City starlets to shine in 'Swan Lake'

One of the oldest ballet companies in Europe is visiting Shanghai next month and giving four local children a taste of stardom. Here is more about the performance by the Royal Swedish Ballet.

Four local children will have a rare chance to dance in the classic ballet "Swan Lake" with the 235-year-old Royal Swedish Ballet next month.

Madeleine Onne, artistic director of the company, has recently visited Shanghai and held auditions.

"We are interested in cooperating with local dancers in some ways and we are especially interested in the dancing skills of Chinese children," says Onne, who has selected four 10-year-old dancers from the dance school attached to the Shanghai Theater Academy.

"I selected them for their figures and ballet skills and how they could play their parts and highlight the appearance in the ballet of a clown," Onne says.

One of the oldest ballet dance companies in Europe, the Royal Swedish Ballet was founded by King Gustav III, who was a great lover of the arts and an actor and playwright himself. The king wanted to promote the use of Swedish as the language of the upper classes who generally spoke French.