Brothers

In 2002, Elena Kats-Chernin composed the ballet Wild Swans, based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Wild Swans, for the Australian Ballet and choreographer Meryl Tankard. Both artists had already worked together for the opening ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Wild Swans became a great success: The piece Eliza Aria in particular made Kats-Chernin popular throughout the world. Brothers, too, is a movement from the ballet suite: Tankard wanted energetic, carefree music that sounded Hungarian and Irish at the same time. In the story, the eleven brothers perform a dance in their wooden slippers to the sounds of this music.