The Sleeping Beauty

Well-known for its performance of early dances, the Cracovia Danza Ballet uses Baroque dance as well as the beautiful and revered music of the period to tell the story of a princess as the curse of an evil fairy reaches the king’s daughter. Sleeping Beauty is recognizable all around the world. Its immortal character is owed to the author of the short story and many other artists who adapted the widely known tale for film and theatre. The story of a princess who slept and waited for one hundred years provided the distinguished composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky and eminent choreographer Marius Petipa with inspiration for the ballet. Cracovia Danza resolved to read Sleeping Beauty anew, not through Tchaikovsky’s music but by drawing from a time when Charles Perrault, author of the tale, published his Sleeping Beauty, namely from the Baroque period. The sublime music and the French technique of Baroque dance bring out the spirit of the era in a perfect manner. A choice of Jean Baptist Lully’s and Jean-Philippe Rameau’s works can be heard in the performance — and the two renowned composers created both court and ballet music. And it is Lully, Charles Perrault’s contemporary, who took dance and music to new heights, at the same time laying the foundations for classical ballet. The choreography of the performance has been based on steps from dance treatises of the period, and completed with elements of contemporary dance techniques, which allowed historical accuracy, so desired by audiences, as well as freedom of artistic expression. The performance is not lacking in scenes where the grand minuet and the unsettling contradance reign supreme, and does not fail to surprise with a dashing umbrella dance or a carriage ride immediately afterwards. It is both courtly and balletic in character.