THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

<img src="http://www.royalballet.org/Custom/Icon/Main/0203SleepingBeautyMain.jpg" alt="" />
<small>From the Royal Ballet website</small>

Short synopsis from the RB website

8, 15, 26 Mar, 3 Apr
Bussell, Bolle

10, 19. 24 Mar, 1 Apr
Cojocaru, Tewsley

11, 20 (mat) 27 Mar
Yoshida, Kobborg

12, 20 (eve)
Rojo, Urlezaga

29 (mat) Mar
Rojo, Soares

13, 22 (mat), 29 (eve) Mar
Benjamin, Stiefel

14, 22 (eve) Mar
Nunez, Urlezaga

17 Mar
Tapper, Putrov

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<small>[ 24 February 2004, 09:00 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

I'm really excited about these pairings and I honestly can't think of a better cast than Cojocaru and Tewsley. I think it's interesting that Stretton has paired up Rojo and Cope again (they're cast in Mayerling as well) - they both have such dark and dramatic looks - am looking forward to them as well! And it's good to see Tapper, Putrov and Nunez as well up there as well.

Just something I realized - where is Johan Persson? I know he's injured but he hasn't been cast in anything so far.

Oh well, any comments?

There are some very exciting pairings there and Yoshida/Kobborg could be quite something. It seems a bit mean that Tapper/Putrov only get 1 performance after all that work.

I'm a bit surprised that the ROH website doesn't identify that it is Makarova in the photo.

By the way can you e-mail me please, Sylvia. My last e-mail to you was returned.

But Carabosse just won't be the same if it's danced by a woman!! i'm referring to the RB version i have with Sir Anthony as Carabosse , i was sceptical about a man dancing that part but when i saw it the hair on the back of my neck stood on end!
I'll just have to wait and see what happens with this new production.

I know what you mean sugar plum and you're on the right track when you say, "I'll just have to wait and see what happens with this new production."

We have all seen performances that mean a lot to us and when we see other dancers in the same work it can be difficult. Even when you read some of the critics you can sense that what they are saying is, "It's not the way I remember it."

To get the most out of the art form one strategy is to ask the question, "What is this artist trying to tell me or what is he/she bringing to the role." Then one is trying to judge each performance on its own merits.

After the show one can look back and think about comparisons with previous portrayals. And sure, it's fine to think I still prefer X in that role.

Each artist or company is (or should be) trying to bring something fresh to the table and there may well be things to savour even if one still has favourites.

And yes, Dowell was and is terrific - I'm looking forward to "Winter Dreams".

<small>[ 09-09-2002, 02:45: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

I'm not saying that the version with Dowell in is better than any other , just that i was supprised that a man was playing the part of Carabosse and that i was sceptical..but i shouldn't have been! But saying that you can see suttle differences with different companies the way they dance ballets (i.e i think the RB Nutcracker is the best in the world ,the Mariinsky and Bolshoi coming a close second - each has their differences that sets it apart from the companies ).

Additional dates and casts:

12 April (mat)
Yoshida, Kobborg

15 April (eve)
Nunez, Urlezaga

21 April (mat)
Cojocaru, Putrov

21 April (eve)
Rojo, Cope

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For Friends

Sleeping Beauty Masterclass
Monday 24 February, 7:30-8:30pm
Linbury Studio Theatre
13 pounds

For Everyone

The Sleeping Beauty Chance to Dance Project Performances
Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April, 6:30-7:30pm
Linbury Studio Theatre
6 pounds

Royal Ballet's Scholarship programme, involves childen from 50 participating schools in Southwark, Lambeth and Hammersmith & Fulham. The children perform a shortened version of The Sleeping Beauty with leading roles danced by members of the Royal Ballet.

<small>[ 06 January 2003, 01:54 PM: Message edited by: sylvia ]</small>

Tewsley is replaced by Ivan Putrov. Have made the edit above.

I understand that Stiefel is now dancing with Cojocaru - I attach the latest casting information from the Royal Ballet website:

http://www.royalballet.org/ballet/index.cfm?ccs=173&cs=795

ALL CASTING SUBJECT TO CHANGE. E&OE.

Last Updated 10 Jan 2003.

Saturday 8th March
Bussell, Bolle.

Monday 10th March
Cojocaru, Stiefel.

Tuesday 11th March
Yoshida, Kobborg.

Wednesday 12th March
Rojo, Cope.

Thursday 13th March
Marquez, Stiefel.

Friday 14th March
Nunez, Urlezaga.

Saturday 15th March
Bussell, Bolle.

Monday 17th March
Tapper, Putrov.

Wednesday 19th March
Cojocaru, Stiefel.

Thusday 20th March - Mat
Yoshida, Kobborg.

Thursday 20th March - Eve
Rojo, Cope.

Saturday 22nd March - Mat
Marquez, Stiefel.

Saturday 22nd March - Eve
Nunez, Urlezaga.

Monday 24th March
Cojocaru, Stiefel.

Wednesday 26th March
Bussell, Bolle.

Thursday 27th March
Yoshida, Kobborg.

Saturday 29th March - Mat
Rojo, Cope.

Saturday 29th March - Eve
Marquez, Stiefel.

Tuesday 1st April
Cojocaru, Putrov.

Thursday 3rd April
Bussell, Bolle.

Saturday 12th April - Mat
Yoshida, Kobborg.

Tuesday 15th April
Nunez, Urlezaga.

Monday 21st April - Mat
Cojocaru, Putrov.

Monday 21st April - Eve
Rojo, Cope.

plus Roberta Marquez features - Sylvia - can you confirm whether this Rio de Janeiro dancer will be dancing - Leanne Benjamin's role, evidently. More information would be good.

<small>[ 20 January 2003, 03:16 PM: Message edited by: Emma Pegler ]</small>

Thanks for posting this Emma, I completely forgot myself. Yes, Roberta Marquez is replacing Leanne Benjamin and dancing with Ethan Stiefel in Sleeping Beauty. I did a little research on her last week and this is what I found.

ROBERTA MARQUEZ

<img src="http://globonews.globo.com/Globo/photo_Show/0,,1175630,00.jpg" alt="" />
From The Globe

Roberta Marquez is a principal dancer in the Municipal Theatre of Rio de Janiero. She's worked with Makarova before in La Bayadere (2000) and Swan Lake (2001)

<img src="http://www.municipal.cl/admin/img/artistas/Roberta%2004not.jpg" alt="" />
From the Municipal Theatre's website

According to it she began her dance studies in 1989 in the State School of Dance Maria Olenewa, under the direction of Maria Luisa Noroña and graduated in 1994. She joined the Theatre in the same year where she was a soloist until 2002. Her repertoire includes Napoli, Grand Pas Classique, Serenade, Divertimento Nº15, Sleeping Beauty, Coppelia, Nutcracker, The Taming of the Shrew, La Bayadere, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet.

She has worked with figures like David Wall, Marcia Haydee, John Cragun, Elisabeth Platel, Claude Bessy, Vladimir Vassiliev, Natalia Makarova among others.

Partners include Thiago Soares and Inaki Urlezaga, both with the Royal Ballet. I'm sure I read somewhere that she danced with Jose Manuel Carreno but I can't remember where.

Makarova's choice I guess? Not that I mind seeing someone new but I wonder why with the depth of female talent they don't use someone within the company. I remember reading Belinda Hatley replacing Darcey Bussell several years ago. Well if she has Makarova's confidence then that's good enough for me, I'm looking forward to seeing her.

Anyway, here are the google links, all are in Portugese.

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ETHAN STIEFEL

We all know who he is but here's his RB bio anyway from the ABT website.

<img src="http://www.abt.org/images/dancers/stiefel.jpg" alt="" />



<small>[ 20 January 2003, 07:18 PM: Message edited by: sylvia ]</small>

There is an interesting interview with Natalia Markarova in todays Independent:

Natalia Makarova: No slave to tradition
What can a dazzling former star of the Kirov bring to the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty? Natalia Makarova tells Nadine Meisner how she plans to rouse this dormant production
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The Royal Opera House's new home gleams with such technological luxuriousness, it's probably a living organism, hiding a powerful mind ready to pounce on unsuspecting, vulnerable individuals. Take what happened to Natalia – Natasha – Makarova the other evening. She found herself locked in her dressing room because she failed to press a release button on the wall. Poor, fragile Natasha, trapped in the jaws of some evil labyrinth the size of a town, to be found only 100 years later: she might have become a real-life version of the drama that she is currently mounting on the ROH stage.

It's an overwhelming task, she says; and although I'm not hugely enamoured of her Bayadère (already in the Royal Ballet repertoire) any attempt to wake up The Sleeping Beauty will come as a relief, replacing the company's present, repeatedly lambasted, wrong-headed version.

click for more

<small>[ 17 February 2003, 11:39 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

There is a very good summary by Suzanne McCarthy on ballet.co of the recent RB Insight Day on "The Sleeping Beauty". Well worth a read, especially for the contribution of the erudite and entertaining Giannandrea Poesio. Here is the link to the article.

<small>[ 17 February 2003, 11:48 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Bringing Beauty back to life
The great Natalia Makarova is helping the Royal Ballet to stage a ravishing traditional version of The Sleeping Beauty. She talks to Ismene Brown for The Daily Telegraph


In the Royal Opera House props workshop there is a powerful smell of glue and paint as men in spattered white overalls bustle about. A large and ornate couch festooned with cherubs and painted bright blue awaits the sleeping bodies of seven Princess Auroras.

Nearby is the cradle where she will first be seen as a baby, another writhingly baroque creation currently painted silver but about to get the blue treatment.

It is only eight years since the props makers were last buried in cradles, chariots and royal couches, fashioning the Royal Ballet's previous production of the biggest spectacle in classical ballet, Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty.

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Beautiful rehearsal photos of Alina Cojocaru being rehearsed by Natalia Makarova in Sleeping Beauty here.

And Jonathan Cope is out with injury and will be replaced by Inaki Urlezaga on 12 March and 20 March (eve) and Thiago Soares on 29 March (mat). Link is here.

<small>[ 01 March 2003, 10:30 AM: Message edited by: sylvia ]</small>

Roused from her beauty sleep
Interview: When the Royal Ballet's Sleeping Beauty needed an image makeover, they turned to Natalia Makarova, the Russian legend. By Debra Craine for The Times


YOU MAY THINK that The Sleeping Beauty is just another fairytale ballet. But in the whole history of classical dance there is no single work more important than Tchaikovsky and Petipa’s grand St Petersburg creation. Everything you need to know about 19th-century Russian ballet is here in one sumptuous, glowing package. And the Royal Ballet knows it too. From the moment the company unveiled its lavish staging at the Royal Opera House in 1946, The Sleeping Beauty has been the jewel in its crown.
Which is why it was such a crime when the whole thing went horribly wrong for the Royal Ballet in 1994. Anthony Dowell’s production, with a price tag of about ?525,000, may have been admirable in its search for choreographic authenticity, but Maria Bjornson’s striking yet wrong-headed designs were a disaster.

click for more