Cape Town City Ballet Welcomes International Guest Artists for Sleeping Beauty

Cape Town City Ballet’s wonderful Autumn/Winter Season continues with popular favourite SLEEPING BEAUTY.  It will be performed at the Artscape Opera House from 17 to 31 August.

“We are honoured to be welcoming our international guest artists who will be joining us for selected performances, and we are delighted  that esteemed South African ballet legend Denise Schultze Godfrey is here to stage the production for us,” says Debbie Turner, CEO of Cape Town City Ballet.

Precious Adams of the English National Ballet and Andile Ndlovu of Washington Ballet will perform the roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund on both the 17 and 18 August. South African Ndlovu was recently nominated for a Benois de la Danse Award in the category of Best Male Dancer, alongside Vadim Muntagirov, who won the Award. These awards are considered to be the ‘Oscars’ of the dance world. USA born Precious Adams was a double-prize winner at the prestigious 2014 Prix de Lausanne and was also awarded the Emerging Artist Award at the UK Critics’ Circle National Dance Awards 2018.

Vadim Muntagirov, Principal at The Royal Ballet, performs the role of Prince Florimund opposite Tatiana Melnik, Principal at the Hungarian National Ballet, as Princess Aurora on 28 and 31 August.

“Due to unforeseen circumstances beyond Sarah Lamb’s control she is no longer able to join Cape Town City Ballet for this season, but hopes to do so in the near future,” says Debbie Turner, CEO of Cape Town City Ballet. “As a wonderful replacement we are thrilled to welcome Tatiana Melnik who trained with Vadim at Perm Ballet School and is currently a Principal of the Hungarian National Ballet.”

“I’m so looking forward to returning to Cape Town and dancing with Tatiana at these performances,” says Vadim Muntagirov. “We trained at Perm Ballet School in Russia and this will be our first time dancing in Sleeping Beauty together.  Tatiana is a beautiful ballerina, and it’s going to be a joyful experience.”

Set and Costume Design for SLEEPING BEAUTY is by Peter Cazalet, and Lighting Design for the production is by Wilhelm Disbergen.

Performed to Tchaikovsky’s delightful music, SLEEPING BEAUTY is the timeless story that follows Princess Aurora’s 100 year sleep and magical awakening. It features captivating encounters with fairies and fairytale characters such as Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots and the Bluebird and Princess Florine, that will enchant young and old audience members alike.

SLEEPING BEAUTY will be performed at the Artscape Opera House from 17 to 31 August. Tickets cost from R180 to R695 with concessions for pensioners, scholars and block bookings of ten or more.

CTCB will be accompanied by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra at the 19h30 performances on Saturday 17, Friday 23, Saturday 24 and Wednesday 28 August. They will also accompany CTCB at the 15h00 performances on Sunday 18 and Saturday 31 August.

Should patrons who have booked their tickets for 28 or 31 August have any queries, they can contact Computicket directly.

Bookings can be made at Computicket on 0861 915 8000, online at www.computicket.com or at any Shoprite Checkers outlet.

Cape Town City Ballet is one of the longest standing ballet companies in the world. With strong heritage and roots, the organisation is moving into the next era with the objectives of growing the  world-class ballet company, delighting anew its loyal supporters as well as inspiring new audiences to love ballet, all to be achieved by delivering unique, world-class dance entertainment through integrity, creativity and excellence.

Since the Company’s inception, it has been renowned for providing opportunities for training and employment to all, despite the ruling laws of previous times. It remains committed to developing the dancers of the future, and the CTCB’s various development and educationprogrammes have reached more than 320 000 young people. Its audience development and training initiatives include the Young Male Dancer Development Programme, The Graduate Programme, a collaboration with the Amy Biehl Foundation, and a partnership with training programme ZAMA Dance School.

The CTCB’s Audience Development Programme has seen 36,824 learners and educators attending performances, many for the first time. The CTCB has also provided free performances for 24,217 people from sub-economic homes, institutions, old age homes, places of safety and farm schools.