laughing. With spite and rage, Carabosse declares her curse on Princess Aurora: she will
prick her finger on her sixteenth birthday
and die. But all is not lost: the Lilac Fairy, fortunately, has not yet granted her gift to the
Princess. She acknowledges that Carabosse's
power is immense and she cannot completely reverse the curse. However, she declares,
though the Princess shall indeed prick her
finger, she will not die, but instead sleep for
100 years until she is awakened by the kiss of
a prince. Carabosse departs, and the curtain
falls as the good fairies surround the cradle.
ACT I
The Spell
Act I opens at Aurora's 16th birthday party.
Brightly clad peasant girls dance a divertissement with flower garlands. Holding the
arched garlands overhead, they dance in
multiple circles, weaving in and out to a waltz
tempo. All await the arrival of the Princess
Aurora. The ballerina princess bursts onto the
scene, dancing a brief and vivacious solo in
the manner of a carefree young girl. She is
then ceremoniously introduced to the four
princes who have come to seek her hand. The
Rose Adagio, the famous pas d'action expressing a young girl's blossoming into womanhood, is about to start. Aurora begins the
adagio in with one leg raised and bent behind her, one curved arm raised overhead.
Some have read in this "attitude" pose, which
Aurora repeats often, a kind of gentle questioning or youthful uncertainty. One after the
other, each of the suitors turns and displays
her while she maintains her pose. She releases the hand of the suitor supporting her, and
raising both of her arms overhead, balances
momentarily, as if tentatively testing her
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February
abilities. She then takes the arm of the next
prince and begins the sequence again. After
a brief interlude in which the princess dances
alone, she returns to accept a rose from each
of the suitors (hence the title, Rose Adagio).
She pirouettes slowly and accepts each rose;
one prince supports her while the next offers
his flower. At the end of the Adagio, she returns to her attitude position, and supported
in turn by each prince, she again releases her
hand and balances for a little longer each
time. Finally, as she frees her hand from the
clasp of the fourth prince, she again releases
her hand and balances for a little longer each
time. Finally as she frees her hand from the
clasp of the fourth prince, the curved attitude straightens into a sharp, arabesque extension. She retains her balance poised confidently on one toe, as if she has visibly come
of age before the eyes of the adoring suitors.
The Princess continues dancing a joyful solo
until her attention is suddenly distracted by
a strange woman dressed in black who offers
her an unfamiliar object. Before anyone can
stop her, Aurora seizes the dreaded spindle.
The unwary Princess pricks her finger, grows
weaker, and falls to the floor in a swoon. Just
as those assembled lapse into despair, the
2015 INSIGHT