Sleeping Beauties

Female beauty ideals go under the knife in a distorted version of fairy tale female figures

“Queen, great is the splendor of your beauty, but Snow White is the fairest with the garland of youth.” In Grimm’s Fairy Tales, the queen, Snow White’s evil stepmother, receives this disheartening answer from the mirror when she asks who is the fairest in the land.

Sleeping Beauties is about that answer, as it says a lot about our obsession with beauty and female beauty ideals. For the young woman, beauty is erotic capital, while for the mature and older woman it is a curse that reminds them of the fear of death.

The performance is loosely based on Inne i Spegelsalen, a graphic novel by Swedish author Liv Strömquist, and also draws on the fairy tales of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. It revolves around our society’s fetishization of the young, beautiful, and strong body. About women who die young and remain beautiful in our memories, such as Lady Diana and Marilyn Monroe. About a woman and her grief over growing old and no longer being loved and desired.

On stage are three young dancers and a queen, Snow White’s stepmother, in a powerful and captivating tale of a mature woman’s desire, sexuality, and struggle with menopause. The queen is played by the dazzling and multiple Reumert-nominated Nanna Bøttcher from Aarhus Theater, while the three dancers are from the internationally renowned Holstebro Dance Company, sharply choreographed by the award-winning Marie Brolin-Tani and David Cornelius Price.

The performance is produced in collaboration with Aarhus Theatre.