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The Sleeping Beauty

Music
Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky
Choreography
Peter Martins (after Petipa); The Garland Dance choreographed by Balanchine

This enchanting full-length is one of NYCB’s grandest spectacles of dance, featuring luxurious sets and costumes, Tschaikovsky’s glorious score, and a cast of fantastical characters.

Balanchine never mounted a production of The Sleeping Beauty.  He did, however, choreograph The Garland Dance for the 1981 Tschaikovsky Festival, and his choreography is incorporated into Peter Martins’ staging of the ballet.  For many years it was Lincoln Kirstein’s dream to mount the ballet at New York City Ballet. Thus, Martins chose Kirstein’s 80th birthday celebration, on May 4, 1987, to announce that the Company would produce The Sleeping Beauty.

It is one of the most elaborate productions presented by the Company, requiring over 100 dancers, including students from the School of American Ballet. Martins' version is streamlined into two acts that combine the drama and beauty of the original choreography with the speed and energy for which New York City Ballet is known.

Act I: 1 hour 12 minutes, Act II: 55 minutes

Anatomy of a Dance

Sara Mearns on The Sleeping Beauty

Sara Mearns compares what it’s like to portray both good and evil through the universal language of ballet pantomime in the same scene of The Sleeping Beauty by breaking down her performances as both the villainous Carabosse and the beloved Lilac Fairy.

Anatomy of a Dance

Tiler Peck on The Sleeping Beauty

Tiler Peck walks us through the Vision Scene of The Sleeping Beauty and the difficulty of appearing dreamlike after the physical demands of Act I.

Teresa Reichlen as Lilac Fairy
Ashley Bouder as Aurora and Andrew Veyette as Prince

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