‘Sleeping Beauty’ at Artscape
Four international dancers lined-up for the timeless tale
TCHAIKOVSKY’S classic ballet
Sleeping Beauty comes to the Artscape from tomorrow and for lovers of this timeless tale, get ready for captivating performances by international guest artists on the two weekends.
First performed in St Petersburg in 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre, the magical tale is about Princess Aurora’s 100-year sleep and her awakening. It features charming encounters with fairies and fairytale characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and the Bluebird and Princess Florine, that doubtless will enchant young and older audience members.
Acclaimed dancers Precious Adams of the English National Ballet, and Andile Ndlovu of Washington Ballet will perform the roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund tomorrow and Sunday, while Vadim Muntagirov, principal at The Royal Ballet, performs the role of Prince Florimund opposite Tatiana Melnik, principal at the Hungarian National Ballet, as Princess Aurora on August 28 and 31.
We caught up with Adams in between rehearsals this week.
One of the rising stars in today’s ballet world, Adams has packed a lot into her 24 years. She began dancing at seven in a competitive jazz dance studio and started studying classical ballet at nine with Sergey Rayevskiy at the Academy of Russian Classical Ballet in Wixom, Michigan.
With the American Ballet Theatre, she twice received the Catherine Zeta Jones Scholarship and in 2011 was nominated to train in the US-sponsored Bolshoi Ballet Academy summer programme in Moscow. Among others, she also performed in 2013 in the sixth annual Stars of Russian Ballet Gala in Michigan, Her talent and hard work have been rewarded with several honours: in 2014 she was a two-time prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland. Adams is also a Young Artist finalist and silver medalist.
With so much already under her slim belt she said that she did not know where she saw herself in the next few years. “I work hard now and try to bring light and happiness into every day. Those are my goals. There’s so much I want to achieve. It’s kind of silly for me to put it out there because I don’t know where my path will ultimately lead to,” she says.
Adams says she was excited and happy to be in South Africa (her second time here) and performing in the ballet offered a “new challenge” for her.
Debbie Turner, chief executive of Cape Town City Ballet, says:
“We are honoured to be welcoming our international guest artists who will be joining us for selected performances, and we are delighted that esteemed South African ballet legend Denise Schultze Godfrey is here to stage the production for us.”
Of the other dancers, she said Ndlovu was recently nominated for a Benois de la Danse Award in the category of Best Male Dancer, alongside Vadim Muntagirov, who won the award. Melnick trained with Vadim at Perm Ballet School in Russia and this will be the first time she’s dancing with Vadim.
Set and costume design is by Peter Cazalet, and lighting design for the production is by Wilhelm Disbergen.
The Cape Town City Ballet will be accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra at the 7.30pm performances on August 17, August 23 and 24 and Wednesday August 28. Bookings for all the shows at Computicket.