Unearthing hidden ‘Beauty’ secrets

The triumphant 1999 four-hour Kirov Ballet reconstruction of the original production of “The Sleeping Beauty” might seem to have been the last word on that great collaboration between choreographer Marius Petipa and composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. However, there are mime passages that haven’t been performed as part of the ballet since its premiere in 1890, according to dance historian Frank W.D. Ries, professor of dance at UC Santa Barbara.

One such passage, Ries says, shows the King banning all spinning wheels (to protect his infant daughter from a curse), and another allows the wicked Carabosse to elaborately mock all the good fairies at Princess Aurora’s christening. They were performed up through the dress rehearsal but may have been deleted shortly afterward because they took too long and couldn’t be made to fit with the music.

Ries first learned about them while studying history at Cambridge in 1971, gaining descriptions from former stars of the Diaghilev Ballets Russes, including Lydia Lopokova and later Lydia Sokolova, who remembered rehearsals of the now-legendary 1921 Diaghilev restaging and the lore about the original production that it unearthed. He subsequently confirmed these findings with other Russian ballet luminaries.

Ries will present these long-lost mime passages as part of his free lecture “Awakening the Princess” on Jan. 23 at 3 p.m. at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The lecture on the ballet will also include slides, video clips and historical data intended to prepare audiences for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet “Beauty” at the Arlington Theatre on Feb. 5.

--Lewis Segal