"At the Ballet" By Hayley Wardrop

Almost every girl dreams of being a ballerina; I am not sure what is contained within the X chromosome that makes little girls around the world, and some boys, dream of the day when they will get their first leotard and pale pink tights. When I was younger I would dance around my living room pretending to be a prima ballerina; I would spin, leap, and twirl. In reality, it is not as much a fairytale as it seems; forcing bleeding feet into shoes made of wooden blocks, being pressured to have the body type of an adolescent child, and trusting a man in curiously tight pants to catch you does not seem as appealing once you grow up. Still, the ballet is a magical place.

            The day I was to see The Sleeping Beauty ballet at the Royal Opera House I felt like a child that was on their way to Disney world. As the lights dimmed I was transported back in time; I was once again a little girl gazing in awe of the beautiful dancers on the stage. Their beauty, grace, and fluidity was entrancing; I did not want it to end.

            The Sleeping Beauty ballet is performed in a prologue and three acts. It focuses on the conflicting characters of the Lilac Fairy (good) and Carabosse (evil). King Florestan the XXIVth invites six fairies to the Christening of his daughter, Princess Aurora. These fairies bestow the princess with gifts of honesty, grace, prosperity, song, and generosity but are interrupted by the arrival of the wicked fairy Carabosse. Carabosse, being bitter about not receiving an invitation to the ceremony, curses Princess Aurora to prick her finger on her sixteenth birthday and die. The Liliac Fairy, who has not presented her gift, is able to manipulate the curse so that instead of dying Aurora will sleep for 100 years until she is awakened by the kiss of a prince (I would like that for my birthday!).  On her sixteenth birthday Aurora foolishly dances with a spindle and is indeed pricked. She then falls into a deep sleep and the Lilac Fairy casts a spell of sleep upon the entire kingdom so that they will awake when Aurora does. One hundred years later a prince, out on a hunting party, is shown Aurora by the Lilac Fairy and he is determined to defeat Carabosse. Once this is done he awakens Aurora with a kiss and they get married. At the wedding many different fairytale characters fill the stage and perform various pas de deux, or deuts, such as between the Bluebird and Princess Florine. 

Yep.... that is tiny Hayley dancing around the living room

            I absolutely loved the performance, but to be perfectly honest I probably would have loved it even if the ballerinas started to pop, lock, and drop-it. For me, there is more to the ballet than the dancers arch or their extension; the ballet is a fantasy and it is an atmosphere where one can loose perception of time and reality. It was more therapeutic than a performance for me (cue “At the Ballet” from A Chorus Line). Even as I sit here writing this review my feet twitch and yearn to be pointed and stretched. Maybe I will dance around my living room just one more time…