SWAN LAKE

I must be getting old, because I really enjoyed the ballet last night.

Why?

1.  Because I realize only too well that now I will never be able to move like that. As a youngster, I had been to the ballet and loved the music and movement. I may have even had dreams of being a dancer, prancing around my bedroom, using the bed as a spring board for high leaps. But like so many youthful dreams that shift and change, ballet was left far behind. And while I still like to dance, I know I just look like a goofy, old white man herking and jerking on the  dance floor. Such grace, elegance and strength of purpose in the dancers last night! 

2. The environment. The Alexandrinsky Theatre is a classic. I failed to take my camera, but click on the link to see better photos than I could ever take. Just being at a Rusian theatre to see a Russian ballet...maladyets (a word I perfected last night which means "great.")

3. The staging. The set was maladyets: evocative of the scenery, yet simple enough to create great space for the dancers to communicate the story. And from our position in the loge, we coud see over and behind the set, and I was fascinated by the track on which the swan birds "swam."

4. The story. Like the Rodin sculpture I so loved in Paris (The Age of Maturity), Swan Lake's  concept of faithful love versus physical love is one I am now able to understand and appreciate: of feeling so deeply and truly about another's soul that one would kill oneself to remain with it through eternity.

5. The costumes. I especially liked the harlequin's and Rotbart's outfits and makeup.

6. The girls....so lithe, agile and PRETTY! One can understand why counts and princes would send roses backstage and stand outside waiting for them!

7. The music. Most of us know at least bits and pieces of the score originally composed by Tchaikovsky (apparently, the music, dance and libretto have evolved since he first wrote Swan Lake  in 1875-76), but to hear it performed by a live 36-piece orechestra while viewing the story told by dancers was incredible. Again, our seats afforded a terrific view into the orechestra pit and the conductor, which I also found very interesting and entertaining.

8. The sounds. Sure, there was music, but there was also silence punctuated by Sigfried's eyes or Odette's delicate hand/finger movements. And for some reason, I was equally enchanted in those quieter moments by the padding of the dancers' feet on the stage deck. It didn't hurt the magic, but it made the ballet real.

9. Lastly, the dancing! I had binoculars and was able to see close up their feet. Wow. To do what they do on their tippy-toes is work to dancers, but they made it look like second nature. And I really liked how the dancer portraying Odette moved at times, portraying the movement of a swan; you know the way they sometimes shutter or when they stretech their neck to clean themselves...moving very fast in short bursts?

Andrea liked the ballet, too. I think her favorite part was being pissed off at all the people who were on their smartphones and taking photos during the performance. Of course, an announcement was made in Russian and English before the first curtain was raised to turn off all electronic devices and absolutely no photography. After the first act, she went to the theatre authoritites and complained loudly and vociferously, and then personally confronted some of the worst offenders in the first row.

That is why I can now understand and appreciate true, faithful, spiritual love. Thank you, Andrea!