Watch Christine Shevchenko's Insane Take on the Black Swan Fouetté Turns
Every ballerina grows up aspiring to nail the fouetté turns in the coda of Swan Lake‘s Black Swan Pas de Deux. From classic primas like Natalia Makarova to current pros like Gillian Murphy, the 32-fouetté sequence has become so iconic that even our non-dancer friends know about the tricky turns. But yesterday, American Ballet Theatre principal Christine Shevchenko introduced us to a totally new take on the fouettés that we’ve been watching on a loop, in awe.
ABT shared the vid of Shevchenko as she preps for her Odile debut on February 16th during the company’s national tour, which is currently in Lincoln, Nebraska. Shevchenko does the standard pirouette into her fouettés, but on the third turn, she hits an à la seconde and throws in some swan arms as if the whole thing weren’t already difficult enough.
Fellow principal James Whiteside (who’s partnering Shevchenko in the show) shared another clip from rehearsal with the caption “twirl, kween.” And after seeing both of these videos, we’re kind of hoping twirl queen catches on as Shevchenko’s new nickname.