Sleeping Beauty

ENJOY THE CLASSIC tale of Sleeping Beauty, as it is revived on stage by Territory ballet dancers. More than 200 dancers from as young as three-years-old are set to perform the enchanting love story across two large-scale performances.

Leisa’s School of Dancing Director Leisa Jackson says Sleeping Beauty is a wonderful ballet for both performers and audiences, young and old. 

“It’s good for us to do the big story ballets that people know every few years. We haven’t done Sleeping Beauty since 2012, so we thought it was time to bring it back,” she says.

“It’s one of those ballets people know and love, and our young performers know it well. Doing the big ballets mean the kids get to be part of the whole thing.”

According to Leisa, it's important for young dancers' development to have the opportunity to be on stage, and to share it with experienced dancers.

“The young ones spend all year doing pliés and exercises, but in the end, what do they do these things for? It’s to build technique, but the whole point is to build up to what ballet is – a performance,” she says.

“Ballet is about storytelling, so we like to include young dancers as a part of the whole story, even if they’re not doing a lot of dancing. Seeing the older girls portraying their characters helps, too – the more they see older dancers and other kids working, the better they get at it.”

The matinée performance is narrated to capture the attention of the littlest ballet fans and performers, while the evening show is a large extravaganza of the full production.

“It’s challenging for small children to sit through a two-hour ballet, so for the early show, we’ll narrate it as opposed to just dancing to help the things on stage make more sense for the little kids,” Leisa says.

Head along and let these talented twinkle toes – big or small – captivate you with one of the most famous ballets of our time.

Sleeping Beauty Sat 16 Nov | 1.30pm & 6.30pm | Darwin Entertainment Centre | $25-$30 | yourcentre.com.au