Danse des petits cygnes is a dance from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, from the ballet's second act, the fourth movement of No. 13. It is written in the key of F♯ minor. Translated from French, it means "Dance of the Little Swans", also known as "Dance of the Cygnets". It is challenging because the dancers must coordinate their leg movements while holding hands.
Lev Ivanov's choreography—created for the 1895 revival of Swan Lake—was meant to imitate the way cygnets huddle and move together for protection. Four dancers enter the stage in a line and move across with their arms crossed in front of one another, grasping the next dancers' hands. They move sideways, doing sixteen pas de chat. Ideally, the dancers move in exact unison. At the very end, they break their chain and try to "fly", only to drop to the ground.
