The First Swan Lake and Russian Tradition

Authors

• Tiina Suhonen

Keywords:

Joutsenlampi, baletti, esitystraditio

Abstract

The article examines the influence of the Russian ballet tradition on the early Finnish ballet, and the
circumstances which made it possible to produce the first Finnish Swan Lake at The Finnish Opera in 1922.
Most dancers came from the Helsinki Dance Institute, which had Russian ballet refugees as teachers. The
Finnish Swan Lake was not a single case, since the Russian traditional ballet repertoire was being performed
in the early 1920s in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well.