The role of Aurora in “The Sleeping Beauty” must combine a gentle radiance appropriate to a heroine named after the dawn with a youthful exuberance that is disclosed, particularly during the early part of the ballet, in some of the most explosive choreography ever created for a female dancer. Over the past several days, three ballerinas in American Ballet Theatre’s new production of “The Sleeping Beauty” searched for different ways to mediate between the role and their own very definite and decided personalities.

On Tuesday night, Gillian Murphy’s Aurora, her second of the run, was a case of velvet glove never totally disguising steel fist. She didn’t do anything cheap, and, even while discharging the full complement of her blazing technical resources, never capsized the role. Ms. Murphy developed her own details of characterization — inhaling the roses presented by her Act I suitors, for example — but she frequently expended visible effort in her attempts to appear shy and inexperienced. Her cocked head and childlike ingenuousness at times made her seem arch.

Her Désiré was Ethan Stiefel, who always brings to the stage many ideas about his roles. Sometimes, though, his concepts aren’t thoroughly integrated. He was defeated by the fatuity of the “I Jump, therefore I am” sneak preview designed for the Prince in this production, and was too self-satisfied even for an heir apparent. A few minutes later, following his entrance proper in the Hunting scene, he performed in a different and more interesting key altogether. He made the Blind Man’s Bluff episode a metaphor for the Prince’s own spiritual quest and interjected a note of solemnity and absorption that he sustained throughout the dream scene devised for the Prince in this production.

Wednesday afternoon Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky made their debuts in the lead roles. Too often, Ms. Dvorovenko confused her own native pertness with the ebullience of the teenage princess. There was an excess of flips and fillips; her chin was either too low and dour or tilted too high and saucily. In addition, she displayed a degree of skittishness, perhaps related to her debut: She looked perturbed halfway through the Rose Adagio, and omitted the final arabesque balance entirely.

The best part of her performance was the Vision scene, which is far enough removed from her natural proclivities that it forced her to construct a new persona; she was suave in her difficult-to-phrase Vision solo. Mr. Beloserkovsky was solid, thorough, and accomplished, but did not imprint the role with the individuality necessary to fully make it his own.

Wednesday night’s Aurora was Diana Vishneva. It’s a role she has danced many times with the Kirov Ballet and as a guest with other companies. I first saw Ms. Vishneva dance it in 1999 on the opening of the Kirov’s reconstruction from the 1903 choreographic notations. At that time, she was a great soubrette, but she has since learned to come at the role from different angles. Here, Ms. Vishneva was feeling her way into the new ABT production.

She began her performance on a stratospheric note, jumping as high as the rafters and with so much reach that she all but encompassed the stage. Her balances in the Rose Adagio trumped any thus far performed in this run of the production: Everyone was drawn up through a perfectly vertical plumb line and sustained without any sense of bombast. But there was also effortful churn to her spinning bourrées downstage, and although she continued to dance impeccably, her Vision scene wasn’t as magical as she could potentially make it. In the last act, she sought a mix of grandeur and winsomeness, but didn’t always achieve it.

Ms. Vishneva was originally scheduled to dance the ballet with Vladimir Malakhov, one of her most frequent partners, but he underwent knee surgery. She was instead partnered by David Hallberg, making his debut as Prince Désiré. Mr. Hallberg’s acting was candid and dignified and it’s remarkable to see someone as tall and rangy as he demonstrate such a command of technique, although he’s capable of more polish. Mr. Hallberg was not the ideal consort for Ms. Vishneva, however; while he has improved considerably as a partner, Ms. Vishneva never appeared very comfortable in his arms and there was little chemistry between them.

Ms. Dvorovenko and Mr. Beloserkovsky repeat their performance tonight; on Saturday, Mr. Hallberg partners Ms. Murphy at the matinée and Ms. Vishneva in the evening.