The ballet Sleeping Beauty includes a prologue and three acts and is based on the fairy tale “The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” by Charles Perrault. Marius Petipa choreographed this ballet, while Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky composed the music. This classical ballet was originally written for the Mariinsky Theatre located in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was first performed in 1890. If you don’t know the story already, the prologue starts off with Princess Aurora’s christening. As the six fairies give their gifts the Aurora, Carabosse, a wicked fairy, enters and curses the princess. On Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, she will die after pricking her finger on a spindle. The Lilac Fairy, the seventh fairy, comes forward and changes the curse. Because she can’t do anything to stop the curse entirely, she weakens it by adding that the princess will not die, but will sleep for a hundred years until a Prince will wake her up. Next, begins the first act of the ballet, which is settled 16 years after Aurora’s christening, on her birthday. When everyone is celebrating Aurora’s sixteenth birthday, Carabosse accesses the palace and places a spindle somewhere inside it. Aurora notices it and punctures her finger, then falls asleep. Once the Lilac Fairy found her, she puts the whole castle to sleep and makes a barrier of plants and thorns around the palace. After that, in act 2 scene 1, Prince Desire is left alone in the forest after being with his friends. When they leave, the Lilac Fairy appears and informs him of the situation with the princess. She shows him moments of Aurora and he immediately falls in love. Then, the fairy brings him to where Aurora rests. In scene 2, the prince arrives at the palace and finds Aurora asleep on her bed, while other court members are also resting. He tries to wake them up, but that plan ends up failing, so he kisses the princess. This finally awakens her and everyone else who was put to sleep. The King then grants them permission to be married. In the final act of this ballet, the wedding takes place, while many different fairy tale characters are invited. Many different dances take place during the ceremony, and everything goes well.

This Aurora variation comes from the third act of the ballet Sleeping Beauty. Though good technique is needed for all variations, this variation is mostly focusing on the upper body and arms. I have only done this variation a few times so far, but I have already gotten so many corrections. Throughout the whole variation, my teacher, Mrs. Marina, gave me tons of corrections about the ways my arms should move. In the first section of this piece, the arms should be flowy and it should move smoothly. The fingertips should move with the music, while the head usually follows the arms. After that, there are a couple of small jumps that should close to fifth quickly. In my version, the second leg should slightly be to the back. Also, the arms in the relevé after the jumps should be soft and continuous. The next section is, at least what I think, the most known part of this variation. This step requires flowing arms and articulated head movements. It may be harder than people think, especially with good coordination, so it is very graceful when done correctly. Later, in the last diagonal, I was told to do all the chaines tightly, meaning that my legs have to be in a very close together first position during each turn. Continuing the chaines, there are some pique turns. These should be over the supporting leg and each one should be completed all the way around, whether it is a single or a double turn. The last position is an arabesque, which has to be very controlled and also directly on the supporting leg. Another thing to remember for arabesques is that the working leg should immediately lift, it shouldn’t go up slowly. If it does, there will be a bigger chance to be off-balance. Like most variations, expressions are needed, showing artistry to the audience. A smile at the end of the variation is a great way to end the performance. All these corrections are used for this variation and also for steps in regular ballet class. Remembering each of these corrections will be very beneficial, no matter what dance it is.


Publish Date: 12/16/2020