12/15/2006

A timeless story

'Sleeping Beauty' comes to life on Interlochen stage

By MARTA HEPLER DRAHOS

mdrahos@record-eagle.com

Interlochen Arts Academy presents "Sleeping Beauty" today through Sunday in Corson Auditorium.

INTERLOCHEN — David Hoyt has danced his share of princely roles, but nothing like Prince Florimund in Interlochen Arts Academy's lavish production of "The Sleeping Beauty.”

The ballet, set for this weekend at Corson Auditorium, is considered by many to be the ultimate classical ballet and Prince Florimund the most taxing of prince roles.

"The roles I've done in the past have been the more typical prince, but this character is more in-depth. You expect more feeling,” said Hoyt, a 17-year-old Academy senior from Traverse City who shares the role with classmate Paul Busch of Kettering, Ohio.

The production opens today and runs through Sunday. In keeping with the choreographic excesses for which it is known, it features two Academy orchestras and a cast of 63, including 19 Academy theater students as the King and Queen and their courtiers, and nine third-graders from Interlochen Pathfinder School as royal pages.

Premiered by The Imperial Ballet of Russia in 1890, "The Sleeping Beauty” is a timeless story that honors femininity while acknowledging its darker side, said Mark Borchelt, Interlochen director of dance and instructor of ballet.

"I think what's rich about the story is the story of light and dark,” he said. "It's the story of the triumph of the positive aspects of women and not the dark aspects. And of course, true love wins out.”

In the ballet, the infant princess Aurora is condemned at her christening by the wicked fairy Carabosse to prick her finger and die on her 16th birthday. But the good Lilac Fairy intervenes and declares that the princess will only sleep until awakened by the kiss of a prince.

On the eve of her 16th birthday, Aurora pricks her finger on a hidden tapestry needle and falls asleep. A hundred years later in a neighboring kingdom, the Lilac Fairy offers Prince Florimund a vision of the princess. Enchanted by her beauty, he travels to the castle where she lies asleep and plants the awakening kiss.

Danced in a prologue and two acts, "The Sleeping Beauty” is one of three popular ballets the Academy rotates each year. Originally choreographed by Marius Pepita, who perfected the full-length, evening-long story ballet, it combines set dances with mimed scenes, technique with artistry.

"This is sort of looked upon as the epitome of that classical ballet style,” said Borchelt, who adapted Pepita's choreography to his own dancers' needs and whittled the ballet down from its original 4 1/2-hour length to about two hours. "It has the good story, the Tchaikovsky score, the grand drama of theater and opera but also classical dancing and character dancing. It takes quite a lot of training. You have to have quite a lot of maturity in the dancers to pull it off.”

Hoyt danced the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy's Cavalier in last year's "The Nutcracker” but said this role is more intense.

"The most challenging part of the role has been the character rather than the technique, so preparing in rehearsals a lot of the time is talking about our character and then trying to dance with that mood,” he said.

The Interlochen cast also stars seniors Alice Klock of Pinckney and Katherine Wallich of Tecumseh as Princess Aurora.

Besides opulent costumes by Interlochen Costume Designer and Supervisor Candace Hughes, the production features repainted and refurbished sets combining mythological and natural elements by Douglas McCullough of the University of Calgary.

Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday and 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for seniors and $8 for students; visit tickets.interlochen.org or call (800) 681-5920.