(Princess Aurora and her court)
Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the opening night of the Boston Ballet's Sleeping Beauty. If you don't normally go to the ballet or only go to The Nutcracker every few years you might ignore this post. But don't!
I'm a bit biased. Sleeping Beauty happens to be my favorite fairy tale (Aurora is obviously far superior to Cinderella...) and I'd been dying to see the show after seeing the ads plastered around the city for weeks. So when the Boston Ballet reached out and invited me to opening night I practically squealed with excitement!
Sleeping Beauty is pretty much everything I think a ballet should be: It's visually stunning, the music is mesmerizing and the 384 costumes are exquisite. I want to be swept away into a fantastical and beautiful spectacle and the BB certainly delivers here!
(The Lilac Fairy bestows a gift on baby Aurora)
As always, the skill and athleticism of these dancers left me breathless. Especially Misa Kuranaga who danced the part of Princess Aurora (AKA Sleeping Beauty) on opening night. Her take on "Rose Adagio", considered one of the most technically difficult and exhausting sequences ever in classical ballet, was graceful, powerful and seemingly effortless.
The story is a little different then you might remember it (very different from the Disney version) and the show runs a bit long but once the curtain rises it's easy to fall into the storytelling. The four year old princess sitting next to me was as mesmerized as I was for the entire show though we both agreed that the candy during intermission was very helpful too!
(Prince Desire leads his men through the woods...)
Boston Ballet's Sleeping Beauty is only running through April 7th so if you haven't seen it yet please go this week!
(Thank you so much to the Boston Ballet for welcoming me to opening night and for providing the images seen here!)
Don't forget to enter my contest to win a $100 at Jaleh before Monday April 8th!
