It was admittedly with some reservation that we headed to the PNB opening night performance of The Sleeping Beauty last week. We love classical ballet, but we’ve seen the boundary-pushing, über-engaging side of PNB and its offsets, and the full-length storybook ballets are usually classically vanilla, plumped with pomp and circumstance, and several hours long. more ›

ONCE UPON A DREAM: Tchaikovsky is the King of Ballet. There is none higher. He composed three of the most widely loved and artistically immaculate ballets in history -- Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and, of course, The Sleeping Beauty -- and it’s difficult to imagine anyone ever topping the contribution that he made to the art. We all know the classic story of Sleeping Beauty; Fairies flit wild, girl gets cursed, boy meets girl and lifts curse, girl meets boy, wedding bells chime. But beginning tonight, we have the opportunity to see it all unfold as the ballet is performed by one of the country’s most acclaimed production companies. There’s no better way to celebrate the season of Love and springing out of the winter doldrums. The Sleeping Beauty was Tchaikovsky’s first major success 120 years ago. We would have loved it then too. more ›