A video of Marta C. González listening to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake shows her moving her arms in time with the music while wearing headphones at a care home in Spain. It is a striking individual moment, not proof that Alzheimer’s was cured or that music reliably restores memory. The viral edit also included ballet footage that was not González, and its claim that she had been a prima ballerina with a “New York Ballet” is unsubstantiated.
What happens in the video?
Contemporaneous reports describe González listening to Swan Lake through headphones and responding with expressive arm movements. The recording was made at a care home in Spain, reportedly about a year before the clip spread widely online in November 2020. Accounts identify the facility as Residencia Muro de Alcoy; reports also describe its location more broadly as Alcoy in Alicante, in Spain’s Valencia region.
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El Español reported that González spoke while listening, saying “hay que coger las puntas” (“you have to go up on pointe”) and “Esto es el coro” (“This is the chorus”). These are phrases attributed to her by that report, rather than an independently authenticated transcript. NPR reporter Anastasia Tsioulcas later wrote that “Tchaikovsky’s music clearly evoked a strong, truly visceral response from this former dancer.”
Who was Marta C. González?
The video’s popular biography described González as a former ballerina who had danced in New York in the 1960s, sometimes naming a “New York Ballet.” Those details should be treated as claims, not established facts. In its 10 November 2020 investigation, NPR reported that there was no known company called “the New York Ballet” and that New York City Ballet did not list González as an alumna. The sources do not independently establish the career history repeated in viral captions and some contemporaneous coverage.
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Reports identify her as a former dancer and say she died in 2019. RTVE reported that the association Música para Despertar recirculated the video after her death. These accounts help explain how the recording reached a wider audience, but they do not resolve the disputed details of her professional biography.
Why is there other ballet footage in the viral edit?
Some versions of the viral video splice in archival footage of a dancer performing. NPR reported that dance critic Alastair Macaulay identified that performer as Uliana Lopatkina, dancing The Dying Swan—a solo set to music by Camille Saint-Saëns. It is not footage of González performing Swan Lake.
Rank #2
That distinction matters: the inserted performance can make the clip seem to document González’s earlier dancing, but it does not. What the recording itself shows is her response to music while listening at the care home.
Does the video show that music restores memory?
No. The clip documents one person’s response; it cannot establish that music treats Alzheimer’s, restores memory, or produces the same effect for other people. The contemporaneous reports describe movement and emotion in this particular moment. They do not provide evidence for a predictable clinical outcome or a cure.
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- ISBN: 978-0-7697-0866-9
- Color
- Running Time: 162 minutes
- Sound: LPCM/Dolby 5.1
- Composer/Author: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
It is reasonable to find the scene moving without assigning it more meaning than the evidence supports. González’s visible response is the story; claims about a universal effect are not demonstrated by this video.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to watch the clip with its context
- Separate the care-home recording from archival footage added to some edits; the latter was identified as Lopatkina in The Dying Swan.
- Read “New York Ballet” and the related prima-ballerina story as unverified claims, not confirmed credentials.
- Describe what is visible—González listening and moving her arms—without calling it a cure or proof of memory recovery.
Contemporaneous coverage appeared from RTVE and ITV on 9 November 2020. El Español reported the facility and González’s quoted phrases. NPR investigated the disputed biography and identified the archival dancer.
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- The disk has English audio.
Rank #4
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