Sleeping Beauty, a crowning jewel of Marius Petipa’s career, is often considered the finest achievement of the classical ballet. It is a grandiose and refined blending of the traditional mime, expressive pas d’action and spectacular divertissements in a lavish theatrical setting.

Tchaikovsky was delighted with the invitation to write the music for a ballet based on Charles Perrault’s well-known fairy tale. A baby princess, condemned at her christening by an evil fairy to prick her finger and die on her 16th birthday, is saved by the gift of the good Lilac Fairy, who declares the princess will only sleep until awakened by the kiss of a prince. The fairy tale, replete with a king and queen, fairies both good and evil, a beautiful princess and dream prince, magical stage effects, and courtly splendor, lent itself perfectly to the full evening ballet that was Petipa’s pride.

The Russian National Ballet Theatre was founded in Moscow during the transitional period of Perestroika in the late 1980s. Today, the Russian National Ballet Theatre is its own institution, with over 50 dancers of singular instruction and vast experience, many of whom have been with the company since its inception.