Scottish Ballet are known for creating unorthodox, alternative productions of ballet classics. They focus on design and stylistic quirkiness in order to bypass the problem of creating huge scale performances on a small budget. Sometimes this approach works, and sometimes it doesn’t. 

Expecting grandiose set design and extravagant costumes for Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty is warranted. The Everest of all ballets is one of the most celebrated classics for any ballet veteran or ballet virgin. Tchaikovsky’s majestic score requires big thinking from choreographer and designer, and can be an intimidating feat to accomplish for any sized company. Daunted with the task, choreographer Ashley Page, scrapped Petipa’s original choreography - sadly ridding us of Aurora’s famous en pointe balancing - a test for any dancer. Instead designer Anthony MacDonald and Page wanted to bring out parts of the fairytale story usually overlooked.

Hence in Act II our handsome Prince, on his way to awaken Aurora from her 100-year slumber, is met by an array of lost heroines. Snow White, Cinders, Red Riding hood and Belle all flurry into the forest  -bemused and fraught - in search of shelter. The Disney damsels are consoled by the Bluebird, danced exquisitely by Christopher Harrision, and they are eventually paired off with the four jilted suitors. The scene is at once comical and alienating - suddenly putting Aurora’s plight in perspective. She too, like the fairytale heroines before her, must overcome a destiny bound to ill-fate. They represent the pre-feminist era, standing as pillars of virtue and abused women, who meet their match in various individual forces. 

In Aurora’s case this is Carabosse - the evil fairy who prophesies her pin-pricked future. Aurora’s virginal innocence, danced technically by Tomomi Sato, is pitted against Carabosse’s clunky movements and breast revealing costume suggesting vulgarity and sexual freedom.

Though Page’s contemporary infusion is at times awkward in corps dances, he has a talent for creating emotional duets with beauty and clarity. When Aurora and the Prince are finally united, their pas de deux is both spellbinding and unconventionally sexualised. We remember Aurora is still a 16-year-old girl who was put to sleep just moments before her marriage. Page removes personal space - intertwining limbs and connecting the bodies in delightful waves of climaxes and falls to portray a young couple in love. Page steps out of rigid classical boundaries to give a contemporary slant and the effect is mesmerising. 

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