Fairytale Life

Read aloud in dimly lit rooms as children dreamed away the night, the tales of fairy godmothers, distressed damsels and cursed swans lend more to the imagination than pure fantasy.

For QB Senior Soloist Mia Heathcote, between “Once upon a time” and “happily ever after” is an underlying message that love is a powerful force that can conquer evil. Since joining the Queensland Ballet Company in 2014, Mia has had her fair share of performing some of the most romantic and tragic ballets: from the role of Juliet in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, young Clara in Ben Stevenson’s The Nutcracker, and the Corps de Ballet in Greg Horsman’s The Sleeping Beauty.

“The Sleeping Beauty is innately a story of love. Through the contrasting characters and their journeys we witness love conquer evil,” says Mia.

“I think that’s what makes these ballets so emotionally captivating. Through the beauty and charm of the fairytale is a discovery of what it means to be human.”

However, despite stepping into the shoes of these timeless characters, Mia didn’t grow up idolising princesses and dreaming about happily ever after.

“I wasn’t really a fairytale kid,” says Mia.

“But when I was introduced to these stories as ballet, I really saw the human dramatic elements that were woven into the fairytale. I’ve always had an appreciation for stories that display human emotion.

“Even though we don’t always get a happy ending in the real world, when we see it realised in these stories, it gives people a glimmer of hope that things can be good in the end.”

In the late 19th century, French choreographer Marius Petipa transformed these iconic tales from the written and oral word into evening-length ballets. It was the beginning of a symbiotic relationship between ballet and the otherworldly.

The pointe shoe lent itself to the magic, a simple object that transformed ballerinas into ethereal fairies and princesses that floated seamlessly across the stage. Some of today’s most beloved ballets