My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty at the Peacock Theatre

My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty is a simplified and child-friendly version of the iconic ballet. In an attempt to introduce children to this cultural experience, both the Peacock Theatre and the English National Ballet go to great lengths to make the performance suitable for younger audiences. The result is a high-spirited, light-hearted production that children are sure to enjoy alongside their parents.

Following the fairytale story of Sleeping Beauty (though not the Disney version), the ballet revolves around the young Princess Aurora. Cursed by an evil fairy upon her birth, on her sixteenth birthday, she shall pick her finger on a needle and die. Luckily, the good Lilac fairy casts a secret spell so that when Aurora’s finger meets the spindle, she does not die but instead falls into a deep sleep. And all it takes for her to wake up, is the kiss of true love from her handsome prince.

While the score maintains Tchaikovsky’s original music, My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty adds an older version of Aurora, who narrates and explains the action on stage. The dancers’ movements are also more transparent than in classical ballet, furthering the coherence of narration and dance, while also making it easy to understand what is going on. Most of the cast is comprised of English National Ballet students and, though their inexperience shimmers through at points, the dancing and the performance on the whole is still exquisite and is sure to delight the heart of every inner princess or prince.

Luisa Kapp

My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty is on at the Peacock Theatre from 24^th March until 2^nd April 2016, for further information or to book visit here.