My First Sleeping Beauty
English National Ballet and English National Ballet School are soon to present the national tour of My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty, from 24 March–29 May, across the country. The re-imagined version of the classic fairytale ballet has been created for children as young as three, adapted to an hour in length and with a narrator to help young audiences follow the story.
My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty will premiere at the Peacock Theatre, London on 24 March and will embark on a seven week national tour to theatres including venues in Norwich, Dartford, Hastings, Manchester, Bristol, Woking and Oxford. The My First Ballet series is performed by second year students of English National Ballet School and provides them with valuable rehearsal and performance experience within a touring company.
Choreographed by English National Ballet Associate Artist George Williamson, former student of English National Ballet School, My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty is part of the My First Ballet series which enters its fifth year in 2016. Since its inception in 2012, over 150,000 people have enjoyed the series which has included Swan Lake, Coppelia and Cinderella. These tailor-made ballet productions for children introduce them to the magic of ballet and theatre at a young age, often their first experience of this.
In addition to these provisions, the performances will also commission Widgit to create a range of symbol resources alongside My First Ballet: Sleeping Beauty. Using Widget, these resources aim to make ballet more accessible to children with learning difficulties and disabilities, by supporting written text to make the meaning of the story clearer and easier to understand. Extra activities are also printed in programmes at venues throughout the tour and are designed for use before, during and after performances.