A crowning jewel

The Sleeping Beauty is a perfect example of how ballet, despite its centuries-long history, has experienced countless rebirths. Companies worldwide have performed this fairytale since the late 1800s, and it’s still adored by contemporary audiences. It all began in the dining room of Marius Petipa. Here Tchaikovsky and Petipa shared ideas, furiously took notes and watched their ballet about a sleeping princess grow. Petipa’s ballet won hearts, Tchaikovsky’s score won musical minds and the role of Aurora became a dream for ballerinas all over.

The brain behind the Ballets Russes, Sergei Diaghilev, was 18 years old when he saw his first ballet performance. It was Petipa’s The Sleeping Beauty. His love for the ballet was unwavering and years later – in 1921 – Diaghilev rounded up his creative legion to stage the ballet himself. But Diaghilev’s interpretation was not just an homage, it was the most influential disaster in ballet history.

Diaghilev renamed the ballet to The Sleeping Princess. Why? “Because I have no beauties!” he declared. An initial 10,000 pounds from an investor backed Diaghilev, but this didn’t stop him from constantly borrowing funds to pay for the Bakst-designed set, painters, courtiers, tailors, embroidered fabrics and fur.  Further costs went into finding the best Aurora, too. No dancer could survive a week of dancing the role, given how physically punishing it was. He addressed the problem by hiring multiple ballerinas to play Princess Aurora, which led to dancer-rivalry and inconsistency between performances. One dancer – who was then age 46 and already retired – threatened to kill herself if Diaghilev kept her to her contract. Diaghilev ignored her relentless phone calls through the night and she went on to perform anyway.

At one stage Diaghilev announced: “I have been 15 years too early with this ballet”. But in the end, Diaghilev’s The Sleeping Princess was a financial success after all. It was an artistic triumph, too, inspiring Aurora – the most classical heroine from the old repertory – to be taken on by the most courageous ballerinas in history. On The Sleeping Beauty, Frederick Ashton said: “Petipa’s ballets will always be the crowning jewels in any company that possesses them, and they should be preserved with a reverence due to their stature, and for the edification of future generations.”

Stanton Welch’s production of The Sleeping Beauty returns to The Australian Ballet’s stage soon, playing in Melbourne from 9 – 19 September and Sydney from 4 – 23 December