A ballet by Márcia Haydée, based on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale. The world-famous production encompasses everything lovers of grand classical titles may expect: a dramatic story, Marius Petipa’s magnificent dance sections and virtuoso solo parts, as well as exquisite sets and costumes.

The Sleeping Beauty, based on Charles Perrault’s popular tale La Belle au bois dormant, is one of the cornerstones of the global ballet repertoire, and musicians consider it to be the very finest of P. I. Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores

The narrative ballet The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed by Marius Petipa, based on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale, was first performed in 1890 in St Petersburg. The music was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Now its adaptation as crafted by the legendary prima ballerina Márcia Haydée is set to become part of the Czech National Ballet’s repertoire, as a remarkable artifact of the classical ballet spiritual legacy.

Since its premiere in 1987 designed by world-famous Jürgen Rose, Márcia Haydée’s The Sleeping Beauty has been performed with different stage designs to great acclaim in Australia, Belgium, Chile, Germany, South Korea, and Sweden. This original version of the sets and costumes for The Czech National Ballet was designed by Prague-born Pablo Núñez. The recently refurbished State Opera in Prague will host the balletic parable of bringing beauty back to life, and the eternal struggle between Good and Evil.

The universal struggle between Good and Evil
Before creating her own version of The Sleeping Beauty, Márcia Haydée had encountered Marius Petipa’s classical choreography on numerous occasions: it was the very first ballet she, as a little girl, saw, and, later on, as a dancer, she would appear in a number of its versions. When, in 1961, Marcia auditioned for John Cranko, she danced variations from The Sleeping Beauty, and she made her debut with the company performing Princess Florine Florine (a Bluebird pas de deux). Her profound knowledge of the work thus afforded Marcia a solid foundation on which she would, later on, build her own interpretation of The Sleeping Beauty, the very first ballet she choreographed.
Besides Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré, she primarily foregrounds the character of Carabosse, who is constantly present throughout the ballet. Haydée continues to focus on the wicked fairy until the very end when Carabosse appears at the wedding feast so as to remind us that Evil is a constant part of the world and will not go away. Marcia Haydée described her vision as follows: “For me, The Sleeping Beauty is the story of Carabosse. … I think we all carry within aspects of both positive and negative energy. Their struggle is universal, one we can all relate to.”

Long before Angelina Jolie appeared as Malificent on the silver screen, Marcia Haydée re-interpreted the role of the “evil” fairy Carabosse in her groundbreaking 1987 production of The Sleeping Beauty. With gender-bending choreography and spectacular – and equally ambiguous – costuming by designer Jürgen Rose, Haydée created a tour de force role for dance legend Richard Cragun, a role which to this day fascinates audiences and inevitably steals the show.

Haydée had had many encounters with the Petipa classic long before she created her own production: it was the first ballet she ever saw as a child and she danced in various versions including in Bronislava Nijinska’s for the Marquis de Cuevas Ballet, as well as Nicolas Beriozoff’s and Rosella Hightower’s for the Stuttgart Ballet. When she auditioned for John Cranko in 1961, she danced variations from The Sleeping Beauty for him and gave her debut in Stuttgart in the Bluebird pas de deux. Her extensive knowledge of the work was therefore the solid foundation on which she built her interpretation when she created her own version in 1987 – the very first ballet she ever choreographed. “The Sleeping Beauty for me is the story of Carabosse – whose feelings and pride have been hurt, and who consequently does something malicious – and the Lilac Fairy, who counters this rage and negative energy with positive energy. And I think we all carry aspects of both of them within us. Their struggle is a universal one, one we can all relate to.”

Haydée’s focus on Carabosse, who is constantly present throughout the ballet, continues until the very end when, just as the wedding of Princess Aurora and Prince Desirée has been celebrated, she re-appears, striding slowly along in front of the panorama of fairy-take characters, a menacing reminder that she has not been banished and will, in time, return.