Cross-dressers, self-pricking princesses, S&M costumes, and time travelƒa freak show at the circus? No, just the Saba Dance Theater’s fresh and delightfully demented version of Sleeping Beauty. A former Martha Graham dancer, Saba helms this young and innovative company which integrates Modern Dance, Ballet, acting, singing and flamboyant costumes. “I think outrageousness is what all my shows have in common, and then I guess a kind of daring, because I do things that are daring,” explains the up-and-coming choreographer. “There’s one thing in common with all my shows, there’s always the outrageous, there’s always one thing that has not been done.”

In this re-telling of Sleeping Beauty, the princess suffers under an over-protective mother who gives her everything she could want except the one thing she truly desires: love. A rebellious teenager, she pricks herself rather than go on, and ends up in a coma-like sleep. “it’s a little tribute to all those kids that committed suicide for depression, for not being happy” explains Saba. “Carabosse, the bad fairy (played by Saba), explains to her that she can fall asleep and wake up in a better world, which is our world. She wakes up in the 21st Century, where Carabosse is the town drag-queen, and the queen is the governor. It’s very modern.”

But beneath all the wacky fun, this Beauty has a darker side. “I want to show more things that you see everyday in America and in the world and we just close our eyes to, because we choose to. Like rape, rape goes on everyday and we donÍt do much about it. And racism, a big deal,” notes Saba, a Frenchman who, like his countryman Alexis de Tocqueville before him, enjoys reporting on the state of things here in the US. “The idea in the piece is to show that sometimes people look a certain way but they are not necessarily what they look like. You might look nasty, but you can be very nice and sweet. And you can look nice, but you can be a serial killer. In my story, Carabosse has a very mean look, very aggressive, but she’s actually very sweet with Sleeping Beauty. And the Queen who is very beautiful, and looks gentle, she’s actually very nasty. She reflects more image of a dictator, she really abuses her powers and all that.”

Although a Saba show may cause objects hidden in the collective unconscious to surface more clearly than we might like, it’s the healthy dose of humor and fun visuals that make this medicine easy to swallow. Unlike your typical unitard-clad modern dance troupe, Saba’s dancers sport showy, elaborate outfits that would make a club kid proud. With floor length faux fur capes, weird S&M inspired dog-like outfits, and even a white wedding dress that is actually a cage, this Sleeping Beauty feels like the naughty spawn of Disney. “As a kid I always liked very fairy-ish things. I loved Fantasia for instance, and the idea of that hippopotamus doing point-shoes. I think the hippopotamus is cute because it’s impossible. You cannot do that in your life. I liked that.” Part of the attraction for Saba is making the impossible possible, and doing it in an almost Monty Pythonesque over-the-top kind of way. “When I go to see a show, I like to see things I don’t live in my life, and always thought with my dance company I would like to do that, to show things that people want to see. I want that, that each moment on the stage is like a Pierre et Gilles picture, it has to be unique and people realize that “oh... that’s Saba!”

“Sleeping Beauty” by the Saba Dance Theater, Friday November 14th at 11 am and 8 pm, and Saturday November 15th at 2 pm and 8 pm at the Florence Gould Hall of the French Institute Alliance Francaise, 55 East 59th Street. Box office (212) 355-6160 or check www.sabadancetheater.org.