Every year, dog shows give us wonderful and strange sights, some awe-inspiring in their beauty and others haunting in their defiance of the natural world’s order. 2022 is no different. This year, we’ve been given footage of a chihuahua named Joya that sought to promote the art form of doggy ballet by dancing Swan Lake for Crufts’ Heelwork To Music competition last weekend.
Following in the paw-steps of the dog that danced its incredible canine dance to the sound of Evanescence’s “Bring Me To Life,” Joya has emerged onto the world stage as perhaps the foremost four-legged ballet dancer of our age. Video shows the chihuahua and her human companion, Bern, Switzerland’s Karin Baumann, bridge the divide between our species through the wordless power of dance.
Baumann moves between a trio of prop swans, extending her arms as Joya totters along at her heels, pulling off advanced moves like a handstand that looks momentarily as if the dog is about to pee all over the human’s legs. As the dance continues, Joya stands on different swans, climbs onto Baumann’s outstretched hands, and, of course, pulls off several sweet jumps made extra dramatic by virtue of the Tchaikovsky soundtrack.
Baumann’s YouTube page shows other versions of this masterful work, such as a clearer video from a performance last fall that allows viewers to study the choreography and press their own dogs into service as furry ballerinas.
Our sole advice to those who want to emulate this performance is that it’s important to take it easy on all the would-be Joyas out there. For all we know, this little chihuahua only achieved her current stardom by living through a psychosexual nightmare that most dogs would rather miss out on in favor of a more relaxed, artless life of tail-chasing and day-long naps.
[via ClassicFM and @Ariadne_Reviews]
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