Thread by @globeandmail

After more than 50 years with @nationalballet, Canada’s most celebrated ballerina, Karen Kain, is bidding farewell with her new vision for Swan Lake – debuting in June.🩰

@susinsky and @meltait go behind the scenes of #SwanLakeNBC: tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd

The @nationalballet has not premiered a new Swan Lake in more than two decades. Ms. Kain first danced the demanding dual role of the Swan Queen Odette and Black Swan Odile at just 19 years old. tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd

Rehearsals for #SwanLakeNBC were supposed to have begun two years ago, before COVID-19. “It’s been difficult. I think I stopped believing it was ever really going to happen,” said Ms. Kain. tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd

It was the first ballet Ms. Kain danced with Rudolf Nureyev – the beginning of a formative partnership – and when she celebrated 25 years with @nationalballet, Swan Lake was a natural choice for her anniversary performance. tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd

Every Swan Lake descends from a 19th-century production based on a German fairy tale. Ms. Kain’s version was inspired by Erik Bruhn’s 1967 production, but much about #SwanLakeNBC will be distinctly hers. tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd

Ms. Kain started dancing @NBS_ENB as a child. Her rise @nationalballet coincided with a ballet boom in the '70s-’80s, but she also witnessed the company’s financial crises first-hand. As artistic director, she made it her mission to build up an endowment. tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd

With so much time consumed by fundraising, Ms. Kain rarely had the chance to be in the studio. It’s one reason she had never directed a ballet before #SwanLakeNBC. tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd

If Ms. Kain’s production is a success with audiences, it will be in heavy rotation @nationalballet, appearing every couple years. Ms. Kain isn’t cutting ties with the company, but after spending most of her life consumed by ballet, she’s ready for a break. tgam.ca/3Nop2Fd