One cannot imagine Christmas without the Nutcracker

The Nutcracker and Swan Lake are probably the two most performed and famous ballets in the world. But these days, it is hard to believe that the very first production of these two iconic ballets was a complete failure.

As unbelievable as it might seem, nobody liked the Nutcracker at the beginning. Wow! By the way, It is the story that people have been watching for more than a century. The only person who appreciated it was the Russian Tsar Alexandre III.

Swan Lake was harshly criticized by pretty much everybody: the critics, the audience, the orchestra, the dancers. It was performed only once and then was completely abandoned for almost twenty years. It was revived two years after Tchaikovsky's death.

In this episode, we will learn lots of facts about Tchaikovsky. More pr ...