“The heart of the ballet stays the same, but it never feels like repeating the same evening,” Hartwick said. 

Hartwick and co-founder of the company, Sasha Gorskaya, came to the ballet from the professional world, causing them to pay special attention to the audience experience. 

“Where they’re confused, where they’re moved, what stays with them, that mindset shapes everything we do,” Hartwick said. “So, we listen to the audience and adjust accordingly.” 

World Ballet is no stranger to the Wharton Center, having previously performed shows such as “Cinderella” and “The Nutcracker” there. This time, the company brought “Swan Lake,” which Hartwick described as “the ballet of ballets.”

Along with the artistry of the set design, music, projections and props, the performers are responsible for technique, emotional depth and the Black Swan’s famous 32 fouettés.

“The technical demands of this ballet make that preparation even more important,” Hartwick said. “The swans have to be beautifully synchronized and the principal roles are a marathon. By the time the curtain rises, every department has played a part in making those first few minutes possible.”

With standing ovations capping off the performance, Hartwick remarked that “we should definitely come back,” and extended her gratitude to the Wharton Center and the audience of East Lansing. 

As a performing arts center, the Wharton aims to provide a place for dance and ballet enthusiasts to enjoy the “highly theatrical” story ballet complete with a live orchestra to “[enrich] the experience and complement the artistry of the highly trained dancers,” said Jarrod Bradford, Senior Director of Operations & Administration at the Wharton Center.

Recreational ballet dancer and attendee Sarah Park had seen multiple versions and endings of the ballet before and was curious which one the company would go with. While she noted that she usually sees a more tragic ending than the World Ballet’s route, she enjoyed the company's spin.

“Who doesn’t love a happy ending?” Park said. 

Park’s friend Sarah Stratton saw the event on Instagram and thought of Park, causing the pair to travel from Pinckney (Stratton) and Ann Arbor (Park). Stratton particularly enjoyed the costuming of the jesters and the show's ending while Park praised the ballerina playing Odette and Odile, the White and Black Swans. 

“(She) did a really great job of characterizing both swans and really showing the difference between the two, through the characterizations, her movements and all of that,” Park said.

Having been to multiple ballets with her mom since she was little, applied engineering senior Sierra Campbell and her mother continued the tradition with Sunday’s show. 

She said the ballet “exceeded [her] expectations,” and was especially interested in the artwork, the live symphony and the props, which she called “really amazing,” having read that they were all hand-painted.

“(Ballet) is definitely something that I feel like not a lot of people appreciate anymore,” Campbell said. “But it's nice to see everyone come together and actually appreciate sitting down and watching quite a long ballet.”

Campbell called Wharton “one of the best places” for events, noting that it brings in a lot of people even people that don’t go to MSU.

Despite Park’s and other attendees’ expertise on the matter, Hartwick remarked that attendees “don’t need a degree in ballet to fall in love with it.” 

The company “(welcomes) people who have loved ballet for years, alongside people seeing their first one,” Hartwick said. “If someone walks in thinking, ‘I’m not sure ballet is for me,’ and walks out asking what we’re performing next, that’s a wonderful night for us.”