Hungarian National Ballet The Hungarian National Ballet's "The Sleeping Beauty"

[Terpsichore]

 

Last Sunday I attended with other members of the London Ballet Circle the opening night of the Hungarian National Ballet's production of The Sleeping Beauty by our patron, Sir Peter Wright, at the Budapest Opera House.

 

It was a great occasion and crowned a day in which I attended class with the Hungarian dancer, choreographer and teacher Imre Andrasi in the company with Mel Wong which I have described in the Simply Adult Ballet thread.

 

The leading roles were danced by Aliya Tankpayeva and Dimitry Timofeev whom you can see in the photograph above. As for the other roles, the Lilac Fairy was danced by Zsuzsanna Papp, Carabosse by Karina Sarkissova and Bluebird by Maksym Kovtun who also doubled as Puss in Boots. In that latter role he was partnered by the young Canadian dancer Danielle Gould who danced the white cat and who impressed me very much indeed.

 

The ballet was staged with assistance from the Birmingham Royal Ballet, The sets and costumes were Philip Prowse's and the lighting was arranged by Peter Teigen. 

I enjoyed the performances of all the dancers but Tanlpaeyeva and Timofeev danced Aurora and Desire somewhat differently from the way I remember the principals of the Birmingham Royal Ballet when I last saw it at the Lowry over 2 years ago. 

 

After the show I was lucky enough to be invited back stage for the cast party where my friend Gita Mistry took the photo that appears above.

If anyone is interested I have reviewed the show in my blog.

[Estreiiita]

Thanks for the post and the link to your blog with a lot of interesting information! Unfortunately it's highly improbable that I will see the Hungarian ballet live myself (unless they come to Denmark or Hamburg), so it was especially nice to read about your experience and see the photos!

[Terpsichore]

Thanks for the post and the link to your blog with a lot of interesting information! Unfortunately it's highly improbable that I will see the Hungarian ballet live myself (unless they come to Denmark or Hamburg), so it was especially nice to read about your experience and see the photos!

 

I wouldn't rule out the possibility of the Hungarian National Ballet's touring Germany or Scandinavia. Their repertoire includes La Sylphide which connects them with Denmark and Cranko's Onegin which connects them with Stuttgart.

[Terpsichore]

I have just received from Mr György Jávorszky, International Communications Project Manager of the Hungarian State Opera, 10  beautiful photographs of the ballet which were taken by Mr Attila Nagy together with his kind permission to reproduce them in my blog. 

I start with the final scene of Aurora's wedding.  Over the next few days I shall show them all.

[Terpsichore]

In my post of 23 April I mentioned the performance of the young Canadian dancer Danielle Gould as the white cat in the Puss in Boots divertissement in the Hungarian National Ballet's performance of The Sleeping Beauty.

I am very grateful to Skydancer for bringing this clip of her piece to my attention which I hope other subscribers will also enjoy: