Swan Lake Unfolded

Swan Lake Unfolded

by JEN ATKINS

Season 1

The Handmaid's Tale 4: Deep Dive with Kirill Smolkin

Why does a few seconds of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake instantly feel mysterious…or even unsettling? Music scholar Kirill Smolkin joins us to unpack the famous “Swan Theme,” exploring its emotional power, its surprising afterlife in horror films, and why music boxes have such a lasting psychological pull. Together we trace how these sounds shape our emotional responses and discover how all of these threads come together in The Handmaid's Tale. Once you hear the “Swan Theme” this way, you may never hear it quite the same again.

The Handmaid's Tale 3: Deep Dive with Trent Montgomery

What is it like to spend your career dancing swan roles? Professional ballet dancer Trent Montgomery takes us behind the curtain of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the internationally acclaimed all-male ballet company celebrated for its extraordinary technique, pointe work, drag performance, and infectious sense of humor. Together we talk about what it means to embody swan roles, why audiences connect so deeply with them, and how comedy can open doors to appreciating one of ballet's most enduring works. It's a conversation about artistry, athleticism, tradition, and the joy of performance.

The Handmaid's Tale 2: Group Chat!

Come behind the scenes with us as our team chats about our own first experiences with The Handmaid’s Tale, how Gilead reflects contemporary social commentary, and the ways the show connects to conversations happening on social media. And, of course, we couldn’t leave out the music box and Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Theme”…and how that sound brings so many of these ideas together. It’s a conversation about memory, culture, and the unexpected ways Swan Lake continues to show up in the stories we tell about our world. 📸: IMDb

The Handmaid's Tale 1: Sylphs, Swans, and Duality

Our first streaming TV series to highlight is Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale! But what does Swan Lake have to do with Gilead? This episode uncovers the ballet references woven throughout the show’s first season, from a music box playing Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Theme” to how Handmaids are staged like a corps de ballet of sylphs and swans. These choices aren’t accidental. Together, they reveal how ballet becomes a powerful language for exploring identity, power, and the roles women are expected to perform. Once you notice the swans, you’ll never watch The Handmaid’s Tale the same way again. 📸: Hulu

Introduction 5: Deep Dive with Hannah Schwadron

In our Deep Dive episodes, we speak with experts about the many ways Swan Lake shows up in popular culture…and why those appearances are important. In this episode, dance scholar Hannah Schwadron takes us from Jewish joke-work in American media to vaudeville, horror films, and much more, exploring the unexpected cultural connections that surround Swan Lake.

Introduction 4: A Conversation with Jen & Madeline

What can dance reveal about ourselves? In this episode, Managing Producer Madeline Aldana-Gray joins Jen Atkins to talk about how dance is a framework for introspection. They gather at Jen's home to chat about dance as an embodied experience and a mode of personal interpretation. How can moving, watching, and thinking through dance give us new ways to understand our own experiences—and perhaps see ourselves differently?

Introduction 3: Deep Dive with Elizabeth Bergman

In this episode, Jen Atkins talks with dance scholar Elizabeth June Bergman. They explore popular dance as a framework for understanding the world around us and ask: What is it about dance that makes it such a powerful way to think through human experiences and the societies we build?

Introduction 2: Deep Dive with Carlee Sachs-Krook

What makes something popular? And what happens when we start moving, dancing, and thinking about popular culture?Join Jen Atkins and Carlee Sacks-Krook as they explore what popular culture is, what makes dance “popular,” and why it matters, from dances we see on our screens to the ways those movements shape how we understand ourselves and the everyday world around us. Episode Cover Art: 📸: Phil Hifiker via Flickr

Introduction to Popular Culture Movements: Swan Lake Unfolded

Tune in for this introduction to a new digital humanities project, Swan Lake Unfolded, which uses popular culture as a playground for learning about ourselves and the world around us. For anyone unfamiliar with Swan Lake, or who simply wants to learn more about our season, project lead Dr. Jen Atkins talks through an overview of the episodes ahead in this inaugural podcast episode. This first season, Swan Lake Unfolded, is part of a larger project, “Popular Culture Movements,” which maps how cultural touchstones move through media (and what that means). So Swan Lake Unfolded really isn’t solely about the ballet Swan Lake—it’s about myths, parody, music, history, games, dancing, food, memory, and more! It’s a celebration of reinvention and what the past reveals about our present and the kinds of futures we want to create… How do we do this? This season we dive into three streaming tv shows—Hulu'sThe Handmaid’s Tale, Ted Lasso, and Bridgerton—to explore how Swan Lake references open up larger conversations around identity, love, community, and art. We question how popular culture is a portal to thinking through ways of moving through the world, not only reflecting our values and dreams, but also our ideal solutions, too. We pair podcasts with website content (swanlakeunfolded.com) to engage listeners even more, creating webs of ideas that we hope will continue to ripple outward. Episode Cover Art 📸: Alexey Yakovlev via Flickr