The Dying Swan that the dance today is often made to appear to be a variation of "Swan Lake", which she describes as "Odette at death's door." Isabelle says that the ballet is not about a ballerina being able to transform herself into a swan, but about death, with the swan as a metaphor. Pavlova was recorded dancing "The Dying Swan" in a 1925 silent film, to which sound is often added. The short ballet has influenced interpretations of Odette in Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", particularly during the parting of the lovers in the first lakeside scene. The dance was almost immediately adapted by
Odette de Champdivers family was Burgundian (i.e., supporters of the Duke of Burgundy), in early 1407 the seventeen-year-old Odette became the mistress of King Charles VI after the death of his brother Louis I, Duke of Orléans, Burgundy's rival. Queen Isabeau, the victim of beatings and abuse from her violent, schizophrenic husband, allowed Odette to substitute for her without difficulty. By some accounts, she herself arranged for Odette to take her place in the mentally ill king's bed; by others it is believed that Duke John the Fearless offered the young Odette to the King, in order to ensure the influence of the