Staring Aurelie Dupont, Manuel Legris
Choreography by Rudolf Nureyev (after Petipa),
Sets and costumes by Enzio Figario, Franca Squarcapino

Nureyev’s Sleeping Beauty is an extraordinary spectacle of costumes, sets and dance. But it is not a celebration of the monarchy. Instead it is about the impending doom of the monarchy in France. The last scene is set in Versailles at the end of the 18th century. Instead of the regal prelude, which we are all familiar with, it starts with a very stately minuet in the minor key. The ballet ends with the polonaise. As the French aristocracy dance furiously to their doom, the curtain falls like a guillotine on them and their way of life. The Grand Apotheosis has been completely eliminated . Princess Aurora is made to look like Marie Antoinette with her dyed white hair and styling. The magnificent sets seem to underline the decadence of the aristocracy and not its grandeur.

All these factors make for a pretty joyless Sleeping Beauty ­ all the fairy tale aspects are played down. There is no procession of fairy tale characters, the Red Riding Hood scene is gone and the white cat pas de deux is muted. The

DVD - the future of ballet? some earlier thoughts from Eugene

predominance of identical white wigs in Act 3 effectively de-personalizes everyone. They make people look very stiff, formal and from a very different era The wigs may be authentic but what is really authentic about ballet?

It is regrettable that Nureyev cannot leave the magnificent and perfectly laid-out choreography alone. He has to retouch and embellish it. The result is a fussy, over-choreographed work. Some of the embellishment is quite ridiculous ­ the Fairly Volante variation in the prologue is performed by two identical fairies dancing the familiar steps in unison! There is also a long-drawn-out dance for the girls with the needles (exceptionally bad choreography!). The great Act 2 Valse requires over 30 people to perform it and it is pretty forgettable. But Nureyev’s additional choreography does not fatally weaken Petipa’s original work. It is more irritating than disastrous. I suppose it is Nureyev being Nureyev!

But the worst aspect of Nureyev’s production is the greatly expanded role of the Prince in the second act. He has 3 variations in Act 2 alone. As soon as he comes on he starts dancing pyrotechnics almost immediately. He gives an impression more of a vulgar exhibitionist then a noble prince. When the lilac fairy tells him of the existence of the sleeping princess he launches into another wild variation as he anticipates seeing her. To me he is too much like a drooling schoolboy who is excited at the prospect of seeing for the first time what lies beneath a girl’s skirt! Perhaps it should be called "the drooling variation". And he does another wholly out of place variation after Aurora’s beautiful variation. He has no slow adage to indicate that he is unhappy and yearning for true love . He has no personality other than that of a lusty boy. I can see why Nureyev made these alterations when he was performing. Without them there is very little dancing for the Prince. Audiences who came to see Nureyev may have felt cheated. But as Nureyev is gone I think it is time to rethink the role of the Prince

Aurelie Dupont as Princess Aurora has astonishing technique. She has a great jete, superb balon and is incredibly graceful. Her rose adagio was terrific and her Act 2 variation was sublime!! But she has no personality ­ there is nothing from the neck up. She is, however, in her early twenties so maybe she will grow into the role and became a great Aurora. Technically she surpasses Durante or anyone in the Royal Ballet but needs to improve on her dramatic skills to be a real 'etoile'.

Manuel Legris is a spectacular dancer but in this role he does not have the noble bearing of a Prince. His style of dancing tends to underline all the problems I have with Nureyev’s choreography. He makes the Prince more like a boy.

The rest of the company dance superbly. There is a very restrained and elegant blue bird pas de deux and delightful gold, silver and bronze dances. The corps de ballet danced immaculately! Some of the fairy variations, whilst technically very fine, do lack the personality which our less technically proficient British dancers can give. The breadcrumb fairy is not as convincing as Sarah Wildor in the same role! The same can be said about Volante(s) when compared to Belinda Hatley (just one Ms Hatley!!)

The sound quality and picture quality of the DVD are excellent. But sadly Alexandra Tatra’s direction is infuriating. He tries to bring the grandeur of the production to the small screen by having long panned out shots. But it makes the dancers look like ants. Very often a variation starts with a panned out shot and is brought in halfway through the dance ­ the result is that you miss the first half of the dancing! Tatra’s direction may look great on a big screen TV or for those who have a projector. But for the rest of us it is a very serious drawback and for this reason alone I cannot recommend this DVD.