Aurora | The Sleeping Beauty

2 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

Cover and photoshoot: Olivia Zucarino and Manuela Roçado photographed by Carol Lancelloti. Beauty: Vivi Borlido.

Tutus and head pieces: Cisne Negro and personal collection.

Production assistant: Letícia Vazquez.

Content 2

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY UNKOWN BY MANY

BY VERA ARAGÃO

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A NEW AWAKENING FOR EVERY WORK

BY JULIANA MEL

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MARIANELA’S DREAM INTERVIEW WITH MARIANELA NÚÑEZ

BY CAROL LANCELLOTI

The Sleeping Beauty Unkown by Many

BY VERA ARAGÃO

Premiered on January 15, 1890 at the Mariinsky Theater, St. Petersburg, the ballet Sleeping Beauty, united the genius of choreographer Marius Petipa with that of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, placing music and choreography on the same level of genius. The creation started from the fairy tale of -2-

Charles Perrault, from 1697, which in turn is based on the myth of Persephone, which returns from the sleep of death.

Around 1888, the audience in the theaters was low and the Imperial Theater steward, Ivan Alexandrovitch Vsevolozhsky, chosen by the Tsar precisely to revitalize ballets and operas, suggested to Petipa to create an adaptation for ballet of The Sleeping Beauty as a way of arousing public interest; but the choreographer was reluctant. Vsevolozhsky then wrote a first libretto and sent it to Tchaikovsky, saying about the conception that the new ballet should have: a work to relive the Louis XIV court era, an idea that excited the composer.

The letter said: “I conceived the idea of writing a Sleeping Beauty libretto from Perrault’s fairy tale. I want to do the miseen-scène in the style of Louis XIV. Here the musical imagination can run wild, and melodies composed in 1 the spirit of Lully, Bach, Rameau, etc. In the last act, a quadrille of all Perrault 1’s fairy tales is indispensable”.

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https://www.bravoballetbrasil.com.br/post/a-bela-adormecida

Aurora

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A man of refined taste, Vsevolozhsky, in addition to

The plot begins with the young princess Aurora

collaborating on the libretto, created the majestic

cursed on the day of her baptism by an evil fairy who

sets and designed very rich costumes, which appears,

condemns her to death. But the good fairy manages

without

production

to relieve her curse: the princess will prick her finger

committed more than a quarter of the annual

in a spindle and everyone at court will fall asleep for

budget for the 1890 production of the Imperial

a hundred years. Petipa’s intention, probably, was to

Theaters (HOMANS, 2012 p. 312). The original cast

draw a timeline between the arrival of court ballet in

measuring

expenses,

as

the

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included two Italians, Carlotta Brianza (1867-1935)

France, with Catarina de Médici, and the time of Louis

as Aurora, and Enrico Cecchetti (1850-1928) in the

XIV, when ballet went through an entire development

role of the Blue Bird and the evil fairy, Carabosse.

process. Aurora wakes up just at the time of Louis XIV.

The choice of the theme, according to Levonian

For example, it is possible to notice that, in the grand

(2004), was not by chance: a political alliance between

pas of the 3rd act, some steps of the Rose adage from

France and Russia had been signed one year earlier,

the 1st act are taken up, but in a new way, with greater

with France offering economic support in exchange

freedom of movement. The balances (passing from one

for support against the German ambition to conquer

to the other of the suitors) can be understood as a

territories. In addition, another significant inspiration

poetic metaphor that shows Aurora’s non-submission

came from the work: “(...) The Sleeping Beauty was

and her freedom of choice. Curiously, Petipa left the

not just a children’s story: it was a tribute to Louis

male variations to the dancers themselves, so little

XIV, le merveilleux, and to the modern French State”

importance was given to men’s dance at the time.

(HOMANS, 2012, p. 72), in fact a historical review of courtier ballet, paying homage to the grand siècle.

Although the 3rd act added characters from other

The parallel between King Florestan and Louis XIV

children’s stories such as Little Red Riding Hood

was more than obvious.

and the Wolf, the Puss in Boots etc., the ending was grand, pompous: Versailles, its terraces, fountains and

The work was approaching the genre that proliferated

a large lake could be seen as a backdrop, with Apollo,

at the time, sumptuous shows and with fantastic

in the costumes of Louis XIV, illuminated by the sun

effects, the “ballet-féeries, for their fairytale magic

and surrounded by fairies (HOMANS, 2012). It is worth

and insistence on the merveilleuse” (HOMANS, 2012,

remembering that the image of Apollo associated

p. 310); it seemed the intention was to get closer

with classical dancers who, consciously or not, try to

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to Italian productions like Excelsior. However, the

recreate their image of beauty, grandeur, elegance

conception of The Sleeping Beauty as a ballet-féerie

and light is notorious. And the prologue fairies gave

was a strategy to counteract Italian spectacles - some

the princess these Apollonian attributes, plus singing

of very dubious taste - using their own weapons to

and dancing.

show Russian aristocratic supremacy.

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Vsevolozhsky was so important that the biography of Marius Petipa, published in 1906, was dedicated to him.

Brianza had danced the Excelsior ballet for a long time, a féerie genre that will mentioned later.

4 Excelsior is a ballet from the Italian repertoire, dated 1881, by Luigi Manzotti and music by Romualdo Marenco. The plot pays homage to the great discoveries of the 19th century, such as the emergence of electric light, the telegraph, steam engines, the Suez Canal, etc. The debut had almost 500 dancers on scene; in the end, the Light overcomes the Darkness and a great fraternization between the nations celebrates this victory. The main characters do not represent people, but allegories: the Light, the Obscurantism, the Civilization and the Slave.

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The Sleeping Beauty

The ballet ended with the musical quote of a French popular song, “Vive Henri IV”, celebrating the former king of France. As Robert Levonian (2004, p. 105) rightly says, “it could not have been a coincidence, but Henry IV was the son-in-law of Catarina de Médicis, the same woman who ordered the first court ballet in 1581, Le Ballet Comique de la Reyne Louise. The cycle of aristocratic ballet closes, therefore, with La Belle au Bois Dormant”.

In short, the intention to narrate the fairy tale was not as innocent as it appeared to be.

References: HOMANS, Jennifer. Os anjos de Apolo: uma história do ballet. Tradução Jaime Araújo. Lisboa: Edições 70, 2012.

LEVONIAN, Robert. História da Dança e das Artes Auxiliares I. Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Centro de Educação Tecnológica. Canoas: Ed. ULBRA, 2004.

LOURENÇO, Frederico. Estética da dança clássica. 1° ed. Lisboa: Edições Cotovia, 2014.

Electronic References: https://petipasociety.com/the-sleeping-beauty https://australianballet.com.au/the-ballets/the-sleeping-beauty https://www.pbt.org/the-company/artistic/repertoire/sleeping-beauty

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Vera Aragão is a former Municipal Theater of Rio de Janeiro dancer, writer, university professor, Pedagogue and Doctor in Social Memory.

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for every

A new awakening

work

BY JULIANA MEL

Of the three ballets created by Tchaikovsky,

work. The sequence was originally created

Sleeping Beauty was the composer’s great

for four dancers, representing gold, silver,

success in life. His partnership with Marius Petipa

sapphire and diamond and, musically, each

resulted in a work that is considered a perfect

performer would have their own solo. While

marriage between music and choreography.

choreographing, Petipa changed his mind: only

This is due to the detailed instructions that

the Diamond Fairy would have a solo, and the

Tchaikovsky received from the choreographer

first three ones dance the theme that would

and that gave rise to a very extensive score,

be the Silver Fairy. In the original production,

which in turn underwent changes for the

as well as the reconstructions made by

debut at the Mariinsky Theater in 1890.

Sergei Vikharev for the Mariinsky and Alexei Ratmansky for the American Ballet Theater,

Among the changes made, it is impossible not

the Gold Fairy solo appears in the second

to mention Aurora’s variation in the first act of

act, replacing the Aurora variation originally

the piece. It is interesting to note that all the

created for the vision scene. The Sapphire

protagonist’s solos are long, exceeding two

Fairy theme was excluded from the ballet.

minutes in length. For Petipa’s version, the end of this song was shortened and became

With each new production, this sequence

a permanent change in Russian productions,

takes on a different configuration, which can

like Mariinsky and Bolshoi. However, there

have more or less than four interpreters. An

are

the

example is the version of Rudolf Nureyev,

theme with the original ending, being used

who transformed this number into a pas de

by ballet companies as the Royal Ballet and

cinq, having added a dancer to its structure.

the Dutch National Ballet, among others.

This choreography in the version of the Paris

some

productions

that

rescued

Opera brings yet another change: the trio Another

interesting

choreography

is

the

of ballerinas represents ruby, emerald and

pas de quatre of the precious stones, which

sapphire stones, which I believe is an allusion

opens the divertissements of Aurora’s and

to the colors of the fairy godmothers of the

Désiré’s wedding in the third act of this

animated version of Walt Disney. As a curiosity,

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Aurora

Nureyev’s production is also restaged by the ballet of the Teatro alla Scala and the National Ballet of Canada.

It is true that from the base created by Petipa, it is possible to have a new look at this score. But it is very wrong to think that differences between the productions are reduced only to the musical structure. Other details can also be innovated, such as the choice of who will play Carabosse, the evil fairy.

Originally, the role is usually assigned to men, in order

“Of the three ballets created

by Tchaikovsky, Sleeping Beauty was the composer’s great success in life. His partnership with Marius Petipa resulted in a work that is considered a perfect marriage between music and choreography.”

to make the character look heavier. This tradition is maintained in Russian versions in general, as well as in the aforementioned reconstructions by Vikharev and Ratmansky. There are productions, however, that select women to play the role. In Mario Galizzi’s version for the Teatro Colón, for example, Carabosse dances on pointe shoes, while in the version by Nureyev and the Royal Ballet, the theatrical side is strongly explored.

Speaking of interpretation, the version of the Royal - 10 -

Ballet is noteworthy, as it brings an element that differs from Petipa’s production: several passages of the version that would be entirely danced were transformed into pantomime, thus giving a more theatrical look to the piece. This is because the Theater has always been much stronger than dancing in England. The name Shakespeare already tells us a lot. For this reason, when ballet started to become popular in the country, this art form had to adapt.

An example in Sleeping Beauty is the scene in which the Lilac Fairy gives Aurora her gift. It is worth remembering that this role was created for Marie Petipa, daughter of the choreographer, and therefore, it has more dance work in the original version.

It would be wonderful to be able to comment on other particularities, but there are so many that it is practically

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

impossible to talk about everything in a single article. It

Juliana Mel is a researcher, amateur dancer and dedicated

is up to you to explore new versions and be enchanted

to sharing information about Classical Ballet, preserving its

by the surprises that each production has in store for us.

memory.

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“The Authorized Bolshoi Ballet Book of Sleeping Beauty”, Yuri Grigorovich and Victor V. Vanslow. Photography by Carol Lancelloti.

Marianela’s Dream I N T E RV I E W BY C A RO L L A N C E L LOT I PHOTO BY ANDRE USPENSKI

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For my generation, Marianela Núñez - principal

besides

dancer at the Royal Ballet in London - is one

Nela, as she is affectionately called, is also a

of the main references and inspirations. It is

very human dancer. And in my opinion, this is

impossible not to smile or be moved when

her greatest and most special differential. She

you see her dancing. Her charisma remains

is for real. A gentle, approachable dancer who

on stage and in life - and wins over fans

allows her love for dance, her gratitude for

around the world. As we know, ballet goes

doing what she loves and even her challenges

far beyond having a perfect technique. And

to be visible. In every movement on the

having

an

impeccable

technique,

La Sylphide

stage, every révérance, every post on social media, it is possible to feel her passion and her surrender. Nela expresses herself as an eternal dreamer, a “bunhead”, as she likes to say. In this exclusive interview, she recounts her relationship with two historical roles in her career: the Lilac Fairy and Aurora, from the classic The Sleeping Beauty.

Do you remember the first time you watched The Sleeping Beauty ballet? How was the experience, how did you feel back then when you first saw it?

I remember seeing The Sleeping Beauty in VHS with different companies and it was love at first sight. The Tchaikovsky score made me fall in love with this ballet right away. And “The Rose Adage” for sure had a big impact on me.

I always had the dream as a student and later when I became a professional dancer to be Aurora! I am very grateful that dream came true and every time I dance it I feel it is a big gift for me. I truly love this ballet.

“ I am very grateful that dream came true and every time I dance it I feel it is a big gift for me.”

One of the first roles I ever saw you dance was the Lilac Fairy, which is a key character in the ballet and has a beautiful variation, demanding control, power and lightness at the same time. Could you tell the best and most challenging parts of this particular role?

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The Lilac Fairy is a very important character in this ballet. I believe is challenging in every way. Technically the solo (specially in our Royal Ballet version) is very difficult from beginning to end, but beautiful to dance. And again, Tchaikovsky’s score makes you go to heaven while you are dancing this variation.

As a character is also challenging as she is the character that puts all the pieces of the puzzle together. She spreads goodness and makes sure everything will be ok, but you have to make the audience feel the authority,

Aurora

the goodness, the peace, the intelligence, charm, THE

teachers and people around me and I feel they give me

MAGIC, as you are not human: you are a fairy! I feel

everything I need to discover these things and to get

we all need a Lilac Fairy in our lives, the world needs

closer each time I perform it to what this ballet needs.

a Lilac Fairy and now more than ever :)

But when I feel I unlock a few doors I realize I have many more new doors to unlock, and this is what I love

The Rose Adage is known as one of the most difficult

about this masterpiece, about classical ballet and this

adagios in the ballet world! Do you feel nervous about

career. I am very lucky to have the best people around

dancing it, or can you enjoy it at least a little bit? Do

me guiding me through my ballerina journey so I can

you remember dancing it for the very first time?

improve every time I go on the stage. They inspire me.

The Rose Adage is one of my favorite things to

I once read that Aurora’s tutu is one of your favorites

dance. Of course I get nervous but as soon as I hear

to wear. Do you have any special rituals before going

the music, I get transported to a magical world. The

on stage, is dressing up a special moment to you?

feelings I get while I dance it are very special… I get

How do you prepare for dancing Aurora?

lost in the moment and I feel pure JOY! My heart feels

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full of happiness and gratitude dancing this famous

I love my Aurora tutus and my tiaras! They are

moment in the ballet repertoire. The energy you feel

gorgeous! I don’t have any rituals. But of course as

around the stage and from the audience while The

soon as I put these costumes and the tiaras on I feel

Rose Adage is happening is UNIQUE. Talking about

like Aurora! I often think “my dream came true”. I am

it makes me want to wear my pink tutu and dance it.

living the dream...

We know ballet is an art that survives because of

What part of Aurora do you carry in your heart and

the teachings of great masters and ballerinas from

soul forever? What have this ballet taught you?

the past. What were the best advices that you have received from great teachers while rehearsing and

Everything! It has a big special place in my heart and it

preparing for The Sleeping Beauty?

always will. I feel lucky and grateful I can perform and work on this ballet! AURORA, I LOVE YOU! SLEEPING

The wonderful thing about this masterpiece is that you will always learn something new each time you do it.

This ballet has a million details for us dancers to work on. The style, the musicality, the way the steps have to be executed… You can’t cheat or overdo things.

Everything has to be well balanced. Everything has to be PURE when you are dancing this role. Also each act shows a different side of Aurora and this also has to be clear and has to be well done. I have the best

BEAUTY, I LOVE YOU!

The Sleeping Beauty

“When I feel I unlock a few doors I realize I have many more new doors to unlock, and this is what I love about this masterpiece, about classical ballet and this career.”

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A M P B R A N D S C R E AT I O N aurorafairytale.com