Australia Dancing - Sleeping Beauty, The

Sleeping Beauty, The

McMurdo, Don: Ulrike Lytton as Carabosse in Maina Gielgud's production of 'The Sleeping Beauty', the Australian Ballet, 1984

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Set to a score by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Marius Petipa's The Sleeping Beauty, which premiered in St Petersburg in 1890, was not performed in Australia until 1951. By then, however, Australian audiences were familiar with excerpts from the work. The 'Bluebird pas de deux' from the third act was performed during the 1929 Pavlova tour by Ruth French and Aubrey Hitchins. Aurora's Wedding, an independent work based on the third act, was then staged by all three of the Ballets Russes companies that toured Australia during the 1930s.

Early in 1951, Edouard Borovansky commissioned Miro Zloch to stage Aurora's Wedding for his company, a foretaste of the Australian premiere of the full-length work later that year. Entitled The Sleeping Princess, following the example set by Serge Diaghilev for his 1921 London production, and directed by Edouard Borovansky with decor and costumes by William Constable, this production opened to great critical acclaim in Melbourne on 22 December 1951. Zloch was responsible for reproducing Petipa's choreography, and on opening night danced the role of the Prince to Peggy Sager's Princess Aurora. Dorothy Stevenson appeared as the Lilac Fairy, Phyllis Kennedy and Charles Boyd as the Bluebirds, and Paul Hammond as Carabosse. The production was billed as 'an important milestone in the history of ballet in Australia'.

Borovansky Ballet continued to stage this work through the 1950s. It was revised, with choreography by Algeranoff after Petipa, for the 1959 Sydney season which saw the partnership debut of Marilyn Jones, then nineteen, and Garth Welch. On the 18th of December, the day of Borovansky's death, the scheduled performance of The Sleeping Princess, with Iovanka Biegovic dancing the title role, went ahead. At the conclusion, the audience rose in a two minute silent tribute. Roland Robinson, in his review, hailed the work as 'an example of traditional ballet which was dear to the heart of M. Edouard Borovansky', 'the general high level of this ballet's presentation' making it 'a fitting and sincere valediction'.

Peggy van Praagh staged Aurora's Wedding for the Australian Ballet in 1964, but the full length work did not enter the repertoire of the flagship company until 1973, when The Sleeping Beauty was selected for the Australian Ballet debut season at the Sydney Opera House. This production was directed by Sir Robert Helpmann and designed by Kenneth Rowell with a set described by Clement Crisp in the program notes as 'simple in design though eloquent in materials'. Van Praagh's reproduction, after Petipa, included her original choreography in the Act One 'Garland Dance', and the Prince's Variation in Act II was by Frederick Ashton. In the premiere performance Lucette Aldous danced as Princess Aurora with Garth Welch, in his final season with the Australian Ballet, as her Prince. Ai-gul Gaisina and David Burch appeared as the Bluebirds, and Ray Powell as Carabosse. The illness of both Lucette Aldous and Marilyn Rowe during the 1974 Melbourne season prompted Maina Gielgud’s first performances with the company, dancing the lead. The Brisbane season marked the return of Marilyn Jones as guest artist, dancing as Princess Aurora fifteen years after her first performance in this role with the Borovansky Company.

A new production for the Australian Ballet was staged in 1984 by the artistic director Maina Gielgud. The choreography was credited to 'Marius Petipa, reproduced by Monica Parker from the Nicholas Sergeyev notation, with additional choreography by Maina Gielgud', and described by Gielgud in the program notes as 'as close to the Petipa original as it is possible for it to be, nearly a century after its St. Petersburg premiere'. Christine Walsh and David Ashmole danced the first night leads, with Lisa Pavane as the Lilac Fairy, and Greg Horsman and Fiona Tonkin as the Bluebird and Princess Florine. Carabosse was danced by Ulrike Lytton, Gielgud's production being notable for this casting of a female in the role. Hugh Colman's lavish design and costumes drew on French Rococo style, and were of such grand proportions that the Opera House stage was unable to accommodate the set – Sydney performances took place at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

Gielgud's production remained in the repertoire, marking the opening of the new Australian Ballet Centre in 1988. It was also presented during the Bicentennial tour, notably at the Royal Gala Performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 26 July 1988. The Sydney Opera House Trust, in celebration of both the 20th birthday of the Opera House and Maina Gielgud's first decade as artistic director of the Australian Ballet, funded the 'shrinking' of the set to enable the work to be staged at the Opera House in 1993. Lisa Pavane and Greg Horsman took the lead roles on opening night, as they had in a 1991 Melbourne season. David McAllister as the Bluebird was accompanied by Lucinda Dunn as Princess Florine, Sian Stokes danced the role of Carabosse, and Lisa Bolte the Lilac Fairy.

A new version of The Sleeping Beauty, with choreography by Stanton Welch and designs by Kristian Fredrikson, opened in Melbourne on 14 September 2005. Lucinda Dunn danced the role of Aurora. She was partnered by Damien Welch as Prince Florimund.

Bibliography:

Edward H. Pask, Enter the Colonies Dancing. A History of Dance in Australia 1835-1940 (Melbourne: OUP, 1979); Edward H. Pask, Ballet in Australia. The Second Act 1940-1980 (Melbourne: OUP, 1982).

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