Meryl Tankards «Aurora»

Choreographer Meryl Tankard exposes gender conventions in their most exquisite silliness in the full-length ballet based on “The Sleeping Beauty.” It was created in 1994 for the Meryl Tankard Australian Dance Theatre and is now performed by the Gothenburg Opera Ballet, a company that does the witty choreography full credit. 

“Aurora” was created in Australia, and Tankard’s stage set reflects the fairy world of the British tradition.

These fairies are a bunch of whimsical beings of both sexes whose main object in life is getting up to fun japes such as turning into fireflies at festive occasions (Act II). Especially the male fairies, dressed in brightly coloured tutus, excel in good humoured impishness in a quite irresistible way. Perhaps that is the reason why Tankard felt induced to make the part which is inspired by the original divertissement a bit too long – but it sure is entertaining.

Tankard moves Aurora from the palace into the garden, which quite soon turns into a fair(y)ground lit with brightly coloured paper lanterns. The ballet is constantly moving through different dimensions: the real world, the fairy world and a metaphysical dimension – the World of Love. In this ...