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Thursday, January 04, 2007
Impressions of My First Classical Ballet
Current Mood: CC is listening to: Stars Fell on Alabama--Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong (Best of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on Verve)Steve and I watched Swan Lake last night--it was my first classical ballet and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to take to it. I mean, I like the Swan Lake story but this was the first time I was going to see it as a ballet: no dialogue, no narration, just a group of people dancing on their toes for over 2 hours. Would it make sense? Would I get bored?
I actually kind of enjoyed it :-). Because I'm not a ballet enthusiast, I really have no idea what an en pointe solo is, or a fouette, or a pas de deux. But I WAS impressed when the prima ballerina, Olga Grigorieva, did 32 spins in a row.
Other observations I had about Swan Lake:
I liked the way Olga danced as Odette and Odile. When Olga played Odette, there was strength in her movements, but there was a gentleness at the same time. Olga as Odile was just as strong, but her movements also seemed more arrogant, almost vain. Even her facial expressions were different.
I also liked the Dance of the Little Swans, where four ballerinas danced with their arms linked. I learned later that the choreography "was meant to imitate the way little swans huddle and move together for protection. Four dancers enter the stage in a line and move across with their arms crossed in front of one another, grasping the next dancer's hand. They move sideways, doing sixteen pas de chat. Ideally the dancers move in exact or near-exact unison. At the very end, they break their chain and try to "fly", only to drop to the ground."
I remember my thoughts when all the ballerinas dressed as swans made their entrance: "Holy cow, there's a whole flock of them!" It really was like watching a flock of swans fly in from out of nowhere.
Steve observed, and I agreed, that the guy who played Prince Siegfried (Ruslan Mukhambetkaliev), did some *serious* hang time in his leaps :-). I was more impressed by the Court Jester and Baron von Rothbart (the bad guy), though.
So the question is: would I watch another ballet? I guess the answer would be yes, but only if I knew what the story was before I watched it--or else I'd be lost and have no idea what they were dancing about :-).
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