The Sleeping Beauty ballet at MCC

One of Tchaikovsky's best known ballets, The Sleeping Beauty, will be presented at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta by the Ballet Russe de Malte on August 3 at 7.30 p.m.

The performance is being staged as part of the activities organised by the Russian Embassy and the Russian Cultural Centre to mark the 35th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Malta and Russia.

The cast for the ballet comprises over 100 performers including Maltese guest artistes and Russian dancers Ivan Porochine, Arthur Chesterikov and Iaroslava Araptanova.

Also taking part will be students from the Olivia Dow School of Russian Ballet, of which the Ballet Russe de Malte forms part.

The duration of the performance in three acts is two hours, excluding intervals.

Olivia Dow said her girls have abundant knowledge of classical ballet technique to see them through this type of highly technical ballet, which is very demanding.

The fairy tale The Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault, adapted for ballet by Marius Petipa and Ivan Vsevolzhsky and composed by Tchaikovsky in the late 1880s, was first performed in Russia on January 15, 1890.

The main sponsors of the performance are Aeroflot-Russian Airlines and the Topaz Hotel of the Tumas Group.

Tickets are available from Olivia Dow's studio in Naxxar and will be available from the MCC as from July 22.

For more information phone 9947-4127 or 21 583368.

www.oliviadow.com