Gainesville Ballet Company to perform Sleeping Beauty

This weekend only, the Gainesville Ballet Company will perform Sleeping Beauty at the Pearce Auditorium at Brenau University.

There are a couple of noteworthy changes to this year’s performance, according to Claudia Goss, parent volunteer coordinator for the company.

“Just the fact that it is a full story book ballet without the repertory pieces is a little bit different than normal,” said Goss. “And for the first time in a couple of years, guests on the Brenau campus are not going to be required to wear a mask or to fill out a COVID-19 preliminary screening.”

Goss said Sleeping Beauty is the company’s 47th production of a storybook ballet. Because the ballet itself is so long, the repertory pieces have been pushed to the recital in May.

“They work on different pieces throughout the year, so they don’t only take class and work on their technique,” said Goss. “They also learn choreography for certain pieces, and then those pieces are performed for an audience.”

Goss said around 30 dancers have been cast in the Sleeping Beauty production. The cast list includes dancers from Company One, Gainesville Ballet Company’s most advanced level, professional guest artists, and alumni.

The production will also feature dancers from the company’s intermediate and junior levels, as well as apprentices. Even some smaller dancers will make an appearance.

“It’s the school division of the company that are going to be dancing as roses in the production,” said Goss. “They’re not in the actual company, but they are students of the Gainesville Ballet Company dance students and their younger group…they’re probably ages seven to nine.”

The ballet is choreographed by Marius Petipa, with staging by Nicolas Panana. Additional choreography is by Charlotte DeLong and Jocelyn Buchanan; the two are co-artistic directors for the Gainesville Ballet Company. 

The company is partnering with Brenau University’s tech department for the production.

To purchase tickets, visit gbcdance.com and click the buy tickets tab. Performances of Sleeping Beauty include Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m.

A previous version of this story has been updated with clarified information from Goss to reflect the correct choreographers.