The Sleeping Beauty is a ballet that, in its opulence, dynamism, formal rigour and sensitivity to the sheer pleasures of choreographed stagecraft, epitomizes perhaps better than any other production, the meaning of classical ballet.

At the christening of a long-wished-for princess for the reigning (and ageing) King and Queen, fairies are invited from far and wide as godmothers to offer gifts, such as beauty, wit, and musical talent, to the baby girl. However, a wicked fairy, whose wrath is incurred due to an oversight on the invitation list, casts an exacting curse on the princess, saying that, on reaching adulthood, she would prick her finger on a spindle and die. A good fairy, though unable to completely reverse the spell, quells the certainty of mortality for the princess by putting her to sleep for a hundred years instead. The Sleeping Beauty thus slumbers for perpetuity, patiently awaiting the awakening kiss of true love from a chivalrous prince.