In what is sure to be one of Bangkok's cultural highlights, Rising Star Dance Studio is presenting its version of the Sleeping Beauty ballet next month.
It's a story we all know and love. The beautiful young princess Aurora is cursed by the wicked fairy Carabosse to prick her finger on her 16th birthday and die. The Lilac Fairy intervenes and commutes the curse to 100 years of sleep or until Aurora is awakened by the kiss of a handsome and charming prince. Since its premiere in 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, Russia, Sleeping Beauty, with a musical score by Tchaikovsky and based on the Charles Perrault fairy tale, has been a favourite of every classical ballet company.
Add dancing bluebirds, adorable kittens, court jesters, plus cameos by other fairy tale characters including Snow White and Red Riding Hood, and you have Rising Star Dance Studio's unique and delightful production choreographed by director Fay Pansringarm, who brings her many years of experience as a dancer, director and choreographer in New York City. Fay has lived in Bangkok since 1987 with her husband and award-winning film actor Vithaya Pansringarm.
Maho Mashimo, a former Rising Star student, stars as Aurora. Mashimo trained at the Rock School, one of America's foremost elite ballet academies, and has performed as a soloist with the San Diego Ballet Company and now performs in Nagoya, Japan. The Prince will be played by Anurak Ngamta, Thailand's foremost male ballet dancer and lead dancer in musicals and dance productions in Malaysia, Japan and Thailand. He delighted Thai audiences nationwide with his performance of Heart And Soul on Thailand's Got Talent.
Rising Star's associate director Yuko Nakamura, who herself danced the lead role in the 2005 production, imparts her exquisite artistry and years of experience mentoring this year's dancers. Nakamura previously trained and performed with the San Francisco Ballet Company.
Following tradition, the evil fairy Carabosse is performed by male dancer Padparascha Kaewploy, a professor at Burapha University who danced in Italy's Teatro Oplas. Nearly 80 students of Rising Star Dance Studio, ages four to adult, from over 20 nationalities, round out the company, joined by several of the new generation of dancers from Chulalongkorn University's dance department.
Rising Star Dance Studio has been training Bangkok residents of all ages and nationalities in the art of ballet since 1995. Its annual full-length ballet production has delighted local audiences for nearly 25 years. A portion of proceeds are donated to the Wild Animal Rescue Foundation of Thailand.
Sleeping Beauty will be staged on June 1 and 2 at 2.30pm at the M Theater on New Phetchaburi Road. Performances run two acts totalling 120 minutes plus a 20-minute intermission. Tickets are 900 baht. For more information and ticket reservations, call 081-908-3931, 081-553-0656 or email ristar@loxinfo.co.th.
