THE LAST SWAN

The Last Swan, is an extended reality (XR) performance experience created in partnership between Alexander Whitley Dance Company (AWDC) and English National Ballet (ENB). Featuring ENB company dancer Lois Fraiz, this unique performance installation reimagines Swan Lake, one of the most iconic story ballets, through a fusion of live dance, immersive design, and interactive technology.

At its heart, The Last Swan explores themes of metamorphosis and the duality of existence between digital and physical worlds. Across four evocative scenes audiences are immersed in shifting landscapes of watery haze, glimmering feathers, and fantastical light. These dreamlike environments unfold inside a cube, where movement, projection, and music interweave to create a living artwork.

Technology is not hidden but made part of the performance’s poetic language. The dancer is tracked using motion capture, which generates real-time visuals responding directly to her movement. These projections ripple, transform, and evolve in synchronous energy with the choreography. Following the performance, an audience-facing tracking system invites spectators to become co-creators in the experience, their movements and presence being reflected in the visual environments they have just observed. 

The Last Swan demonstrates how dance and digital technologies can converge to reimagine classical works for contemporary audiences, preserving their essence while opening new ways of experiencing them.