She observes that the ballet\u2019s vaunted technique is indeed challenging. \u201cThe Rose Adagio is a feat. But the balances are one of my favorite parts. I grew up with Russian ballet training, and the balances take me back to my childhood of trying to defy my own boundaries and gravity.”<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Woodward_Wedding_230217_nycb_3292Beauty.jpg\"\/)
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\t\t\t\t\t\tIndiana Woodward in Sleeping Beauty at New York City Ballet
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tRosalie O’Connor<\/p>\n
For Woodward, a far bigger challenge is to be comfortable with the ballet\u2019s moments of stillness, as at the start of Aurora\u2019s solo in\u00a0the Rose Adagio. \u201cI have to quiet my excitement, come into the role, and be confident in myself,\u201d she says. \u201cYour heart is racing like crazy, but I\u2019ve found that you can use your nervous energy, that excitement, angst, and fear, in the performance. I realized, this is probably what a 16-year-old would feel, entering a really exciting party for the first time. It\u2019s your first jump into the character.”<\/p>\n
Three years ago, Emma Von Enck had a preview of what it\u2019s like tobe Aurora when she danced excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty at a NYCB Family Saturdays presentation. \u201cI got to put on all three costumes,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI did part of the Rose Adagio, a variation from the Vision Scene, and the coda of the Wedding pas de deux with Roman Mejia.\u201d To her surprise, the steps all came back at her first rehearsal for her Aurora debut this season. \u201cThe music really tells you what to do,” she says. “All you have to do is listen.”<\/p>\n
Von Enck plans to utilize Tschaikovsky\u2019s radiant score to help impart the story. \u201cIn Act 1, there\u2019s this peppy music we call Jaws,\u201dshe says, snapping her fingers. \u201cIt\u2019s like your countdown to come on stage, and you\u2019re young and excited. The Vision is somber.The music is heart-wrenching, full of longing, so that informs the quality of how you\u2019ll move. And the Wedding pas de deux is set to regal, iconic music. So you can think about the acting, but you\u2019re just responding to what the music is putting down.”<\/p>\n
Having danced a number of other soloist roles in the ballet, including the Emerald variation and Princess Florine, Von Enck knows NYCB\u2019s Sleeping Beauty well. \u201cI enjoy its classical roots,\u201d she says. \u201cThe ballet steps are universal. And the Rose Adagio is almost like the 32 fouett\u00e9s in Swan Lake. It\u2019s what the audience is waiting for.\u201d<\/p>\n
What challenges does she foresee when she takes the stage as Aurora? \u201cThe Rose Adagio, because there\u2019s no jumping, and that\u2019s usually my go-to move where I\u2019m most comfortable,\u201d she says.\u201cThank goodness it\u2019s at the beginning!\u201d She\u2019s also preparing for how to embody Aurora while executing some of ballet\u2019s most exacting choreography. \u201cYou have to handle all that entails onstage in realtime, while trying not to think about how much is riding on it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut I think the reason I love this ballet so much is that it\u2019s so challenging, and I love a challenge. I\u2019m excited to rehearse it, to perform it–I’m excited for the whole experience.”<\/p>\n