Night Swan

Night Swan
Leda

Coach Information

Real name

Leda Nox
(shortened to Leda in-game)

Gender

♀

Pronouns

She/her

Species

Human

Home

Earth (formerly)
Swan Tower, Cygnus, Eternyx

Partner(s)

The Traveler (ex)

Relative(s)

Jack Rose (son)

Occupation

Performer^[1]^[2] (formerly)

Member of

Night Swan Army

Allies

Jack Rose (former)
Night Swan Army

Enemies

The Just Dancers

Real-world Information

First appearance

Overall:
Can’t Stop the Feeling!
Playable:
Witch

Voiced by

Patricia Summersett^[3]

Performer

Shirley Henault (2023/2025)
Maïwenn Bramoullé (2024)

Night Swan (formerly known as Leda Nox,^[4]^[5] shortened to Leda in-game) is a character from Just Dance 2023 Edition, officially debuting in Witch and serving as the main antagonist of the "Enter the Danceverses" storyline. She is a human performer-turned-sorceress who is trying to conquer the Danceverses by enslaving other dancers into her army.

Night Swan returns in "Dance with the Swan", where she makes another attempt at taking over the Danceverses.

The first Just Dance+ event, "Night Swan: The Prequel" is centered around her backstory.

Biography[]

Initial appearance[]

Night Swan was first shown in the promotional trailer video for Season 1: Astral, in one of the Tarot cards that uses her concept art. There, her card is shown with "XXVII" (27) written on the top and "X" (10) written on the bottom. The upper number holds no meaning, while the lower number is associated with the card "Wheel of Fortune". She made her debut formal appearance in Can’t Stop the Feeling!.

Main appearances[]

The ruler of the Swan Tower and the head figure of the Swan Army, she is an imposing, dark and enigmatic figure who is obsessed with the idea of "perfection". A firm believer of perfection and order, she will strive to achieve her goals of "perfection" throughout the Danceverses, even through the use of forceful transformation, dark spells and manipulation.^[2] In her quest for perfection, she builds an ever-growing army of dancers that she has corrupted using the Dark Flow. These soldiers gather in her lair, Swan Tower, coming in through portals from across the Danceverses, as seen in Witch. Anyone who threatens her goal of "perfection" is corrupted into the army, as shown in Majesty.

She is also shown to be the mother of Jack Rose,^[6] the celebrity singer depicted in Locked Out of Heaven. Although their interactions are vague, it is implied that they have a neutral-to-negative relationship, where it is depicted throughout her appearance in Locked Out of Heaven looking at him disappointingly. Additional information states that she focuses more on herself, leaving her son with little support. However, following her forcibly transforming Wanderlust and his friends into minions, it ended with a heated argument in the background of Majesty that quickly sours their relationship, with Jack Rose siding with the Just Dancers.

Upon her defeat, she returned to the city of Cygnus in Eternyx, knowing that she only lost a battle and prepares herself for war. Throughout the Dance with the Swan storyline, she exacts her revenge, starting by stealing Discoball from Wanderlust during Canned Heat and turning Discoball into Dark Discoball. She also possesses Sara, attacks Brezziana and Mihaly, and attempts to sway Jack back to her side by showing him an illusion where he succeeds her as ruler. She succeeds in possessing all of the Just Dancers except Jack, and takes them to spread chaos through the Danceverses on her ship.

Several routines explore her backstory: Murder on the Dancefloor reveals that her real name is Leda (with her last name revealed to be Nox on social media)^[4]^[5] and that she is a human ballerina from Earth. She is seen in front of her TV, where The Traveler and Discoball appear and pull her into the Just Dance universe, similar to how Wanderlust pulled in Sara in Can’t Stop the Feeling!. The Traveler teaches her how to use her powers throughout the map, and in the end, he opens a portal back to Earth for her, but she closes it. Instead, she chooses to go with the Traveler through a door that opens at the end of the map.

Darkest Hour reveals that Leda was dreaming of becoming the ultimate ballerina, but her dream goal crumbled after she failed to achieve it.^[2] The song is implied to be sung by Leda herself and alludes to her sacrificing her dream for power and perfection. The routine shows Leda in Eternyx as she transforms into Night Swan, with the ending cutscene showing the first frame of Witch, indicating the transformation has completed. This routine was originally meant to be used for Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and appear in Just Dance 2023 Edition, but was later scrapped. It also would have had Night Swan’s real name be Leda Nox, but this was scrapped as well. Despite this, Leda Nox is the name used on social media to refer to her and is still considered to be canon.^[4]^[5]

Outside of the main lore, Night Swan is also shown in the introduction of Telephone with her clawed finger pointing at Louise Dials on the other side of the glass at the beginning of the routine. As the Loremaster mentions that Bonnie and Clyde, two inmates depicted in Telephone (Runaway Version), escape from Night Swan’s police, it is implied that the prison complex of Telephone belongs to her. She also has personal ties with Cygnus, the representative of Eternyx in Showdown, where he helped create the city and a time and space trap called Clock Tower before cutting ties with her and repent his wrongdoings. These ties are explored in In Your Eyes (Remix), which reveals that Jack Rose had been living alongside the Traveler and Leda for a while, before Leda travels to Eternyx and meets Cygnus for the first time. After she is presented with a mural that shows her future as Night Swan, she takes Jack Rose with her to Eternyx, leaving the Traveler unaware that they have left.

Appearances[]

Playable[]

Cameos[]

Can’t Stop the Feeling!
Locked Out of Heaven
Telephone
Canned Heat
Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)
Never Be Like You
Treasure
Swan Lake
Tainted Love
Sunlight (recycled footage from Witch)

Scrapped[]

Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)

Quotes[]

“	Perfect is the enemy of good, and I don’t care much about good!	„
	~ Classic avatar description

“	Your cute little resis-dance party is coming to an end. I'm in charge now, I set the tone.	„
	~ Just Dance 2024 Edition - Story Playlist Trailer^[7]

“	You dancers have been resting easy for far too long...let's see how you handle the lights going out.	„
	~ Twitter post^[8]

Trivia[]

Night Swan is the second coach in the Just Dance series to be conceptualized as a villain, after Amanita.
- However, Night Swan is the first villain to fight against coaches from multiple routines (as opposed to Amanita, who only fights against Phone Girl, Hairman, and Pool Man).
As seen in Murder on the Dancefloor, Night Swan (as Leda) was originally a human from Earth, thus being the fourth coach in the official Just Dance lore to be confirmed to come from Earth, after Sara, DeerStan, and PandaFan.
Night Swan is currently the only main character to only have one avatar.
Night Swan was the second character in the history of Just Dance to have a season or event dedicated to them, after The Traveler.
The "Coach of the Week" post featuring Night Swan quotes the aphorism "Perfect is the enemy of good", likely referencing the "GOOD" and "PERFECT" feedback icons of the Just Dance series.^[9] The aphorism was later referenced in her avatar with the quote "Perfect is the enemy of good, and I don’t care much about good!".
- The reference returned on a tweet posted by Just Dance on November 28, 2022, which states that Night Swan was corrupted by her obsession with perfection.^[10]
  - The latter fact may also be a reference to the film Black Swan, which deals with the theme of perfectionism. This may have also inspired Night Swan's name and the ballet influences in most of her routines.
Two emotes of Night Swan as Leda, respectively based on Darkest Hour and Murder on the Dancefloor, appear in the trailer for Season 2: Y2K despite not being available as rewards in that season.
The name Leda Nox is likely a reference to the character Leda from the myth Leda and the Swan, while "Nox" is Latin for "night".
- Nox may have also been a reference to Eurythmics member Annie Lennox, the vocalist for Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), and this may be why this portion of her name is not present in-game.
  - However, the name is still used on social media.^[4] When asked about this, the account stated that Leda Nox is her "full government name".^[5]