AmericanBalletTheatre's new Sleeping Beauty Production

I've just been reading reviews of the Californian premier a month or two back of ABT's new production, from the almost always brilliant Ratmansky, of Sleeping Beauty which is premiering at the Met as part of their anniversary season next week.

This is my all time favourite classic ballet, and one that is so often mired in uninspired or even wrong headed productions (don't get me started about ABT's last one which they just retired with its Disneyland sets and a virtual lack of any fairy tale characters in the final act divertissements--truth be told, New York hasn't had a solid production of the ballet since the 1970s when they had one based on the famous Royal Ballet production--certainly Peter Martins' 2 hour version for NYCB showed that the whole point of Sleeping Beauty is the detailed, classical spectacle of it all.)

15 years back The Mariinsky did a full on attempt at recreating the 4 hour long 1890 original--complete with all the original designs. It was steeped in controversy (much of that due though to the current constant fighting at the big Russian ballet companies between senior members who believe their loyalty should be to the long established Soviet era versions of these works,) but I found it fascinating, and often brilliant when I was lucky enough to see the tour--particularly striking is how when the original choreography is restored as closely as possible you really realize how Tchaikovsky wrote TO Petipa's choreography and also the distinction between the music and movement for the mime scenes and the classical dance bits. The designs also, which always looked so funny in the early 1890 poor quality photos, were gorgeous.

Anyway, due to the current management of the Mariinsky, wrong-headedly (IMHO) wanting to focus more on the Soviet era, the production has already been retired for the 1950s production (which isn't bad in and of itself, as far as Beauties go, I guess.) Frustratingly plans to do a proper filming fell through, except for some excerpts and several decent bootlegs on youtube.

But reading the reviews of Ratmansky's take, he seems to reallyhave put a lot of thought into his. It's not quite the full hours of the previous reconstruction (which even I admit is a bit hard to make it through,) but a lot of attention has been made to recreating the details, and a renewed focus on also getting the dacners to try to learn the 1890 style (which had more detail in the movement but was less athletic--lower extensions, etc) something many of the former Soviet dancers actively refused to do. The designs are not the original but are based on the very famous Leon Bakst 1920 designs for the Ballet Russes production (which bankrupted Diaghilev--audiences didn't want to see old school ballet at the time,) and it looks gorgeous--

I know there are ballet and ABT fans on here and I hope that at least some of you report back after seeing it (it would be great if we got a filming.) Here's one review: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-abt-sleeping-beauty-review-20150305-story.html

And a very good Guardian article about Ratmansky's thought process for the recreation www.theguardian.com/stage/dance-blog/2015/mar/03/alexei-ratmansky-sleeping-beauty-american-ballet-theatre

Makes sense--especially since Ratmansky seems to be focusing so much on the dancers learning a more 1890s dance style and, as you and she says, Aurora has never been one of her key roles--why go through all the extra trouble of learning the style and choreography for one or two final performance.

I would love to see her final Giselle.

"The original portion of my message somehow didn't show up!
With Ratmansky's upcoming version, this will make 3 different incarnations of Sleeping Beauty that ABT has presented since the late 90s! I didn't not like the most recent version that played at the Kennedy Center a few years ago. The costume designs were quite garish. The color palette clashed with the set.
I saw NYCBs production in the early 90s. Although I like some of the score, it is definitely my least favorite of the Tchaikovsky ballets. "


Yeah, in one of the links I posted (I think?) the head of ABT admits that it's a ballet they haven't gotten right for a long time. The last production seemed to completely miss what IS appealing about the ballet.

It's actually my fave Tchaikovsky work (not just ballet wise, but in general--although if I'm feeling romantic or depressed I'll put on Swan Lake instead ).

I think the ballet can be a bit of a hard sell in some ways. When I saw the original production reconstruction on the Mariinsky tour 15 or so years back, I went with my mom who has seen countless productions and who is really the person I got my love for ballet from. She said something like "NOW I understand why so many rank it as the greatest ballet." Of course it doesn't have the likeability and fun that a good Nutcracker has. And it certainly doesn't have the dramatic heft or emotional context Swan Lake has.

What I think I like about it (and I admit at least some of this is influenced by what Balanchine said about it and how it became such an inspiration for his famous plot-less ballets like Jewels,) is that it just seems perfectly formed. The music and dancing when done right seem, unlike Swan Lake which is a grand tragedy (even in stupid Soviet versions which give it a last minute happy ending,) Sleeping Beauty is meant to show an idealized world--even with Carabosse. It's a celebration of that sense of ideal court perfection (which is ironic that it became such a fave in the Soviet era.) There's very little story there for such a long ballet--but there is a lot of brilliant, non-narrative dance. While it quickly was considered a hit, when it premiered in 1890 some ballet critics complained that it was plotless, missing the extremely convulated, melodramatic plots of hits like La Bayadere and Pharoah's Daughter (which I do find fun, but their appeal is partly like watching an old melodrama.) Of course they also said Tchaikovsky's music was too complex to dance to, something that seems to get said about all the truly groundbreaking, and now classic, ballet scores (anything Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, or Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet where half the Bolshoi dancers threatened to walk out because they hated the music so much.)

Anyway, I'm not making my point well, but I think that's how Beauty works best--as a presentation of the idealized perfection classical ballet strives to be (which is a different goal to romantic ballet like Giselle or Swan Lake.)

Still, I think because of that brilliance there are few moments in ballet (depending of course on the dancer and the staging/choreography,) I find as extremely moving as the end of the Rose Adagio, the gorgeous viola pas de deux in the "Vision" scene, or the final Grand Pas de Deux which actually often makes me tear up.

I'll be interested to hear if Ratmansky's production which at least seems to have gotten so much of it right makes you rank SB higher, Dottie!

I think it will tour--they seem pretty proud of it.

I am with you with Giselle--my *third* fave 19th C ballet after Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake

It's always a pleasure to read your thoughts on ballet, Dottie!