26 Sept-3 Oct 2007. In The Sleeping Beauty, choreography by Paul Chalmer from Petipa. The ballet offers some of the greatest challenges in the classical repertoire for both the principals and soloists with plenty of action for the corps de ballet. Aurora is probably the greatest ballerina role, demanding great athletic ability combined with the purist of classical technique and unadorned simplicity. The Sleeping Beauty was viewed as a definitive statement and inspiration for the next generation of choreographers. However, when Petipa created The Sleeping Beauty he was not making a museum piece but a contemporary ballet that embraced some of the new things of the day. For instance in the fifth fairy variation, (