The Sleeping Beauty is the grandest of all the surviving 19th-century ballets and the supreme achievement of teh imperial Russian ballet.

First performed in 1890 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, the ballet has been preserved in continuous performance by the company that created it. the way in which the heirs of the old imperial ballet continue to honor the choreographic genius of Marius Petipa and the glories of Tchaikovsky's score, means that The Sleeping Beauty is ideally to be seen in the interpretation of the Kirov Ballet whose performance in the company's 200th year in 1982 was captured in this presentation.

Leading the cast is Irina Kolpakova recognized as one of the former Soviet Union's greatest ballerinas and justly celebrated throughout the world for the beauty and clarity of her classic dancing in the role of Princess Aurora.