HIGH BAR SET FOR A BALLET CLASSIC
Sleeping Beauty Bord Gáis Energy Theatre ★★★★
Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty is not as regularly presented here as Swan Lake and the Nutcracker, so it was a pleasure to see it given an accomplished production by Moscow City Ballet as part of its week-long tour. It’s a particularly daunting ballet because of the demands it makes on the technical and artistic skills of even those dancing minor roles. The production was visually impressive and the precise ensemble work was a delight.
As usual with that company, there was no penny-pinching when it came to costumes.
Some courtiers danced in gowns that would trip up most people who tried to walk in them.
Princess Aurora, sent into a 100-year sleep by the wicked fairy Carabosse, was danced by prima ballerina Lilia Orekhova. She’s one of those performers whose presence lights up a stage, and she went through the whole gamut of the ballet repertoire alone and with the elegant Mykhailo Tkachuk (Prince Florimund), with an apparent ease that disguised the skill behind it all.
Vlad Kuzmich was a dramatically
‘As usual, there was no penny-pinching when it came to costumes’
powerful presence as the wicked Carabosse, almost lost in a lavish gown and cloak, and accompanied by his monkey-like entourage.
Kseniya Stankevitch, as the good fairy and Dmitry Lazovik in several roles also stood out, but this was very much a united team presentation from an extremely talented company of dancers.
The pace suffered as the story ran out of steam after Carabosse was overcome and, in places, the choreography appeared repetitive, but there was still some fine celebratory dancing from the array of fairytale characters.
The orchestral string and wind sections were impressive, though the brass section was not so consistently sure in its intonation.