The Sleeping Beauty - Queensland Ballet

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Fri 04 Jun 2021 - Sun 13 Jun 2021

The Sleeping Beauty opening night; magical and enchanting from beginning to end.

& #9733 ;& #9733 ;& #9733 ;& #9733 ;& #9733 ; "...truly a masterpiece." ArtsHub& #9733 ;& #9733 ;& #9733 ;& #9733 ; "A magical take on the well-worn classic, while respecting tradition." Limelight



Everyone knows the story; a beautiful princess is cursed to sleep for 100 years until she is woken up by true love's first kiss. The palace comes to life and the world celebrates with the reawakening of life in all its fullness.

This is the perfect choice of ballet to come out of our own 2020 hibernation; from the silence echoing through the empty QPAC spaces to the buzz of opening night for Queensland Ballet with all the excitement, glamour and joyous dance we have missed for over a year (the last full production being the Nutcracker in December 2019).

And so life imitates art.



Out of the abatement of our 2020 hopes and dreams, comes a renewed sense of hope and inspiration. It was a capacity audience on opening night and the excitement was palpable. From the first rise of the curtain to the multiple curtain calls nearly three hours later, we were treated to a sumptuous crafting of the tale as old as time - that after a protracted time of darkness, evil can be conquered and victory shared in joyous celebration.

Horseman's choreography underscores this deeper moral of the tale and the genre of magic is charmingly played out in its many forms, from the amusing cat/human creatures, the fairies of wisdom, beauty, wit, grace and song, bluebirds, a fire breathing dragon and goblin-like creatures, all of whom convey that we are in a magical and enchanted realm.

He also firmly anchors the choreography around the miracle of true love using plot devices and expressive dance to capture Prince Desire's romantic falling in love with Princess Aurora, the 'sleeping beauty'.

Both set and costumes are designed by Gary Harris. Costumes wowed the audience with their rich and changing colour palette and provided context, from the Elizabethan-styled courtiers' and royalty's costumes in rich velvets and brocades to provide gravitas to the palace setting, the fairies' tutus shimmering with their deft movements, the courting princes' national costumes, the dazzling blue costumes of the bluebirds, the dark colours of the malign characters and of course the cat costumes of Lady Florine and Catalabutte to provide feline fun and whimsy to the playful Puss in Boots divertissement.






In terms of set and lighting, technical director Cameron Goerg explained how this wonderful set of gothic architecture, arches, heraldic flags and forest is a difficult one to manipulate throughout the production. These architectural beasts are moved during the scenes and require clever use of darkened lighting and costumed movers to achieve this.

Both lighting on the set and deft scene changes were spectacular on the night and the couple of clunks as hefty pieces were being attached were hardly noticed and eminently forgivable.

Tchaikovsky's score is both dramatic and challenging but again was executed brilliantly by the Queensland Symphony Orchestra under the leadership of conductor Nigel Gaynor.

And so to the dance.

What was there not to love? It is an intensely romantic piece that utilises classical dance for the full panoply of human emotion. We had cruelty, revenge, wickedness, tenderness, love, courage, determination, laughter, joy, celebration and triumph.

Patricio Reve explained to me how capturing these emotions as well as the physical demands of the principal roles was key to dancing these roles effectively. And our closed borders this year were also our opportunity to showcase Queensland and local talent. On Opening Night, Neneka Yoshida as Princess Aurora and Victor Estevez as Prince Desire were resoundingly praised by Li Cunxin, artistic director, and deservedly so. While the role of Sleeping Beauty might be the fulfilment of a little girl's dream it is also a demanding one with quick changes and protracted physical demands. Naneka executed these with exquisite athleticism and grace. Victor also danced with deftness and strength throughout the production and was particularly expressive as a love-filled suitor.





Many others from company artists to senior soloists had the opportunity to dance solo pieces and this is a good sign of a healthy ballet company that offers opportunity to rising stars to fulfil their dance dreams.

If there are any tickets left, go grab them and for those lucky enough to be in possession of them you are in for a night of magic, romance and exquisite ballet. Lucky you and lucky Queensland for having this calibre of entertainment open for our re-emerging performing arts community.

CREATIVES
Choreographer Greg Horsman after Marius Petipa
Composer Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky
Conductor Nigel Gaynor
Costume and Set Designer Gary Harris
Lighting Designer Jon Buswell
Presented in association with Queensland Symphony Orchestra

Mary Li will return to the stage for the character role of Aurora's mother, The Queen, in The Sleeping Beauty.

See Mary at these performances:

Tuesday, 8 June 2021, 6:30pm
Thursday, 10 June 2021, 7:30pm
Tuesday, 15 June 2021, 6:30pm

#brisbane_city
#ballet
#classical_music
#dancing
#performing_arts
#shows
#june
!date 04/06/2021 -- 13/06/2021
%wnbrisbane