Sleeping Beauty
Marcia Haydée’s choreography of Sleeping Beauty, sheds new light on this romantic, classical ballet fairytale,
as Kathryn Bennetts and the Royal Ballet of Flanders break with more traditional approaches. Charles Perrault’s
classic tale about princess Aurora, the evil fairy Carabosse, Prince Désiré and the good fairy was choreographed
in 1890 by Marius Petipa and set to music by Tchaikovsky. The two cooperated closely on the project, with Petipa prescribing the number of bars and providing outlines for the orchestration.
And yet, this is by no means a run-of-the-mill piece. Quite the contrary in fact: Tchaikovsky produced a ballet score
with great emotional variation – generally regarded as his best in the genre - and Petipa, arguably the most influential ballet master ever, staged a choreography that would become the second most popular on the repertory of the Imperial Ballet.
Building on the solid foundation of Petipa and Tchaikovsky, Marcia Haydée, in her interpretation of the work,
chose to concentrate on the dramatic content. She added depth to the character of Carabosse.
While in previous productions of the ballet, the evil fairy had been a rather one-dimensional cardboard character,
in Haydée’s version Carabosse is transformed into a much ‘rounder’ character who actually ‘carries’ the piece.
Haydée wrote a strong choreography for the role: the new Carabosse is an attractive man who hides his evil
disposition behind expressive and energetic dance. Nonetheless, Haydée’s Sleeping Beauty is faithful to Petipa
in the sense that it represents a struggle between good and evil, with Carabosse the personification of evil who
is eventually defeated, and the unity of dance and music epitomising the restoration of societal harmony.
Haydée, who as a dancer always excelled in character roles, offers the principals and soloists of the Royal Ballet
of Flanders ample room to prove themselves in this area, supported by a great live performance of Tchaikovsky’s
score by the Symphony Orchestra of Flanders Opera conducted by Benjamin Pope.
The wonderful costumes and breathtaking décor, designed by Pablo Nuñez and executed by the costumes and
décor section of the Royal Ballet of Flanders, complete the picture.
In this manner, Kathryn Bennetts, Marcia Haydée and the Royal Ballet of Flanders restore this well-known fairytale ballet to its former glory, at once answering the question of why a company, in a season that it stands out with its performance of two pieces by the avant-garde artist William Forsythe, should chose also to revisit such a classic romantic piece. The reason is, as Marc Haegeman put it in Danceviewtimes, that this is not an “old-fashioned and dusty museum piece" but a work that “still inspires today’s artists as well as audiences. […] And what’s more, it takes an academically schooled company like the Royal Ballet of Flanders – the only one left in Belgium – to dance it."
Tickets - Vlaamse Opera Antwerp (tickets are available from August 30th, 2008)
th 16/10/2008 - 19.30
fr 17/10/2008 - 19.30*
sa 18/10/2008 - 19.30
tu 21/10/2008 - 19.30
we 22/10/2008 - 19.30*
th 23/10/2008 - 19.30*
sa 18/10/2008 - 14.00*
su 19/10/2008 - 15.00*
* with introduction
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