Description

The enchanting musical designed for the whole family Isadora Duck, based on the highly successful fairy tale of the same name by Stella Michailidou, is coming to your screens via GNO TV, offering children and grown-ups an unforgettable music theatre experience. This enchanting performance, which was a great success at the GNO Alternative Stage and inspired by the life of the great dancer and choreographer Isadora Duncan, will be available on nationalopera.gr/GNOTV/en from 7/4/2025 to 31/7/2025, with Greek and English subtitles.

The production Isadora Duck, written and directed by experienced Stella Michailidou and featuring music composed by distinguished composer Kostas Vomvolos, speaks about inclusion, acceptance, the power of forgiveness, and the acknowledgment of each person's uniqueness, while also being an ideal introduction for children to the art of dance.

The performance directly references a pioneering figure in modern dance, the “barefoot dancer” Isadora Duncan, and classical fairy tales, such as Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling. Its heroine, the petit duck Isadora Duck, with her uniquely beautiful blue feathers, lives in Swan Lake, struggling to make her dream of becoming a ballerina come true. Passion and the desire to dance are at the heart of this performance, which effectively communicates important values in a simple way, offering audiences a tender and at once cruel self-awareness adventure through music, dance, and humour.

The imaginative musical Isadora Duck, the new GNO Alternative Stage's production for children of all ages for the 2024/25 season, fills the hall with swans, ducks, seagulls, blackbirds, and colourful lake birds who tell the unique story of Isadora Duck, as revealed through the pages of the fairy tale of the same name by actress and choreographer Stella Michailidou. "A play between the names Isadora Duncan and Isadora Duck became the trigger for writing this play. But the lives of the great American dancer and choreographer Isadora Duncan and our heroine were very different. Duck and Duncan meet only in their passion for dance, in their longing to communicate more deeply and meaningfully with the world and themselves, to say things that words struggle to convey. They both learn by observing nature, recognizing that everything dances even though they seem motionless.”, Stella Michailidou, also known for her stories and plays for children and young people, notes.

“My wings may be small and my legs crooked, but my soul never stops dancing”, sings the play’s heroine, Isadora Duck, a tiny duck living in Swan Lake and dreaming of becoming a ballerina, even though she is the last one in her class.  When her teacher, Mr. Coup de Pied, kicks her out of class, Isadora wanders desperately until she slowly comes to believe in herself and discovers her own unique dance. A free dance, in perfect harmony with nature, without the restrictions imposed by classical ballet. A dance that allows her to express her true feelings, that helps her to overcome fear, loneliness and difficulties.

The music is composed by Kostas Vomvolos, the leader of the band Primavera en Salonico since 1994 , and also a member of the band Chimerini Kolymvites. Regarding the diverse elements making up Isadora Duck’s musical universe, Kostas Vomvolos notes: “The music highlights the educational character of children’s contact to very different musical genres, some of which are very familiar while others are completely unknown to these ages. The blending of such diverse elements could also be described as a kind of contribution from music to the acceptance of diversity and the highly-discussed inclusion. In essence, however, the main function of cliches in this performance – at times through a necessary redefinition of their context – is that they help us narrate, as amusingly as possible, how series a game life is.”

At a glance – Synopsis

“My wings may be small and my legs crooked, but my soul never stops dancing”, sings the play’s heroine, Isadora Duck, a tiny duck living in Swan Lake and dreaming of becoming a ballerina, even though she is the last one in her class.  When her teacher, Mr. Coup de Pied, kicks her out of class, Isadora wanders desperately until she slowly comes to believe in herself and discovers her own unique dance. A free dance, in perfect harmony with nature, without the restrictions imposed by classical ballet. A dance that allows her to express her true feelings, that helps her to overcome fear, loneliness and difficulties.

Creative team – Cast

Director's note

Photos & videos

Photos