Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB) is performing Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty ballet at Artscape Opera House. The Cape Town Philharmonic conducted by Brandon Phillips accompanied the dancers. I attended the premier performance on September 2. It was an excellent, exciting production!
CTBC is South Africa’s oldest ballet company. The premier performance of Sleeping Beauty featured impressive guest artists Hikaru Kobayashi from The Royal Ballet as Princess Aurora and David Moore from Stuttgart Ballet as Prince Florimund. Captivating performances by Johnny Bovang as the evil fairy godmother Carabosse and Kim Vieira as the Lilac Fairy were outstanding and enjoyed by all.
“About ten years after the presentation of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, he was asked to write a ballet for the famous Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. The ballet would be based on Charles Perrault’s fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood. Tchaikovsky was very happy this story was chosen. It was set in the age of Louis XIV. He would have the chance to write music in the Baroque style.”
The dancing, dramatic musical score, costumes, and beautiful sets were exquisite – a memorable Cape Town evening!
