I'm a firm believer in the Lilac Fairy as the fulcrum of the ballet. To me, she's got to be at the center of the work, and that's where she usually is in the Martins production. There are a few things I quibble with for that reason.

I have a problem with the Lilac being among five other fairies so she's off-center. If she's to be a dancing role, you need six other fairies somehow for balance, or else she's diminished in the group dances.

This is a lighting issue rather than a choreography problem, but the followspot isn't fully on the Lilac when she gives the rejoinder to Carabosse's curse. She's got to be brighter than Carabosse at that moment, or she seems weak.

Martins has the Lilac dance in the final Mazurka. You might as well have the King and Queen dance (I shouldn't say that - Nureyev did just that.) She oversees the proceedings, I don't think she should participate.

How do you feel about the Lilac Fairy? What role should she play? Any memorable Lilac Fairies you've particularly loved?

We have the Ronald Hynd staging at Pacific Northwest Ballet, so our SB is firmly in the English tradition (which posed some challenges for the company when it was first set). This production has six subsidiary fairies (Beauty, Temperament, Purity, Joy, Wit, and Generosity) so Lilac is centered in the "group photo" moments. She is very much the lead fairy, directs traffic, deals directly with the court as well as with Carabosse. She has the lion's share of the mime, and does some mild flying as well. She gets that lovely, sweeping waltz in the prologue (and some killer releves to go with it) -- it's my favorite music in the ballet

Ariana Lallone frequently dances Lilac (as a tall woman, she often gets "powerful" roles, like Hippolyta in Midsummer) and does very well with it. Nice gravitas, good mime, and great wand waving (I'm not being flippant -- many dancers do an awful job with a wand).

Lilac Fairy should definately be front and center. The music tells you so.

Memorable Lilac Fairies? Lubov Kunakova of the Kirov and Nina Speranskaya of the Bolshoi.

Memorable Lilac Fairy? Mine will always be Diana Adams--true, she was only in a one-act version, b ut her variation (the one with the Sissones) is one I will never forget.

I prefer only six fairies (including Lilac). I don't know why. But Petipa managed to put her front and center most of the time, so I don't really see what the problem is. There are only a few times that she is really part of the group, and a good Lilac should be able to make it seem as if she is "front and center" even then.

Yes, Mashinka, Kunakova was a gorgeous Lilac Fairy! My favorite was -- and will probably forever be -- Martine van Hamel.

To me, the overriding aspect of Lilac's purpose in the ballet is that she is, in effect, the narrator. She is the thread that holds the ballet together from Prologue through Wedding. (She does not belong in the Mazurka, though!) When she appears at the Christening as one of six fairies (I like that, too, Hans), she should be The Charismatic One, the one who makes sure -- without effort -- that your eye is fixed on her.

The current RB production has five fairies plus Lilac and after reading this thread I took particular notice last night of how Makarova deals with it. Sometimes she just cheats by having one of the five leave the stage or stand protectively by the baby's cradle; other times she has the Songbird fairy arrive late, all of a flutter, and I still haven't worked out if this is meant to be funny. The only bit that looks really weird is when all six line up at the front of the stage for what used to be supported-pirouette-into-attitude but is now just pose-in-arabesque: the fairies at the ends of the line are each supported by one of the LF's attendants, and the LF herself - who of course is off-centre - gets two of them to hold her up - it looks as if they've decided she's the one most likely to fall over.

With a really good Lilac, it hardly matters if she's placed dead center, and with a really mediocre one, it also hardly matters.

I've seen a few who were just dead.......

Muriel Maffre at SanFrancisco Ballet is a magnificently commanding figure as hte Lilac Fairy -- good, beautiful, and at key moments she's mesmerizing -- she actually hears and makes you see the music say "No, hte princess shall not die"....

when the kirov brought the 'newold' sleeping beauty to the met, i thought veronika part was perfect as the lilac.

I agree that Lilac Fairy should be front and center. Tchaikovsky's use of her gorgeous theme music appears in the Prelude, when she confronts Carabosse, in Act I when she assures the King and Queen that Aurora is asleep then sends the court into dreamland, and finally when she appears to Prince Desire in Act II.

My favorite Lilac Fairy was Marguerite Porter in a Royal Ballet tv broadcast I saw in the early '80's starring Anthony Dowell and Leslie Collier or Merle Park. Did anyone else see this? Was it Collier or Park?

I personally dislike the whole Lilac Fairy Variation, actually i really don't like sleeping beauty at all. Some of the variations are pretty but there are too many codas, to many variations, and it doesn't tickle my fancy. If i had to pick the leader fairy i wouldn't pick lilac, there are so many other fairies( finger,crystal, woodland glade, canary ....and that other one) the composer could of chosen... it upsets me. :angry:

You have to remember where the ballet was first performed. An old Russian good luck charm was to give a baby a sprig of lilac or actually place the cradle under a lilac bush. The choice was not Tchaikovsky's, it was Petipa's and Vsevolozhsky's.

wow that is very interesting

Memorable Lilacs? Lyubov Kunakova (definitely!). Yulia Makhalina was also interesting to look at. Her lines are absolutely gorgeous when she dances after Aurora pricks herself... However, I don't think she is as "warm" as Kunakova (at least in that particular performance -- video with Lezhnina).

Also, in the scene where Aurora appears and dances a little with the Prince (for the 1st time) these two ballerinas do it a little differently. For example, when Aurora seems to escape from the Prince, and runs behind the corps de ballet, Kunakova seems to help the Prince capture her, whereas Makhalina almost tries to prevent him from capturing Aurora... I just thought it was an interesting observation.

My favorite Lilac Fairy was Deanne Bergsma in Royal Ballet. The first time she appeared in NY she brought the house down. Every one commented on how she seemed to just unfold and unfold in her opening variation. And all commented on how tall she was.

It's strange that nobody mentioned Alla Osipenko. For me she is the one and only.

I don't want start a new thread, so I post my Lilac-related question here.

If Lilac's gift to Aurora was to neutralize Carabosse's curse, what was the gift that Lilac was about to grant when she was interrupted by Carabosse?

I believe it is wisdom, as the lilac represents wisdom in Russian folklore.

It is never stated, either in the ballet's libretto, or the original Perrault tale, but it must have had something to do with wisdom. A tradition of Russian baby- and childhood is to be given a birthday party where the baby or child is lain or seated under a lilac bush. In Russian tradition, the lilac is a symbol for wisdom.

Dear Andrei I agree that Alla Osipenko was an extraordinary Lilac Fairy at a time when the Kirov Ballet was at its most classical and I treasure that memory alongside Irina Kolpakova and Vladilen Semyenov
as the perfect classicists as Aurora and Prince Florimund.

Alla Osipenko was beautiful physically and facially conveying an elevated power that exuded a powerful mystery upon an impressionable teenager.

I also agree with esperanto that Deanne Bergsma was an extraordinary Lilac Fairy who was a good fairy incarnate. Her grandeur of movement and the warmth of her expression reflected a spiritual quality not matched since in my experience except by Lyubov Kunakova whom mohnurka referred to.

KitriSpanishDancer says, "I personally dislike the whole Lilac Fairy Variation, actually i really don't like sleeping beauty at all. Some of the variations are pretty but there are too many codas, to many variations, and it doesn't tickle my fancy. If i had to pick the leader fairy i wouldn't pick lilac, there are so many other fairies( finger,crystal, woodland glade, canary ....and that other one) the composer could of chosen... it upsets me. :angry:"

Connoisseurs of Academic Classical Ballet have over generations referred to "The Sleeping Beauty" as the apogee of the genre. A statement to which I can add nothing except to concur.

Hear, hear!

Sadly I never saw Osipenko in the role, but there is one more name that should be mentioned: Nina Speranskaya.

Bergsma was my first Lilac Fairy and she seemed just majestic to me. I was slightly familiar with Sleeping Beauty from the usual childhood fairy tales but also from a 45PRM record telling the story. This used excerpts from the Tchaikovsky score so when I first saw the full length ballet, I already knew the major "themes". My favorite was the one associated with the Lilac Fairy and when Bergsma came on stage, it was just a perfect match!

when i first met Arlene Croce she noted more than once that the Kirov's production of SLEEPING BEAUTY (the K. Sergeyev one toured here in the early 1960s) left a memorable impression due partly to the authority and beauty of Inna Zubkovskaya's Lilac Fairy (feya Sireni).
i never saw her perform myself.
i have a number of photos of Zubkovskaya (nee Izraeleva) but i don't know that i have one of her Lilac.

Bergsma was also my first Lilac Fairy--Unfortunately, I only have very dim memories of the performance itself but I have extremely vivid memories of how wonderful she seemed to me. I don't think any Lilac Fairy I have seen since Bergsma has made the same kind of impression.

This may surprise everyone, but I actually prefer the Nureyev Paris Opera version, where both fairies are not danced in a tutu, they present an image of a much more superior being, They are dressed in lovely court costumes, equivilant to the King and Queen, In fact the roles are mimed. they are very gracious in the case of the Lilac Fairy, who wears a beautiful lilac coloured dress, in the period style. There is a much longer variation for the Prince in the vision scene, and when the Lilac Fairy comes to him she plays a major role, and clearly takes up the stage. When Princess Aurora arrives into the vision, she is drawn to the Fairy, and does her biding. After the scene, the Prince and Lilac Fairy travel in a boat, and then alight in front of the palace, where the evil Carabosse is spinning cobwebs, with her attendants who were the knitting girls. The Lilac Fairy exciiles the evil one, who collapses to be carried off to her doom. The latter character is played by a woman, not a Man, and is still fairly beautiful, but a mis guided and evil person. wearing a lovely costume with dark blue satin and sparkling jewels. The whole Paris Opera production is excellent, the costumes are exquisit, it is lwell lit and the scenery is very true to life, representing a wonderful palace,ballroom, and a woodland glade.
On the DVD the cast are{Aurelie Dupont (Aurora) Manual Legris, (Prince) Beatrice Martel(Lilac Fairy)
Nathalie Aubin(Carabosse).The fairies are Ruby, Emerald ans Saphire.Lead Fairy Diamond and her Cavalier.

I agree with Nanarina, having recently seen this DVD, I enjoyed this production as well. The Lilac Fairy, is a central role, and I thought that the mime was especially clear and not lost,as it sometimes can be. I don't remember any male variation being as long as the one in the vision scene here in Nureyev's version! Magnificently danced by Manuel Legris. Rudi certainly loved his rondes des jambes!

Yes... Ruddi and his passion foir R.D.J's. he was a real devil about them, I can remember him adding them to his Solo's, even when they were not part of the original choreography. He seemed to be really hung up on them. I think the extra long Prince's solo he put in the vision scene of Sleeping Beauty, is really effective, you have to be very patient, as it seems to go on and on. The stamina the Male lead needs to portray this must be huge, you can see Manuel Legris using his breathing control to be able to continue to the end. But he makes it so effortless. The portrayal and steps that are used by the Prince in this version, takes the role out of the usual supportive cavalier status, to a man with feeling and expression, looking for his special love to fill his loneliness. The Lilac Fairy comes to his rescue by showing him Aurora, when she asks hum "why are you crying"? he tells her "it is because he has not found love". The DVD is well worth buying to enjoy the performance and production. It really excells over the Royal Ballet version from an aesthetic point of view.

I think the Paris Opera production has some nice costumes, some of the sets have a grandeur but with vulgar kitsch touches and for me the Paris Opera style has (Yvette Chauvire excepted) always shown too much semaphoring of the physicality of the steps they are executing and in general, the epaulement of the last two generations of dancers is a generally a killer.

Rudol Nureyev has to take some blame. but the significant legacy of Sylvie Guillem in the performance of academic classical ballet in Paris and across the world. has left a most negative impact and influence.

Chac un a son gout.

Yes, but the Paris Opera is not the only company guilty of this, it seems to be a modern requirement, which actually effected the Bolshoi and Kirov, their lifts and general technique amazed the West when it was first seen here. The higher the leg extends the better, as far as some people are concerned, making a modest arabasque or movement look insignifigant to the eye, which nowadays looks restricted. Sylvie Guillem's amazing technique, won her grteat aclaim and brought ballet into the realm of athletiscim, which had only been seen in visiting companies mainly from Russia.

Now we have got used to this style of dance, it is hard to return to the older rechnique as it is not as exciting or spectacular. As long as it is not over the top, and retains the elements of musicality, lyricalism and careful performance, which is appriopriate to the role being danced, it is acceptable.

Here, here, Leonid, regarding Guillem's negative impact and influence. I genuinely can't stand her dancing.

I agree with what you both say about Guillem's style and technique, she woulld not be my favourite dancer, I also find her attitude (personal rather than the balletic one ) is not very endearing, professionally known as Madamoiselle Non!!! Again it is a case of technique over shadowing other essential qualities. But I do not feel negative over other Paris Opera dancers. Some I like, some I do not. It is the total image they project which gains my appreciation/admiration..No Guillam is not even on my list of favourites.

Yes, Kunakova was lovely, and she stood out to me. She did have a warm stage personality and you were drawn to look at her. I am pretty sure I saw her dance live.

Although the production was in no way worthy of her, Nichols was
a wonderful Lilac--regal, with grandeur and delicacy and
tremendous attention to detail, including gesture. I imagine
Lallone would be good in this role as well. Lucky viewers who
got to see Adams (!) and Bergsma, by all accounts one of the
most wonderful dancers ever at RB, in this role. Bergsma talks--
in the interview in Striking a Balance-- about the role, the solo,
and how nervous it made her, especially when she was first cast
in the New York run. She seems similar to Adams in more than one
way: self-effacing, modest, characterizing herself as a 'nervous'
dancer, and not quite convinced of her own overwhelming virtue.