Wednesday 25 April 2012

Ballet Will Never Die


"Classical ballet will never die" (Ninette de Valois)


I went to see the Ballet last night. I feel quite cultured now. My mum and gran are really into dance and we've all done a bit of ballet at some point in our lives. I wasn't that into it and really wasn't a fan of my teacher - who was a proper old fashioned hardcore ballerina. You might be surprised to know I have a certain amount of natural grace and wasn't appalling at it but I am, at heart, lazy and my personal favourite hobbies include things such as writing, which is done while sitting on my arse.

We went to see Swan Lake, performed by the Vienna Festival Ballet, and it was really rather beautiful. I'm pretty sure most of you know the story and maybe the music, which is lovely. If you get a chance to see Swan Lake, I would recommend it, unless you have a short attention span, in which case maybe you shouldn't go to see Ballet of any sort. Swan Lake has some very sad and poignant dances in it and it was done really well. The costumes were vivid and extra good. I've seen other ballets which were probably technically better but this was more enjoyable as there was a lot of energy and I was probably rather more into the pretty colours than the more cultured of the audience.

I can't help thinking about the poor dancers' feet though. My aunt used to be a very good ballerina and got a scholarship to go to a school of ballet but she ended up stopping as it did her feet such damage. At the end of shows apparently ballerinas regularly peel off their shoes to find bleeding toes from going up on point so much. I did not stick it out long enough to find out if this were true.

This trip was a chance for me to wear out my nice high heels though. I usually feel underdressed at the theatre as a lot of people seem to take the chance to wear their posher frocks for some reason. I conformed and even blobbed on a bit of eye make-up. This was fine, until I was afraid I would be late for the second half and tried to run up the stairs. My ankle gave way and I staggered a bit, swearing loudly and sort of spoiling the respectable image I'd be cultivating. I ended up with pretty sore feet at the end of the evening, though I imagine not as badly as the dancers did. It was very enjoyable overall.  



1 comment:

  1. I love the ballet. And yes i danced for many years, also being asked to try out for the Belian Ballet national school, but i decided against it.
    I do find however that people don't make enough effort at the theatre, i don't like seeing men in jeans and trainers. I like ot see people properly dressed up.

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