually backward. It should be done by pumping arms from back to front,” said one of the ballerinas. Now, Mr. Petton plans to perform his ballet with actual swans in the U.S. using locally bred swans. What do you think about using swans for this performance? Do you think it’s interesting or weird?     출처: 어린이 영자신문 키즈타임즈 (www.kidstimes.net)