My First Sleeping Beauty
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ENB2 Bring My First Sleeping Beauty to Manchester, 2 June

The English National Ballet’s My First… a series of ballets is bringing children their first taste of the magical world of ballet.

ENB2 is a new touring company featuring graduating dancers of outstanding potential from English National Ballet School in performances produced by English National Ballet, continuing the initiative to bring ballet to young audiences.

The first ballet to be adapted in this way will be My First Sleeping Beauty. The show will be performed by the third year students from English National Ballet School in their first professional tour, so it will be a “first” for both audiences and performers.

Created with young attention spans in mind, My First Sleeping Beauty will be choreographed and designed by dancer and choreographer Matthew Hart.

Matthew said "I am so thrilled to be choreographing this new production for English National Ballet and English National Ballet School, I want to create a really accessible way for children to enjoy this classic fairy tale, retaining the drama of the original ballet, but adding a real sense of fun and magic, giving youngsters their first taste of the world of ballet."

The dancers will wear the sumptuous Georgiadis costumes from the Company’s full production of The Sleeping Beauty, with elements of the original sets also used, giving audiences the feel of a full scale classic ballet. However the story – of the beautiful Princess Aurora who on her 16th Birthday falls victim to an evil fairy’s curse and falls asleep for 100 years until she’s awoken by True Love’s Kiss -  and choreography will be adapted, making it more approachable, fun and suitable for young audiences.

My First Sleeping Beauty will give English National Ballet School students the opportunity to gain real work experience and dance principal roles, raising their profile and visibility as they prepare to enter the profession. The performances will enable a wider range of people and young children to engage with the school and ballet.

Anu Giri Director of English National Ballet School said “This is a huge opportunity for our students. You can teach them so much in the studio but when you put them in front of an audience that is when they really start their journey to becoming a performer.”

The My First... series follows the success of the Angelina Ballerina ballets, which reached audiences of over 300,000 across the UK and the world between 2007 and 2009.

My First Sleeping Beauty is at the Palace Theatre from 2 - 3 June.

- by Glenn Meads

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