The Sleeping Beauty awakens in Burnley

Starring two of the company’s most popular dancers, Lauren Cuthbertson and Sergei Polunin, “The Sleeping Beauty” is full of all the splendour of the great classical ballets.

In this famous story, Princess Aurora is cursed at her christening by the evil fairy Carabosse and is fated to die after pricking her finger on a spindle at her 16th birthday celebration.

However, through the intervention of the Lilac Fairy, the curse of death is changed to a long sleep, one from which Princess Aurora is awakened 100 years later by a kiss from Prince Florimund.

Tchaikovsky’s remarkable score creates a world of romance and dark enchantment and the full company of The Royal Ballet fills the stage with colour and energy, while the mesmerising set designs, exquisite costumes and elaborate stage effects create an unparalleled ambience.

Lauren Cuthbertson and Sergei Polunin are two of the most exciting young dancers at The Royal Ballet and are gathering critical applause across the board for their dancing.

Winner of the 2010 Critics’ Circle Award for Best Male Performance, Sergei is one of ballet’s hottest rising stars and the company’s youngest principal dancer at just 21 years old, known for his giant leaps and his dazzling stage presence.

Lauren is the top British ballerina of the moment. Her stellar 2010/11 season saw her in the title role at the world premiere of “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” and dance in front of 10,000 people as Juliet at The O2 arena.

Both dancers have been nominated for Best Dancer in their respective categories at the 2012 National Dance Awards.

As part of the Royal Opera House’s cinema season, “The Sleeping Beauty” will be shown live at Burnley’s Apollo Cinema on December 15th.

For more information and tickets, log on to www.apollocinemas.com.