SLEEPING BEAUTY
RESOURCES
The costume for the bad fairy Carabosse by Léon Bakst, who created the décor and about 300 costume designs in 2 months for Diaghilev's lavish 1921 production of The Sleeping Beauty in London.
Spinning a Good Story...
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The History of Spinning has unexpected insights into the inspiration of this beloved fairytale.
The Story
The story begins at the christening of Princess Aurora. There an evil fairy named Carabosse whose invitation had been forgotten,get angry and curses the baby princess to die on her sixteenth birthday by pricking her finger on a spindle. However, the Lilac Fairy intervenes and changes the curse to a hundred-year sleep, where she will be awoken by a prince's kiss.
Years later, on her sixteenth birthday, Aurora pricks her finger on a spindle, and the curse takes effect, putting the entire kingdom to sleep. After one hundred years, Prince Désiré meets the Lilac Fairy and has a vision of Princess Aurora. He falls in love and asks to be taken to her. The Lilac Fairy guides him through the forest and shows him Aurora, asleep in the castle. He kisses her, awakening her and breaking the curse. The entire kingdom awakens, and Aurora and Prince Désiré marry. The ballet ends with a grand celebration.
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