Analysis: The Australian Ballet Company's Sleeping Beauty '

The applauding audience, the lights, sequins and feathers, the colorful, elaborate tutus, and satin pointe shoes capture the hearts of young girls. Where else can a young girl dream of becoming a princess, a swan, a dancing snowflake or flower, or a sugarplum fairy? Where else can she be a fairy tale character like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty? Where else can she be rescued by her handsome prince and collapse into his arms? Ballet is the magical world where these dreams can come true. Young girls and women can be all of these things, symbolizing femininity in a culture that teaches young girls to be and want everything pink and pretty.

Once upon a time in a land far away, a young girl named Cinderella lived with her Stepmother and two stepsisters. Although they were exceedingly cruel, Cinderella continued to be as benevolent as a human could be. One night Cinderella had come across a ball that her mother had forbidden her to attend. Her stepsisters tore and ripped her dress that she had made herself, so Cinderella couldn’t attend the ball. After Cinderella’s stepmother and sisters went off to the ball, a fairy godmother had appeared to grant Cinderella’s dreams to attend the ball. There she met a young fellow whom she danced with all night. Little had she known he was the prince who was throwing the ball. At the beginning of the night the fairy godmother had told

The repertoire includes such classics as Tchaikovsky‘s "Eugene Onegin" and "Swan Lake" and works by Mozart, Verdi and Rossini. Other popular productions are Massenet‘s ballet "Manon" and the operas "Don Juan" by Mozart, "War and Peace" by Prokofiev and Wagner‘s "Das Rheingold". The latest productions are Tchaikovsky‘s "The Nutcracker" Puccini‘s "La Boheme" and Verdi‘s "Macbeth". The most famous Russian ballet companies are; Tatchkine, St. Petersburg, Bolshoi companies just to name a few of the most famous.

While observing this dance ballet, there were many things that caught my attention. First, the theater itself was extremely large, and the stage itself was big, and the dancers had plenty of room to move across the stage and perform their routines. There were many dancers, and they all played various roles that ranged from Clara, Fritz, Herr Drosselmeyer, the Rat King, the Nutcracker, the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Cavalier, and many more. All of the performers wore vivid costumes

Which choreographer created several famous full length ballets, including Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and The Nutcracker?

Set during the time period in France of LOUIS XIV, (Created in Russia) By Marius Pepita (French) Moved to russia in 1847 as a dancer, FIRST ballet for the composer Tchaichovsky, Rose Adagio. Other Classical Ballets by Petipa: Cinderella, Swan Lake, Baydeare, The Nutcracker

After the Romantic-era ballet had died out in Paris and Russia became the new focus. In 1738, the opening of the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg attracted many great dancers and choreographers such as Marie Taglioni. This school was controlled by an aristocrat named Czar. The most well known 19th century choreographer, Marius Petipa, became the ballet master of the entire school, shaping imperial and classical ballet. Ideas such as increased focus on technique, formulaic choreography, mime and gesture, and lengthy ballets can be seen in Petipa 's most famous ballets. These famous ballets include The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker, and Swan Lake. In the 20th century, Sergei Diaghilev introduced a traveling ballet company called Ballet Russes. Starting out in Paris, this company brings together Russian and Western ideas with a spark of modernism. This company brought together revolutionary collaborations between choreographers, dancers, composers, artists, and fashion designers. Through the development of Russian ballet, there has been rejection and embracement as well as changes in structure and choreography.

In the essay, “Behind the Curtain: The Body, Control, and Ballet” Kelso exposes how many individuals in society, specifically women, are pressured by society to physically look a certain way; society has to recognize that as a result, there are unintended consequences that follow. To address this issue, Kelso claims, “They live with the same pressures as the rest of society, however, they also have to deal with the risk of unemployment if they gain any amount of weight or their bodies do not look a certain way” (Kelso 3). In this case, dancers are all extremely pressured to being classified into this specific category of weight. Whether if one was to recognize that it is an inappropriate classification, they’re unable to take action upon it

As one of the few ballets that has been performed continuously for centuries, Giselle has become one of the most renowned ballets of all time. Giselle was conceived in 1841 by Gautier specifically for the famous ballerina of the Paris Opera Ballet, Carlotta Grisi. This ballet was a product of the thriving creativity of the 19th century. The classic story tells of a young girl, Giselle, who has caught the eye of two men. As the ballet progresses, Giselle falls in love with one of the men, only to have her heart broken. Because she is weak in health, Giselle dies of heart break and is to become one of the Wilis, a clan of ghostly women who haunt men from beyond their graves. It is obvious that Giselle is from the Romantic era because of the many identifying elements that connect it to Romanticism as well as the historical influences and gender roles that are reflected in the ballet’s story.

For instance, Irina Tsoy, who played the canary fairy, brought life and energy to the stage. She, unlike most of the rest of the cast, combined her artistic skills with her technique to bring passion to the stage. Similarly, Daria Lednikova, who played Little Red Riding Hood, and Olga Gudkova, who played the Lilac fairy, had a beauty and grace when and transformed the energy of the stage. Maria Klueva, who danced the role of Princess Aurora, was graceful but lacked a presence that other characters had. While she, and the rest of the cast had beautiful technique, there was a lack of artistic choices, energy, and overall happiness or eagerness to be on stage. Generally, I was underwhelmed by their movement. The choreography, being simple and elegant, allowed the dancers so much opportunity to add their own voice to the music, but rather I simply saw a sea of smiles and energy-less

During this short documentary, Lamb really emphasizes how as a role, Aurora is both an artistic and technical challenge. She describes how the steps that she does look so simple, yet it is is difficult to do them with lightness and finesse. Particularly, the characterization of Aurora requires a lightness and buoyancy because she is sixteen year old girl on her birthday. I have never performed a ballet before, only group ballet dances in dance recitals, so I have never explored character development in relation to ballet dancing; however, I do

The Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky is another ballet that is based on a fairy tale, and was first presented to the Tsar of Russia.

Giselle is a classical ballet performed by the Teatro Allo Scala Ballet Company and originally choreographed by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot. The ballet company was founded in 1813 as an academy of ballet in Milan, Italy. The choreographers were famous French ballet dancers known for their choreographies in pinnacle performances such as Giselle and Childreich, King of the Franks. Giselle, a romantic ballet, was one of their most famous pieces created in 1841. It is the story of a naive peasant girl, named Giselle, who fell in love with a man that was betrothed to another. After a psychotic breakdown, she kills herself leaving her the man she loved feeling guilty about her death. After her death, Giselle was initiated into a group of supernatural beings known as the Wilis. These supernatural beings would lure men to their deaths by wooing them with their dances. Giselle finds it in her heart to forgive her guilty lover and does everything she can to save his life from the vengeful Wilis.

According to dictionary.com, a folktale is said to be, “a tale or legend originating and traditional among a people or folk, especially one forming part of the oral tradition of the common people”. What many people don’t realize is our beloved fairy tales, such as “Sleeping Beauty” have been derived from folktale. “Sleeping Beauty’s” folktale is exceptionally different from the modern day version that Disney has provided us with. Disney’s “Sleeping Beauty” and one of the original French versions of “Sleeping Beauty” differ in that they hold a separate plot, reach a contrasting crowd, and are from opposite times, but their basic theme holds true.

I started ballet when I was 5 years old. At first I did not want to join ballet. But my mom forced me to join. When I tried out, I was really enjoying the class. But I did not want to show that I did enjoy it.