Please enjoy the graceful majesty of a chihuahua dancing to Swan Lake
Joya the chihuahua and Karin Baumann competed in the 2022 Crufts' Heelwork To Music competition
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.