La bella durmiente – El ballet emblemático de Marius Petipa en Ámsterdam

The Sleeping Beauty is a much-loved fairytale: Princess Aurora is put into a deep sleep by the Lilac Fairy to prevent death by the curse of the evil fairy Carabosse, only to be awakened with a kiss by handsome Prince Florimund a century later. First choreographed to Tchaikovsky's great musical score by Marius Petipa in 1890 in Russia, it has become a much-loved classical ballet and a perennial delight that combines in a single work all the charms and virtuosity that ballet has to offer.

Choreographer Sir Peter Wright is here sharing his work on the ballet, largely inspired by Petipa's legacy. He highlights the importance of story-telling through the movements of the dancers, which are similar to mime at some points.

This production for the Dutch National Ballet in 2003 features French ballerina Sofiane Sylve as Aurora. According to her, the difficulty of the Sleeping Beauty lies in always giving the impression of waking up from a hundred-year sleep! In this documentary, she shares her feelings on dancing for the Dutch National Ballet and for the New York City Ballet.