We are going to the ballet this evening. The ballet is a relatively new experience for me.
I don’t recall when or why we first went. Perhaps it was because I wanted to see The Nutcracker one Christmas time. We liked it, and so kept going. So we have a subscription for the Arizona Ballet.
After years of attending the Symphony and the Opera, I think I have a good ‘ear’ for them. In contrast I don’t have enough experience to appreciate all the nuances of Ballet; my enjoyment is on a superficial level. We sit in the balcony so it is hard for me to make out the individuals, let alone remember who did what when. But we enjoy going. We just renewed our subscription.
I like the ‘modern’ productions, which have great costumes and abstract (to me) movements set to contempory music. In contrast the ‘classical’ productions have the cliche graceful gals in white shoes and ballerina tutus. I haven’t learned enough about any of them to keep performances separate in my memory.
No surprise, I like to watch the male dancers, for the all have amazing builds and absolutely no body fat. And their legs! Besides their physiques I am intrigued by their grace. They have to pick up woman, throw her around a bit, and look graceful doing it all. They must be in excellent shape.
I always nod off in live performances, and the ballet is no better. In fact, it is worse. We sit in the warm dark balcony, usual after a long work week. I will probably plummet tonight like a dropped prima donna.
In the lobby there are various ballet related items for sale. There is a children’s book “The Only Boy in Ballet Class”. It is a story about a young lad who loves to dance but is chastised by family and schoolmates for being a pansy. He finally ‘wins in the end’ by combining dance techniques with a football victory. I look at the book in every intermission. I should just buy it for Pete’s sake.
15 comments
Comments feed for this article
June 1, 2012 at 3:23 PM
Raybob
Everything is beautiful at the ballet – raise your arms and someone’s always there.
June 1, 2012 at 3:51 PM
tigerchanter
Darn! Raybob beat me to it! 😉
June 1, 2012 at 8:09 PM
Will J
Well, Dance:10, Looks:3 for you sweetie… 😉
June 1, 2012 at 3:54 PM
wfregosi
The best arts book for children I know is The Bungling Ballerinas. It’s hysterically funny, the illustrations are witty, and it is salted with in-jokes for adults who know something about the ballet world.
June 1, 2012 at 5:37 PM
Jay
I love all kinds of dance. My friends who have been dancers affirm that there is something in them that makes them dancers. I am so grateful for music and dance in my life and the many times I have seen performances of each.
June 1, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Shawn
Poor little book, it just wants you to take it home!
June 1, 2012 at 8:08 PM
Will J
See attached (and then go to the library)
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dancer-Prepares/James-W-Penrod/e/9780072557268
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/classical-ballet-terms-richard-glasstone/1005198545?ean=9781852730802
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/technical-manual-and-dictionary-of-classical-ballet-gail-grant/1100927644?ean=9780486218434
June 1, 2012 at 10:10 PM
Erik Rubright
But if you buy the book, what will you take look at during the next intermission?
June 2, 2012 at 6:23 AM
Cameron
Spo, do you happen to know if the AZ Ballet uses live music? Many ballet companies dance to taped music, which is not the full ballet experience. Just curious.
June 2, 2012 at 9:51 AM
Urspo
The very first time I ever attended the ballet was in Chicago. As it was my ‘first’ I didn’t have a baseline. Apparently it was a ‘first time’ using recorded music not an orchestra. Outside were picketing musicians suggesting we boycott the show. Signs said ‘you deserve live music’. The idea of ‘canned music’ seemed odd if not right to me. The Arizona Ballet sometimes uses recorded music, but this seems situational viz if they are in the Orpheum Theatre (an old movie house) there is recorded music or at most a live piano player if apt for the dance. When the AB is at Symphony Hall, there is always live music, with the same conductor of many years. I prefer live music of course!
Michael
________________________________
June 2, 2012 at 8:58 AM
Richard Gabriel
I’m chuckling, thinking about my favorite ballet stories. When my kids were young, the dance school they attended always put on the Nutcracker in one of the big old historical theaters. One year, my son played the role of Fritz, and my oldest daughter was one of the ‘clowns’ under Mother Ginger’s gown. Naturally, the whole family went to see it. When asked afterwards, how she liked the performance, my grandmother replied, “I liked it, but there was too much dancing.” Okay.
And a co-worker had attended a performance by the New York City Ballet at their summer home in Saratoga. She had seats in the second row orchestra. She said that when the dancers spun around, their sweat would fly off and hit them. A balcony seat sounds good!
June 2, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Raven~
I dreamed of dancing in New York. I was even invited to travel to New York, with the promise of an audition, and an almost certain acceptance. Now, I’m grateful that I was too afraid to make the journey. I was 19 at that time, at 24, I was diagnosed with two disintegrating discs. It would have been a very short career 😦 … and I’d no doubt be very, and thoroughly, dead.
Ballet, both classical and modern, is a language. Think of it as pattern, and remember that the dancer is interacting with the space and with gravity as much as, if not more than, the other dancers. Just watch it … you’ll see what I mean.
David and I were privileged to see Natalia Makarova perform Giselle, with Ivan Nagy as the prince. I don’t remember the year, it was in Los Angeles, with real live orchestra, and we were transported. Makarova and Nagy were sublime dancing partners, justly famed for his strength, her otherworldly grace, and the chemistry between them, and between them and the audience. Truly, when he supported her, it was possible to believe that gravity had been suspended for a time …
June 2, 2012 at 5:47 PM
ronzorro
Of course you have seen the movie “Billy Elliot”? Tell me you have seen that movie. If you haven’t, you MUST see it.
June 2, 2012 at 6:14 PM
Urspo
No I have not … Pardon!! 🙂
Sent from my iPhone
June 3, 2012 at 4:54 AM
ronzorro
Do you have a DVD player? If so, I’ll send you the DVD. You will like this movie, guaranteed! 🙂