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American Ballet Theatre on Pointe with The Sleeping Beauty
ABT celebrates 70th anniversary with limited, special performances of the classic fairy tale
Veronika Part in American ballet Theatre’s The Sleeping Beauty (Photo: Gene Schiavone)
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To celebrate 70 years of dance, the American Ballet Theatre will put on only five performances of The Sleeping Beauty at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, from July 15 to July18.
Five casts will dance The Sleeping Beauty beginning with Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes on Thursday evening, July 15. On Friday, July 16, Paloma Herrera and David Hallberg will lead the cast. On Saturday, July 17, Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky dance at the matinee, and Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo dance in the evening. The engagement ends on Sunday, July 18 with Veronika Part and Cory Stearns leading the cast.
The story of Sleeping Beauty has held up over the ages, since the very first version was published in 1696. Beauty is a fairy tale about the beautiful Princess Aurora, the evil sorceress Carabosse, a spindle, a century of sleep and the awakening kiss of a handsome prince. The fairy tale comes to life in an all-new production by the American Ballet Theatre.
Costumes for The Sleeping Beauty were designed by Willa Kim. Kim has a glowing repertoire for costume design, which includes her recent induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame, Tony Awards won for Tommy Tune’s The Will Rogers Follies and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies, and Tony nominations for Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, Peter Allen’s Legs Diamond, Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Song and Dance and Goodtime Charley.
Beauty’s choreography is by Marius Petipa, who is considered one of the greatest choreographers of all time. He researched the subject matter of the ballets he staged, making careful and detailed preparations for each production, and then worked closely with the designer and composer.
The music for the production is by Russian composer Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky. It was almost immediately after composing his Fifth Symphony in 1888 that Tchaikovsky began work on his second ballet, The Sleeping Beauty.
American Ballet Theatre is recognized as one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope and outreach. Recognized as a living national treasure since its founding in 1940, ABT annually tours the U.S., performing for more than 600,000 people, and is the only major cultural institution to do so. It has also made more than 15 international tours to 42 countries as perhaps the most representative American ballet company and has been sponsored by the State Department of the United States on many of these engagements.
American Ballet Theatre presents The Sleeping Beauty
Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 7:30pm; Friday, July 16, 2010 at 7:30pm
Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 2:00pm; 7:30pm
Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 2:00pm
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
135 N. Grand Ave, Los Angeles, Ca 90012
Tickets: $30-$120