“Sleeping Beauty”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
February 21, 2019
By Michael Popkin
Copyright © 2019 by Michael Popkin
“Sleeping Beauty” is many things to a ballet lover. One of Tchaikovsky’s greatest scores, the ballet laid the foundation for the post-World War II ballet boom when Ashton’s staging for the Royal Ballet, starring Margot Fonteyn, took the Euro-American stages by storm with its Rose Adagio and famous balances. But first and foremost, the debut of young Indiana Woodward as Princess Aurora on Thursday night at New York City Ballet, opposite Anthony Huxley as Prince Désiré, reminded us that “Beauty” is still an absorbing drama. It’s a rare performance that shows you this, but the young dancers’ knack for stringing the ballet’s iconic moments together with a dramatic line brought it to life.
Photo © Erin Baiano of Megan LeCrone, Indiana Woodward and Anthony Huxley in “The Sleeping Beauty”