The Barre Owls, Bryn Mawr’s student-led ballet club, performed Sleeping Beauty for a full crowd of audience members with not a single seat left empty. After months of planning and rehearsing, the club successfully orchestrated its first-ever live show on Saturday, April 11. Their unique adaptation of the classical ballet, featuring the Bi-College Irish dance group Rince na Mawr and a talented group of Barre Owls club members, was an experience not to be missed.
The show, directed by Laura Neureiter ’26, opened with Katherine (Katie) Gentry ’27, who played the Queen, cradling a baby Aurora in her arms as fairies in glimmering costumes blessed the child. Carabosse, the story’s villain, played by Rosemary Achauer ’27, entered the stage with a group of minions who cursed the baby Aurora, swarming around the fairies and dancing in a more contemporary style. The performance continued with cheery traditional Irish dancing from Rince na Mawr, corps de ballet scenes featuring Aurora’s friends, and a series of variations executed with exceptional agility and grace.
The ballet ended with a dramatic finale as Lottie Kimmerling ’28, in the role of Princess Desiré, battles Carrabose as Aurora, played by Neureiter, who lay asleep on the stage. Carabosse was banished with the help of the Lilac Fairy, played by Caroline Andrews ’28, and the entire cast came together for one final group dance. “It’s beyond our wildest dreams to be here performing for you all,” said Gentry at the end of the performance, smiling brightly at an audience that had just erupted in loud and enthusiastic applause.
Reflecting on the experience of preparing and executing the performance, Neureiter said that she felt “overwhelming positive emotion” to see the performance she had been planning for since August. “We had to overcome a lot of difficulty to get this done and figure everything out for the first time,” said Neureiter. “It’s such a wonderful feeling when you put so much work into something and watch it come together.”
Sarah Bleil ’27, a choreographer for the show cast in the role of Fairy of the Crystal Fountain, who was heavily involved in making the performance happen, emphasized that the community built backstage and among the audience during the performance was wonderful to behold. “To see support for the Barre Owls come alive in that setting was just incredible,” said Bleil. “We are so excited to see where we can go from here.”
