Following their critically-acclaimed debut in 2013 with The Firebird (Danspace Project), the Ballez returns to radically, queerly re-imagine another tale from the ballet canon. Celebrating the lives of lesbian, queer, and transgender people in the L.E.S., Sleeping Beauty & the Beast is a two-act, two-theater Ballez spanning two theaters at La Mama, and 100 years of L.E.S. activist herstory: the striking Garment Workers of 1893 and the AIDS activist dykes of 1993.

Humorous, sensual, and heartbreaking, Sleeping Beauty & the Beast is a powerful testament to struggle, survival, and legacy. Featuring selections of Tchaikovsky's classic score played live by the Queer Urban Orchestra, original House Music compilations by JD Samson, and a diverse cast of over 20 queer performers, the Ballez infiltrates the ballet canon with expressions of queer desires, queer and gender-queer embodiment, and frames all these expressions as new kinds of virtuosity.

Presented over 8 sold-out performances at La MaMa ETC, as part of the La MaMa Moves! Dance Festival.
World Premiere: April 29-May 8, 2016

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"Revision is the mission of Ballez, Mx. Pyle’s company of lesbian, gay and transgender performers, who rewrite fairy-tale story ballets to include people who self-identify the same way. Its adaptation of “Sleeping Beauty” is conceived with impressive thoroughness and many delightfully apt, even brilliant choices.”

- Brian Seibert, New York Times, May 1, 2016

"So big that--well, you know those old timers who regale you with stories about being there when so-and-so made her stunning debut or first danced with Nureyev and knocked their socks off in that difficult role? One day, if you're lucky, you will be that old timer, unable to shut up about how you saw Ballez premiere Sleeping Beauty & The Beast at La MaMa Moves.”

- Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody, April 30, 2016

"Like a sorceress, [Katy Pyle] stirs together two beloved fairy tales — Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast — and adds a dash of ballet mythology in the form of Anna Pavlova's The Dying Swan, to forge a dance that is timely and timeless."

- Erin Bomboy, The Dance Enthusiast, May 3, 2016

credits

Conceived, Directed and Produced by: Katy Pyle
Choreographed by: Katy Pyle with Jules Skloot and the Company

World Premiere Cast-
Beast: Jules Skloot
Aurora: Madison Krekel
Carabosse: Deborah Lohse
Violet Faerie: Chris De Vita
Scarlet Faerie: Charles Gowin
Azure Faerie: Chris Braz
Bluebird: Ashley Yergens
Bluebird: Londs Reuter
Grey Wolf: iele Paloumpis
Little Red: Janet Werther
Cinderella: Khadija Griffith
Puss in Boots: Mei Yamanaka
White Cat: Kirstin Dahmer
Firebird: Erica Ricketts
Lesbian Princess: Eliana Dell'Anna
Dying Swans Include: Ahmaud Culver, Hans Rasch, Michael DiPietro, Helen Fourness, Max Steele, Stephen Plante, Tanya Marquardt, Salvatore Cataldo and Jordan Morley

Music:
18 musicians of the Queer Urban Orchestra playing excerpts of Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty," conductor Julie Desbordes
Harpist Stepahnie Babirak and Cellist Bjorn Berkhout playing Camille Saint-Saens "Le Cygne,"
and House Music DJ set by JD Samson

Costumes: Karen Boyer
Lighting Design: Chloe Brown
Production Manager: Brendan Regimbal
Stage Manager: Alex Symes
Production Consultants: Aaron Rosenblum and Caleb Hammons
Dramaturgs: Clarinda Mac Low and Sam Greenleaf Miller

Work in progress performances:

Open Studios: November 16, 2013, Brooklyn Arts Exchange(BAX)
Work in Progress: January 24-25, 2014, BAX
Spring Showing: June 13-15, 2014, BAX
CATCH! 64: November 1, 2014, The Invisible Dog
Open Studios: November 23, 2014, BAX
American Realness: January 10 & 11, Abrons Arts Center
Work in Progress: January 24-25, 2015, BAX
Spring Showing: April 10-11, 2015, BAX
Avant Gard-A-Rama: May 1, 2015, Abrons Arts Center
Process Space Open Studios: December 11, 2015, LMCC at Governor's Island

photos by Elyssa Goodman, additional photos by Sage Orville Shea, and Theo Coté