Lights dimmed on a crowded and eager audience in the Center for the Arts Mainstage Theater on Wednesday as they anticipated what would be a memorable performance of The Sleeping Beauty, danced by the poised and legendary Russian National Ballet Theatre.
Founded in Moscow nearly 30 years ago as a means to exercise the classic practice of ballet, The Russian National Ballet Theatre continues to liberate the once traditional expression of dance. Today, there are over 50 dancers with the company of the utmost talent, technique and grace.
Based upon Charles Perrault's celebrated fairy tale, The Sleeping Beauty is a story of the battle of good and evil, heroic rescues and true love as a young princess is sentenced to sleep until the fateful kiss of a prince awakens her.
As Act I began, the audience was captivated by the renowned Marius Petipa's choreography and the elegant music of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikosvky. The choreography to Tchaikosvky's music was extremely precise, expressed in a truly poetic manner.
The music steadily rose as Princess Aurora stepped onto the stage for her first appearance, dressed in a sweetly pink costume and gleaming crown. Greeting her guests on her 16th birthday, the princess began the Rose Adagio, a pas d'action between herself and four princes as her suitors.
Aurora's articulate and graceful dancing was mesmerizing, as the dancer's tremendous talent was illustrated with each arabesque extension and pirouette.
The Fairy of Lilac was a prominent character in Act II, leading Prince Charming to the sleeping beauty in a dance of romance and enchantment. The fairy flourished in Petipa's challenging choreography, presenting to the audience near-perfection with each nimble movement.
The music resonated throughout the theater as the Fairy led the Prince to Aurora, awakening her with a modestly sweet kiss. Caught in their own fairytale, the audience smiled in joy.
Act III was perhaps the most grandiose, displaying a backdrop of a crystal blue sky and stark white columns - the image for the royal wedding of the Prince and Aurora. Gathered around the joyous couple were storybook characters like Puss 'n' Boots and Little Red Riding Hood, each performing a pas de deux demonstrating their strength and poise.
The fairytale creatures Blue Bird and his princess performed after Puss n' Boots, fluttering to the stage in costumes of sky blue and feathers. Seeming to exert no effort, Blue Bird appeared to fly off of the stage in an incredibly demanding dance.
As the Prince and Aurora took center stage, they performed a regal dance of complicated extensions, leaps and lifts. The audience was awestruck, unable to look away from the dancers' expressive movements as the prince moved across the massive stage in a swift step, easily balancing Aurora in an exceedingly difficult inverted pose.
As the curtains closed and the audience rose to their feet in applause, the compelling performance of the Russian National Ballet Theatre came to its end.
Anything else would simply seem mediocre in comparison.
