I came across an interesting passage this morning – excerpted from a ballet magazine, circa 1952. The author was editorializing what was then the 75 th  anniversary of Swan Lake. Yes, for those keeping track, that currently makes the world’s most famous ballet 133 years old. I have to say, it takes good care of itself, and doesn’t look a day over 110.   Now, the article in question, written by dance critic and historian Anatole Chujoy, was interesting in that it filled in some gaps in my understanding of Swan Lake’s legacy. Over the last few years, as I have produced our podcast, I have absorbed a lot of dance history from the back-and-forth discussions between Jim (Sparrow) and Karen (Gibbons-Brown). I have heard Karen say a number of times now that both  Swan Lake  and  Nutcracker , despite Tchaikovsky’s success as a composer and Petipa’s renown as a choreographer, initially flopped. As it turns out, both had their reasons, and both had their own unique path t...