Swan Lake; wow

Last night I went to the ballet for the first time. I love classical music, have been to musicals and operas, but never the ballet. The girl I met before Christmas had returned from her travelling and this was something I booked to welcome her back :) I'm an old romantic fool :D

The only picture I took; our view

All I can say is "wow"! The music was incredible, the dancing magical, and the whole thing passed in a flash of amazement and enjoyment. I am not ashamed to say that there was more than one occasion when I had tears in my eyes and had to blink hard to clear them so I could keep watching the stage.

I'm not going to go on too much in this blog about the story, as you can find that elsewhere, but I did want to highlight a couple of things which I loved so much.

A stock photo of the production we watched

First of all I was really pleased that I had managed to track down a production that was not modernising the story or the set or the costumes. The costumes were just stunning. Really ornate headdresses and the Queen's long flowing dress was sumptuous and gorgeous. Every single item of clothing added to the feeling that you were looking in on something magical happening in a fantastical world.

The swans

The dancing of the swans was also magical (a word which I am going to overuse in this post as it is the most accurate word for the feeling); the way they floated across the stage, emulating the flight of birds as if denying the effects of gravity, and the strength and agility of all the dances drew gasps and much applause from the whole crowd.

And finally, the music. The lead violin was just amazing, nailing the solos and at times the musicians caught my attention more than the people on stage particularly when the trombone was blatting, and the kettle bells were thundering.

Just beautiful dancing

So yeah, I really enjoyed this night, I would recommend the ballet to anyone who hasn't been - it would probably help if you like the music (or classical music in general) as at least then if the dancing bores you you can shut your eyes.