“SLEEPING BEAUTY” BALLET PERFORMANCES

Hotels and restaurants in the vicinity of Sydney’s State Theatre in Market Street will soon be noticing an upsurge in bookings with the announcement that this iconic theatre will be the venue for two performances of the spectacular masterpiece “Sleeping Beauty”, on Friday 24th and Sunday 26th April, 2015.

Grand International Concerts’ proudly presents the welcome return to Australia of Moscow Ballet La Classique and ballet’s most loved fairytale, Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty”, which will tour nationally in April/May 2015.

The great success of Russian Theatre is undoubtedly Classical Ballet.

The highly acclaimed and respected Moscow Ballet La Classique, which was established in 1990 by its current Artistic Director, Elik Melikov, will take Australian audiences on a mystical journey over two Acts, to the fairytale world of Princess Aurora, the “Sleeping Beauty”.

Moscow Ballet La Classique will capture the imagination and the magic of “Sleeping Beauty”, making it a hugely enjoyable dance spectacular for ballet lovers of all ages.

This illustrious Moscow based ballet company has a well earned reputation for their ballet skills, lavish costumes and magnificent stage sets.

Act One: Once upon a time in a distant kingdom, at the christening of Princess Aurora, the King has forgotten to invite the bad fairy, Carabosse, who bursts into the castle at the conclusion of the ceremony and casts a spell that the Princess will die from a prick of a needle at age 16. The King orders all knitting needles in the Kingdom be destroyed and anyone in possession of a knitting needle will be executed.

On her sixteenth birthday, Princess Aurora dances with each of the four princes who have come to ask for her hand. An old woman appears in the hall and presents her with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Princess Aurora pricks her finger on a concealed knitting needle hidden in the bouquet of flowers, presented to her by the disguised Carabosse, and falls into a deep sleep.

Act Two: 100 years later, Prince Deserea and his party are hunting for birds in the forest where he encounters the Lilac Fairy. The Lilac Fairy makes him fall asleep and in his dreams the Prince dances and falls in love with Princess Aurora, however, the Evil Fairy Carabosse bursts into the dream, steals the princess and takes her to her castle. When the Prince awakens he sees the outline of the castle and drawing his sword he charges into the castle where he finds the Princess of his dreams. He kisses her gently and after 100 years sleeping the Princess awakens.

Witchcraft is defeated and all of the court wakes.  A holiday is declared and a fairytale party takes place to celebrate the wedding of Princess Aurora to Prince Deserea. Invited guests are entertained by fairy tale characters, as the joyous occasion is celebrated by the Kingdom.

Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty” will capture the imagination, the passion and the magic of ballet’s fairytale masterpiece.

Sandra Tiltman

NEIL OLIVER COMING TO SYDNEY

Neil Oliver, historian, archaeologist and presenter of acclaimed BBC TV series such as Coast, Vikings and A History of Ancient Britain, is coming to Sydney for a fascinating live show at the State Theatre on Wednesday, 4 December at 8 pm, presented by Lateral Events and BBC Worldwide Australia & New Zealand (ANZ). Neil Oliver – History in the Making will coincide with the broadcast of Oliver’s new series Coast Australia on Foxtel in December.

In History in the Making, Neil will bring British and Australian history to life and will give a unique insight into the intriguing and turbulent Dark Ages era in Britain, when King Arthur was rumoured to have held court and the Saxons and Vikings invaded.

“For me, the characters and events of the past are every bit as exciting as breaking news today. I want everyone to feel the same excitement about these stories as I do, even a sense of personal connection to them, so I am very much looking forward to presenting History in the Making live on stage in Sydney and Melbourne,” said Neil Oliver. “We’ll be evoking some of the most exciting periods of history and bringing them to life. If you’ll excuse the pun this will be a ground breaking experience!”

Neil will also discuss his new series Coast Australia, in which he has gathered stories, amazing facts and revelations about Australia’s own history, people, archaeology, geography and marine life. Neil has recently completed filming Coast Australia for The History Channel which starts Monday, 2 December at 7.30 pm.

Trained as an archaeologist and journalist, Neil made his television debut in the BBC’s Two Men in a Trench which featured Neil and close friend Tony Pollard visiting historic battlefields and recreating the battle situations using state of the art archaeological techniques.

Sandra Tiltman