Going to the ballet is a wonderful way to forget your troubles.  But I have also found that if you walk into a performance out of sorts—perhaps you’ve had a trying day—you’re putting a tremendous burden on that performance to impress you.

That was my Tuesday.  “The ballet,” I texted a friend after listing a litany of complaints with my day, “had better be amazing.”

The ballet was The Sleeping Beauty, and Princess Aurora was danced by Wona Park, making her debut.  She was beautiful—a lovely, gracious princess.  I saw her in Don Quixote last month, where she held her own, but The Sleeping Beauty is a harder ballet.  She was serene and assured.  Ms. Park has the youthfulness to make Aurora believable, while also having a maturity to her dancing.  The music during the climactic moments of the famous Rose Adagio always strikes me as stressful—it’s big music, and it sounds anticipatory—and knowing how hard the choreography is I often hold my breath.  Ms. Park projected a calm confidence throughout.  And nailed it, of course.

Last season, I saw The Sleeping Beauty twice, here and in London.  This was the same production I saw here, but I was surprised how little I remembered of the production’s details.  What remains true is that I could skip the entire second act.  Also true, and a new feeling for me, is how silly the story is.  Don Quixote is always accused of being frivolous, which it is, but The Sleeping Beauty is no paragon of plot.

It is, however, a superb example of classical ballet.  The grand pas de deux in the third act for Princess Aurora and Prince Desiré is the height of pure, formal, ballet classicism.  It begins with the prince simply offering her his hand, the most basic symbol for their union, and builds from there, increasingly challenging and demanding tremendous trust from both partners.  The diagonal where Princess Aurora does a series of supported pirouettes, each ending in a dramatic (and precarious) fish dive has always been a favorite of mine.  It’s so exhilarating!  The Rose Adagio is more famous and gets more attention—and it deserves it all—but the grand pas is a wonderful representation, in ballet terms, of true love.

[To see a video of the complete grand pas de deux, check out Aurélie Dupont and Manuel Legris here.]

I thought that the company as a whole looked very good.  The various fairies and featured roles were danced largely by soloist and corps, who continue to rise to the opportunities.  But the real delight in this performance was seeing Wona Park make her debut.  It’s always fun to be there at the beginning of a star’s ascent.

San Francisco Ballet:  The Sleeping Beauty
March 12, 2019, at 7:30 pm at the War Memorial Opera House