Artists

Aalto Ballett Essen

Ben Van Cauwenbergh, artistic director

Programme

The Sleeping Beauty

Ballet in three Acts and a Prologue by Ben Van Cauwenbergh on Marius Petipa’s choreography

Choreography: Ben Van Cauwenbergh

Music: Piotr Ilich Chaikovski

Lighting design: Andrea Sanguineti

Set and costumes: Dorin Gal

Dramaturgy: Christian Schröder

Spanish premiere

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes, including an intermissión after Act I

A Refreshing Sleeping Beauty

Former Belgian dancer and choreographer Ben Van Cauwenbergh has been running the German company Aalto Ballett Essen for 12 years, named after the architect who designed its theatre, the eminent Alvar Aalto. Former member of the Royal Ballet of Flanders and the London Ballet Festival, Van Cauwenbergh holds the Gold Medal of the Prix de Lausanne, one of the most prestigious competitions for classical dancers. With that baggage, it is logical that his choreographic path continues to be staged in academic dance as the essence of the company. And he does it through ballets that refresh the great traditional names, like this version of Sleeping Beauty, on the beautiful Tchaikovsky’s score. Inspired by the original ballet choreographed by Marius Petipa, which celebrates 130 years of its premiere at the Mariinsky, the version interpreted by the thirty-one interpreters of the Essen company preserves the technical rigor in steps and variations, with the dancers in tutus and tips, to which they add high doses of contemporary energy.