A debut in the ballet The Sleeping Beauty

In Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet The Sleeping Beauty (choreography by Marius Petipa, revised version by Konstantin Sergeyev), corps de ballet dancer Konstantin Ivkin will be performing the role of the Bluebird, a role that demands virtuoso skills and perfect leaps from the dancer.

Konstantin Ivkin joined the Mariinsky Ballet Company immediately after graduating from the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet in 2010. At the graduation performance – in line with tradition held at Mariinsky Theatre – the dancer was noted by the critics who called his duet with Oxana Marchuk in the Pas de deux from the ballet La Sylphide “a tender flight of dreams.” Over the last year the dancer has performed an incredible variety of roles in terms of style and choreography, among them roles in  The Legend of Love, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, La Sylphide, Cinderella, The Nutcracker, Ondine and Le Parc.

In line with the plot of The Sleeping Beauty, in Act III characters from various different fairytales assemble together at the festive celebration of the marriage of Princess Aurora and Prince Désiré. The Bluebird is a character from the eponymous fairytale by French author Marie-Catherine Le Jumel de Barneville, Baroness d’Aulnoy. The handsome youth – who is in love with Princess Florine – was transformed into a bird by a wicked spell.

The role of Princess Florine will be performed by Maria Shirinkina.