Part of Sleeping Beauty is an odd choice of fairy-tale to ballet-ise, not least because the heroine of the story spends such a lot of it either newborn or asleep. An enchanted forest growing isn't necessarily natural dance territory either. And Tchaikovsky seems to have reduced any inherent tension by accompanying the only really dramatic scenes (such as Carabosse cursing the baby princess) with a rather tumpty-tum music that doesn't even have decent crashing cymbals or thunderous timps.
The Siberians have done the only sensible thing with this rather unpromising material, and camped it up to the point where it's basically a panto set in the court of Louis XIII. I've never seen so much gold lamé, so many ruffles, wigs that Spinal Tap would be proud of, such huge bows, or such fancy feathered hats, and that's just on the chaps. It's probably a good thing they've left Russia, given Putin's stance on that kind of thing. What would he make of the man dressed as a maypole, or the four rosebud-bedecked swains carrying 20ft of pompoms?Very little of the dancing advances the plot. Most of it is in the "Peasant Dances" style, where pairs illustrate different dances at a ball and everyone else stands around applauding. But at the Royal Wedding these dances are done by other fairy story characters, including Puss-in-Boots with a very sweet White Cat, and Red Riding Hood with the Wolf. Nearly all of the ballet consists of pas-de-deux, but there was also some neat ensemble dancing by the troop of fairies.
The most captivating dancer was the Lilac Fairy, who often danced alone and was bewitching in her grace and power. She embodied that magical quality of seeming to be able to do things a human body cannot do, which can be the most exciting thing about watching dance. Princess Aurora doesn't get much to do for half of the ballet, and the scene where she and the prince meet happens in a vision which makes for a rather unsatisfying set piece. Also, she seemed to me too mature. I'd have liked her a bit more silly and girly.Having said that the final pas-de-deux was exquisite, and perfectly synchronised, like a mating pair of exotic birds. The Prince himself was very watchable, though he was wearing the tightest tights I've ever seen, which left nothing to the imagination! Carabosse by contrast was a pantomime Dame, stomping around and swirling her cape, disappointingly un-menacing though she did have a sweet chariot drawn by four mice, or rats, or possibly bats. They were definitely small evil mammals of some sort. But eventually she melted away insubstantially so there was no proper showdown with the prince.
Tchaikovsky didn't rate Swan Lake, and considered Sleeping Beauty a far superior work. I think it's safe to say he was wrong, but that this production does quite a lot to restore the balance. The audience were a mix of ages, and I'd say because it's totally unthreatening it's a good ballet for smalls. The tour has moved on now, but it's very likely to come back round again, and I would thoroughly recommend catching this proficient and entertaining company of dancers.