The Sleeping Beauty – Lilac Fairy Variation (Claire Calvert, The Royal Ballet)

Claire Calvert of The Royal Ballet dances the Lilac Fairy’s solo in this landmark production of Petipa’s classic ballet, to Tchaikovsky’s glorious music. Subscribe to our channel and find out more at The Sleeping Beauty holds a special place in The Royal Ballet’s repertory. It was the ballet with which the Company reopened the Royal Opera House in 1946 after World War II, its first production at its new home in Covent Garden. Margot Fonteyn danced the role of the beautiful Princess Aurora in the first performance, with Robert Helpmann as Prince Florimund. Sixty years later, in 2006, the original 1946 staging was revived by then Director of The Royal Ballet Monica Mason and Christopher Newton, returning Oliver Messel’s wonderful designs and glittering costumes to the stage. The masterful 19th-century choreography of Marius Petipa is combined with sections created for The Royal Ballet by Frederick Ashton, Anthony Dowell and Ch