#fairytale ballet

[adarkrainbow]

Does anyone know where I can find a recording of the Royal New Zealand Ballet's Hansel & Gretel?

I am always down for a good fairytale ballet, and when I saw this interview with the choreographer, and he randomly dropped that the aesthetic was "early 20th century German Expressionist movie", with references to Nosferatu, Doctor Caligari or even FRIGGIN' GEORGE MELIES, I was sold:

This was an interview release for the 2023 tour of the ballet, but I know it already had a tour four years ago (according to the Youtube datation of the the RNZB videos). Anyone knows where I can get a hand on the filmed version? I only find "live streams" that of course are now unavailable...

[adarkrainbow]

Caroline Duprot as Little Red Riding Hood ; and unknown person as the Wolf ; from the Sleeping Beauty ballet.

[bebs-art-gallery]

Midsummer Nights Dream, New York City Ballet Production

[daisylambs]

[marie-sauvage]

[whereismydreamcastle]

[mollybeenoel]

Source

[dommnics]

Just realized I uploaded this on my other socials but not on here. A couple years ago, I was really interested in re-imagining Swan Lake as a comic, but never got far with it and put it to the side. The story found its way back to me, and I'd love to have another go at it and work it into a graphic novel after I publish my debut graphic novel trilogy KLOUD 9 (coming in 2025!)

These are some rough character designs I was playing around with for my take on the Swan Lake characters. I wanted my Odette to be a magical Filipina princess, as my dream of helping work on the first Filipina Disney princess movie seems too far off at this point in my career. So I don't really want to wait, and I'm just making my own haha!

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[adarkrainbow]

Of course, the classic of classics! 

Sleeping Beauty Spring: "The Sleeping Beauty" (1889 ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky)

Of the three ballets composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker might be the most famous, and Swan Lake might be the most original, but The Sleeping Beauty is often considered the crown jewel of them all. A mainstay of ballet companies throughout the world, it serves as a grand showcase for classical choreography, for luxuriant sets and costumes, and of course for sweet, sumptuously romantic music. Its popularity has influenced retellings of the fairy tale far beyond the world of dance: for example, this ballet marks the first use of the name "Aurora" for the enchanted princess, but it would be far from the last version to give her that name. And excerpts from Tchaikovsky's score, particularly the famous Garland Waltz performed near the beginning of Act I, have become a musical mainstay in other Sleeping Beauty adaptations.

The ballet's scenario is mostly faithful to the familiar story, but with a few embellishments to provide showcases for dance, and only a few varying details between different productions. It's officially based on Charles Perrault's version of the tale, but it follows the Brothers Grimm version in cutting Perrault's second half, and in letting the King and Queen join their daughter in sleep and survive to the end. A prologue depicts the christening of the newborn Princess Aurora, attended by six good fairies led by the Lilac Fairy, who softens the evil fairy Carabosse's curse from death to sleep. After this, Act I consists of Aurora's sixteenth (or twentieth) birthday celebration, during which she dances the famous and difficult Rose Adagio with four suitors. The festivities are cut cruelly short, however, when Carabosse arrives in disguise as an old peasant woman and gives Aurora a drop spindle as a "gift" (or hides it in a bouquet of roses), causing her to prick her finger and collapse before the horrified eyes of the whole court. Act II begins a hundred years later, when Prince Désiré (or Prince Florimund) is shown a dancing vision of Aurora by the Lilac Fairy, who then leads him to the castle and thwarts a last feeble attempt by Carabosse to stop him from kissing the princess. Finally, much like The Nutcracker's final act in the Land of Sweets, Act III leaves the plot behind and consists only of a royal wedding divertissement. The guests include an array of characters from other French fairy tales, who each dance in turn: Puss in Boots and the White Cat, Princess Florine and the Bluebird, Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Cinderella and her Prince, and Hop o'My Thumb, his six brothers, and the Ogre. (In performance, the Cinderella and Hop o'My Thumb dances are often cut.)

The demanding role of Princess Aurora is considered one of the ultimate showcases for a ballerina's art. But she's not the ballet's only plum role, as Prince Désiré/Florimund, the Lilac Fairy, Princess Florine, the Bluebird, and other roles also shine. Meanwhile, in some productions, Carabosse is a grotesque character role danced by a man, while in others she's a more glamorous figure danced by a woman, but either way, she's a flamboyant, scene-stealing villainess. Besides dance, most productions are also vehicles for glittering, flower-decked scenery and rich, colorful costumes, with an atmosphere of luxury that suits the world of fairy tale royalty. Most productions set the prologue and Act I in the 17th century Louis XIV era, and Acts II and III in the 18th century.

To some lovers of Perrault and the Grimms, this ballet might be too pretty and twee, without delving into the story's potential emotional depth or darker side. Some might also find it too long: at nearly three hours when performed uncut, it's the longest of Tchaikovsky's ballets. But no one can deny its appeal to lovers of classical dance, or the elegant, atmospheric beauty of Tchaikovsky's score.

Both as an adaptation of the classic fairy tale and as a mainstay of the standard ballet repertoire, Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty most definitely looms large. Every subsequent retelling of the story arguably stands in its glittering shadow.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @thealmightyemprex, @faintingheroine, @reds-revenge, @thatscarletflycatcher, @comma-after-dearest, @the-blue-fairie, @paexgo-rosa, @autistic-prince-cinderella

[lesbianfakir]

I made a little poster for my fic (link) ehehe. Pose + Duck's costume taken from John Neumeier's Little Mermaid ballet

[ID: digital art of Duck and Fakir dancing. He's lifting her into the air on his back. She is smiling with arms and one leg stretched high into the air. She wears flowing, golden pants that trail past her feet, meant to stylistically resemble a mermaid's fins. Hazy feathers fall to the ground all around her. End ID]

[marysmirages]

The Steadfast Tin Soldier (2023)

[barbie-pink4ever]

🌷🌸🌺ROSETTA🌷🌺🌸

[stingrayextraordinaire]

Ballet Moodboards // The Little Mermaid

I would give gladly all the hundreds of years that I have to live, to be a human being only for one day, and to have the hope of knowing the happiness of that glorious world above the stars.

[dozydawn]

La Dame à la Licorne (The Lady and the Unicorn) performed by the Paris Opera Ballet, 1959. Photographed by Jack Garofalo.

Starring Liane Dayde and Claude Bessy. Choreographed by Heinz Rosen. Conceived and designed by Jean Cocteau.

"Cocteau ... has created an enigmatic libretto in which a noble maiden has a lovely white unicorn which eats only from her hand. But after the Knight comes, and an amorous pas de deux ensues between the two aristocrats, the Unicorn will no longer eat and dies. The Knight, who has left, now returns, but the Lady is no longer interested in him. As the curtain falls, she is on stage alone, with neither Knight nor Unicorn, pointing to a banner on which is inscribed 'Mon seul desir' (My only desire)."

[vosveti]

Art for a swan lake retelling I’m working on :)

[marie-sauvage]

Melissandre and Adèle Cartier at Paris Salon