Relaxed Performance Fact Sheet

This fact sheet has key information about the show and the theatre that you may find useful and that may help you to fully enjoy your afternoon with us.

Key Information Date: Tuesday, March 22, 2022 Time: 2:00 pm Location: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts Address: 145 Queen Street West, Toronto, ON, M5H 4G1 Length of Performance: 45 minutes

Relaxed Performance The Sleeping Beauty Act III Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at 2:00 pm Heather Ogden and Harrison James in The Sleeping Beauty. Photo by Teresa Wood.

General Things to Know » The performance will be at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts (Four Seasons Centre). » The performance begins at 2:00 pm. » There is a parking lot underneath the theatre. Parking costs $25 but please come prepared to pay more if necessary. » The parking machine takes credit cards only. » There are many other places to park within walking distance of the theatre. » If you are taking the subway, there is an underground entrance to the Four Seasons Centre at Osgoode Station. » You will receive a ticket via email approximately one week before the performance and you can use this ticket to attend the show. » If you need to pick up your tickets, the Box Office will open at 11:00 am. » The lobby to the Four Seasons Centre will open at 12:45 pm. » To enter the lobby, you will need your ticket, proof of vaccination and photo identification. (Please see last page for COVID-19 protocols.) » The concessions will be open prior to the performance. » The auditorium will open an hour before the performance begins. At this time, the ushers will open the doors and let people know they can go in and find their seat(s). » There will be overhead announcements while you wait in the lobby. Please be prepared for these.

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The seating is ticketed seating. That means that your seat is assigned and you can find the location of your seat printed on your ticket.

An usher can direct you to your seat(s).

There are a limited number of booster seats available.

Please ask an usher if you need one.

The Four Seasons Centre has many floors — the street level (Main Floor Lobby) has the lobby, concession and boutique; downstairs (Lower Level Lobby) are the washrooms and coat check and upstairs (the Grand Ring) are the boxes/ balcony seating areas, the Quiet Room and a gender neutral/accessible washroom.

Please note that the accessible washroom does not have a button, so someone may need to open the door for people using this space.

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There are stairs and elevators to help you get from floor to floor.

Music for the performance will be played by a live orchestra from the Orchestra Pit in front of the stage. (Please stay back from the Orchestra Pit.) When you enter the auditorium, the orchestra will be warming up. This may sound loud.

The lights in the auditorium will be left on at a low level during the performance.

A Quiet Room has been set up on the Grand Ring floor and Ring Four. Ushers can take you there at any time if needed.

There is a host for this performance. The host will introduce the ballet and give you information on what has happened in Act I and Act II. The host will speak before the ballet begins.

There will be an American Sign Language (ASAL) Interpreter on stage while the host speaks.

presents the 2021/22 Season.

About The Sleeping Beauty In Rudolf Nureyev’s The Sleeping Beauty, King Florestan and the Queen are hosting the christening of their baby daughter, Princess Aurora, when they are interrupted by the evil fairy Carabosse.

Angered that she was not invited to the christening, Carabosse tells the court that Princess Aurora will one day prick her finger and die.

The gentle Lilac Fairy amends the curse, promising that Princess Aurora will not die but rather fall asleep for 100 years, until her true love awakens her with a kiss. On Princess Aurora’s 16th birthday, she pricks her finger on a spindle that Carabosse has hidden inside a bouquet of flowers. The entire court falls asleep and a thick forest grows around the palace.

Act III of The Sleeping Beauty is devoted to wedding celebrations for Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund, whose kiss at the end of Act II awakens the court and restores the kingdom to its former splendour.

Several of the guests perform exquisite variations, including the Bluebird, Princess Florine and the Pussycats, who are characters from French fairy tales. The celebrations conclude with Princess Aurora’s grand pas de deux with Prince Florimund, in which they express their love and commitment to one another, signalling the triumph of good over evil and defeating Carabosse forever.

About the Performance You will be seeing Act III of The Sleeping Beauty – the wedding celebration! When you enter the auditorium to take your seat the Orchestra will be in the pit warming up.

When the performance is about to begin, the host, Lisa Robinson, will introduce the show and the orchestra and give some information about the first two acts of the ballet.

The National Ballet of Canada’s Relaxed Performance is made possible in part through the generous support of An Anonymous Donor, and One Anonymous Lady.

The National Ballet of Canada’s Education and Outreach programmes are generously supported by the Anna McCowan Johnson Fund at The National Ballet of Canada, Endowment Foundation.

presents The Sleeping Beauty.

The National Ballet of Canada gratefully acknowledges the ongoing support of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Ontario Arts Council; the City of Toronto through the Economic Development & Culture Department; the Government of Canada – Department of Canadian Heritage, through the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Multiculturalism; and the Government of Ontario through The Honourable Lisa MacLeod, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport.

Here are some things about the performance you may find interesting or want to watch/listen for: » Ballet tells a story through dance – this is the story of The Sleeping Beauty. » This part of the ballet takes place in a grand ballroom at the palace. » The choreographer for this ballet was Rudolf Nureyev, after Marius Petipa. The set and costumes were designed by Nicholas Georgiadis. » The music was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

The music at the beginning of the act is light and pleasant. » There are no sudden flashes of light during this performance. » There are a lot of dancers on stage. » Because there are a lot of dancers on stage, it is sometimes hard to know where to look. Lighting helps us to know where to look during the dancing. » Sometimes everyone dances. At other times only one, two or three people dance. » When two people dance together in ballet it is called a pas de deux. » During the music, cymbals are played. They are light and are meant to convey happiness at the wedding celebration. » The cymbals continue during the Pas de Cinq of the Jewels (Gold, Silver, Emerald & Diamond). » En pointe: Have you noticed that sometimes the ballerinas look like they are dancing on their tiptoes? This is called “en pointe” and their shoes help them to do this but it still takes many years of training to dance in this way. » During the performance, watch for the Bluebird and Princess Florine, dressed in blue costumes with feathers. When the Bluebird dances alone, he jumps. Can you count how many times he jumps? » Princess Florine twirls from one side of the stage to the other.

How many times does she turn? » Can you tell what kind of animals the dancers in white are? » Finally, Princess Aurora and Prince Florimund arrive down the grand staircase and dance together.

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The performance ends with everyone dancing and then the curtain comes down.

When the curtain goes back up, that will be “curtain call”: the time when the dancers bow. This is when the audience will clap. This may sound loud.

To find out more about The Sleeping Beauty, visit: national.ballet.ca/Ballet-News-Plus/Archive/ The-Sleeping-Beauty

COVID Protocols: » The National Ballet of Canada will be following the COVID protocols as laid out by the Four Seasons Centre. You can find those protocols here: national.ballet.ca/Tickets/BoxOffice/Safety-Protocols-and-Procedures » These protocols may change as the government makes changes to our provincial policies, we encourage you to keep up to date with our protocols by using the link provided to check our website regularly. » All patrons must be fully vaccinated to enter the theatre.

However, if children aged 5 –11 have only had one vaccination or are not yet vaccinated, they must bring proof of a negative rapid antigen test taken no more than 48 hours before the performance along with proof of their first vaccine.

Please note: For children under 5, your child must have a ticket and proof of a negative rapid antigen test taken no more than 48 hours before the performance. Rapid antigen tests can be booked at Shoppers Drug Mart. An email confirmation, paper receipt or readable screenshot/photo of the receipt must be shown when you arrive at theatre. At-home rapid antigen tests will not be accepted. Your receipt must show the date the test was taken and the name of your child. » Proof of vaccination will be checked at the main entrance doors. Every member of your group/family must show proof of vaccination and photo identification. » Every person attending the performance must wear a mask and keep their mask on for the duration of their visit to the Four Seasons Centre.