Just how small is the dance world? When Ballet Hawaii's "The Sleeping Beauty" takes the stage at Blaisdell Concert Hall tomorrow, even though the visiting dancers — including American Ballet Theatre superstar José Manuel Carreño — and choreographer are coming from all over the country, there will be all sorts of reconnections.

Appearing in the lead role of Princess Aurora will be Vanessa Zahorian, principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet.

During this year's International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Miss., Zahorian and her partner were awarded best-couple prizes. Their teacher and coach in Jackson was Magaly Suarez — who is staging the Hawai'i production of "The Sleeping Beauty." Zahorian is looking forward to working with her again.

"Her classes were great basic training and very therapeutic," said Zahorian. "In her coaching, she talked a lot about the characters and helped us refine our portrayals of them."

On a side note, Zahorian also studied at the famed Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the original "Sleeping Beauty" was staged.

As a member of the San Francisco Ballet since 1997, Zahorian has impressed critics and audiences with her refined technique and dramatic ability.

She has already performed "The Sleeping Beauty," but this will mark her first time partnering with Carreño. "I'm very honored and excited to dance with him" she said in a recent telephone interview from her San Francisco home.

Working with Suarez will also be a reunion for Carreño. Both are Cuban-born, and Suarez was once Carreño's teacher. Since emigrating from his homeland, Carreño's career has followed a straight arrow to stardom. After stints with the English National Ballet and The Royal Ballet, Carreno joined ABT as principal dancer in 1995.

In the role of the beneficent Lilac Fairy, Hawai'i-born Romi Beppu will reconnect with family, friends and her teacher, John Landovsky. Trained at Hawaii State Ballet, she has been dancing on the Mainland since 1996. As a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet, she has been exposed to many fine dancers, including Carreño.

"This will be the first time I'll be performing professionally in Honolulu since I left school, and I'm ecstatic about it," said Beppu via telephone from her home in Boston.

In this classic, based on a Charles Perrault fairy tale, good trumps evil, and beauty undermines ugliness. The ballet, first presented in St. Petersburg in 1890, was originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to Tchaikovsky's lush score.