SOUTH AFRICA: Classical Russian ballet 'Sleeping Beauty' mesmerizes the South African audience

Record ID: 455471

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Classical Russian ballet 'Sleeping Beauty' mesmerizes the South African audience
  • Date: 29th September 2005
  • Summary: THE KING AND QUEEN AT THE WEDDING OF PRINCESS AURORA AND PRINCE FLORIMUND FROM 'SLEEPING BEAUTY' BALLET PRINCESS AURORA AND PRINCE FLORIMUND DANCE TOGETHER IN THE WEDDING SCENE
  • Embargoed: 14th October 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA2LWZUGA7CMLK3QNEQALG682YU
  • Story Text: Sleeping beauty is in many respects the most complex of Tchaikovsky's great ballet trilogy, a complex narrative with layers of fairy tales, a struggle between good and evil, and a love story that enodorses the institution of monarchy and royal succession. This was the first time in over eight years that this great classical ballet is being seen in Johannesburg and with its fairytale of reawakening there could be no finer choice for the start of spring. Generally considered the ultimate achievement of classical ballet, The Sleeping Beauty offers an impressive array of roles that test every fibre of any ballet company's abilities, from the daunting role of Princess Aurora, through the dazzling Bluebirds and enchanted creatures that fill the stage. In this performance the role of Princess Aurora is performed by South African Principal Dancer Burnise Silvius while the role of Prince Florimund is played by British ballet star Michael Revie, who has recently joined South African Ballet Theatre on a six-month contract. The South African Ballet Theatre is a fairly young dance company. When the minister of Arts and Culture closed the State Theatre in Pretoria and with it The State Theatre Ballet in 2000, Gauteng was left without a ballet company. Ballet lovers feared that this could be the end of the art form in the region. Since its inception in 2001 SABT has presented four major productions a year, but it lost valuable time, however they show great potential, ''in that way I think our standard is up to scratch with the and its just going to take some time to build the rest of the company to be up to scratch with the rest of the world but I do think we'll get there.'' said Burnise Silvius. To attract children and increase the interest in ballet in the country the South African Ballet theatre has outreach projects, where more than 500 children participate from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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