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Sleeping Beauty
Moscow Ballet – La Classique
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry****
SLEEPING Beauty is magnificent, the dancing unbelievable and each half
of the programme includes some great vignettes from the principal
dancers – with the Lilac Fairy (Mayya Zaripova) and Princess Aurora
(Ekaterina Shalyapina) featuring strongly. Prince
Florimund (Aleksandr Tarasov) was amazing, particularly a move where he
picked up his partner, slotted her under his arm resting her on his hip
and then raised both of his arms above his head. Well, don’t try it at
home, folks! Longed-for baby Princess
Aurora is loved and protected, and at her christening the good fairies
give her all the gifts she needs but Carabosse (Andrey Shalin -
brilliant), the uninvited bad fairy, has a cruel curse for her. She will prick her finger on a
needle at 16 and die. The Lilac Fairy ameliorates matters by reducing
the death sentence to a century of sleep, to be woken by a kiss from her
one true love. All needles are banished but,
at Aurora’s 16th birthday party, with a range of suitors at
her heels, an old woman appears, Carabosse in disguise, with a bunch of
flowers and a needle secreted within. As decreed, the palace and
everyone in it sleeps until The wedding feast includes
some well-known pantomime characters including Bluebird and Florine,
Puss in Boots and White Cat (who steal it every time with their
arbitrary cruelty), and Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf. The set is
sumptuous throughout and there is plenty to entertain all the family.
The audience range was truly intergenerational and it’s good to see the
little ballet stars of the future in the auditorium too. I have seen the same company
perform this programme and Swan Lake at the Belgrade, and the dancing is
consistently high quality. If I have a quibble it’s that the recorded
music was far too loud: no one would sleep for a minute through that.
Turn it down please. Directed by Elik Melikov to 21-03-15 Jane Howard
20-03-15
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