'Sleeping Beauty' by The Royal Ballet

The Royal Ballet are fortunate in that they have a wonderful selection of beautiful Auroras at the moment. The calibre of dancing has never been better, and in the most recent run of Sleeping Beauty, I would argue that it wouldn’t matter which cast you saw, they all would have been fabulous. I think it’s perhaps only every decade or so though that you get a ballerina who takes the role to another level. Enter Yasmine Naghdi whose artistry is so magnificent it will blow you away. Her debut as Aurora a couple of years ago proved her worth as a principal dancer (she was promoted swiftly afterwards) and it was so spectacular I couldn’t believe it could be any better. Well I was wrong. The Royal Ballet have just wrapped an impressively long run of Sleeping Beauty and Naghdi’s performances were the stand out shows. We all know the story of this fairy tale ballet, and on paper there’s nothing in it to particularly move the soul. Giselle it ain’t. But with Naghdi, just watching her make her entrance with all the excitement of a young girl and all the impressive technique of a superstar ballerina, it really put a lump in my throat. As she breezed through the Rose Adagio and her difficult variation, I found myself getting quite emotional. How can this be? I thought to myself afterwards. Aurora is celebrating her birthday, her family and friends surround her, she’s having the time of her life and wearing pink for goodness sake. But then I realised that there are rare moments in ballet where we witness artistic perfection and it’s this which is enough to make you well up. I guess there’s also a sense of pride in watching someone doing so well. Just when you think Naghdi has delivered her greatest performance, she tops it in her next show and then the one after that. Her balances are unbelievable, her arms exquisite, the extension of her leg is unreal. She is pure and balanced and quite frankly, perfection. For me, Naghdi is in her own league in this ballet, it really does belong to her and I think this recent run marks her as one of the greatest Auroras of all time. She was partnered by Matthew Ball whose technical dancing just seems to improve every time I see him. He was divine and the two of them are a beautiful pairing. I have to say though, I am desperate to see Naghdi dance something classical alongside Vadim Muntagirov just to see their classical technique matched in all its glory. I later saw Ball dance Prince Florimund alongside Anna-Rose O’Sullivan and have to say I think I preferred him in this ballet with her. He seemed more relaxed to me.

Yasmine Naghdi as Aurora

Aurora is not an easy debut to make. The role is one of the most difficult in classical ballet and takes years to master. Some ballerinas never do. It’s the one role where we must forgive debut nerves because, let’s face it, who wouldn’t be having a panic attack side stage before jumping on to dance the Rose Adagio for the first time. Well nerves were completely absent from O’Sullivan’s debut performance. Perhaps she left them in her dressing room or perhaps they weren’t there at all. Her assured and confident entrance was breath taking. Literally, I was gasping for air, and again I found myself feeling emotional. This time it really was down to pride. O’Sullivan is a ballerina whose career I’ve followed since she was an artist standing at the back of the stage. To watch her develop and to then see her smash such a difficult role was a really special moment. She was youthful and elegant and so expressive on stage. She is definitely having a moment. This was her first big classical leading role and she was joyous. Last season she debuted as Juliet and broke every heart in the auditorium and she’s also just produced one of the greatest performances of Swanhilda that I’ve seen. It’s just a matter of time before another promotion comes her way.

Anna Rose O'Sullivan as Aurora

And now a special mention for Fumi Kaneko. I completely melt whenever I see her on stage, particularly in the classical roles. She is to me a fairy princess, the type of ballerina that all little girls dream of being. I completely swoon when she’s dancing and all feels right in the world for those dreamy moments. A role like Aurora is perfect for Kaneko and she shone when making her debut. This was made opposite Reece Clarke who has to be my favourite prince of the run. Although all the casts were magnificent, Clarke was the only one who really seemed like he’d stepped out of the fairy tale. So with Kaneko you can imagine how beautiful this was. He was protective over her, curved head around hers to make sure she was always ok; his expression as he looked at her was more romantic than any candlelit dinner you can think of. I would love to see them dance more together - just think how heart-breaking they would be in Giselle or Romeo and Juliet. I’m slightly gutted they won’t be dancing Swan lake together.

Fumi Kaneko as Aurora

The Royal Ballet’s production of Sleeping Beauty is a special one and has really grown on me over the years. It helps that the quality of dancing is as good as it is. I used to find the fairy dances in the prologue so tiresome but when you have dancers like Claire Calvert performing in them, you begin to change your mind. It’s also a great way to feature some of the younger dancers, a highlight for me being Leticia Dias, whom I can’t seem to take my eye off whenever she’s on stage. Big things coming her way I’m sure. The wedding act used to be pretty tiresome too, sometimes I still find myself getting a bit restless during the Puss in Boots dance or Little Red Riding Hood, but again these parts have really grown on me. I think my biggest frustration with this production though is the demise of Carabosse. She is such a pivotal character and features in every act but when it’s time for her to come crashing down this happens behind the bed and, for all of those sitting or standing on the left hand side of the stage, you have no idea what’s happened as the action is all hidden behind a bed drape. I always find this a shame. It’s an even bigger shame when you’re watching a dancer like Itziar Mendizabal in the role. Believe me, you want to watch every single move she makes when she’s Carabosse. Of course we all knew she’d be great in the role, but she had every bit of the pantomime camp needed to perfect it. She oozed manipulative terror and her mime and timing were perfect.

For those who think Sleeping Beauty is a silly fairy tale ballet that’s not for them, just think, it was the first ballet I took my boyfriend to and he’s still coming to see ballet with me. We also had standing tickets so the poor guy couldn’t sit down. So suck it up, get yourselves a ticket next time and soak up the magic.