On Monday night I went into Edmonton to see the Moscow Ballet's presentation of Swan Lake. I was excited and nervous for several reasons, 1) because I was attending the performance with a "new" friend from my Mommy group (her name is Shannon), and 2) because I was worried that I might be bored or not entertained by the ballet. Both fears went unmet & I had a great time.
First up, the ballet:
The music of Swan Lake was written by Tchaikovsky, who also wrote the ballet music for the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. I don't listen to a lot of classical music, but I am very familiar with Tchaikovsky's music. I did a report on him for my music class in grade six and I've been a fan every since. So I knew going into it that I would at least enjoy the music at the ballet.
I have seen the Nutcracker at Red Deer College a few times (maybe three now?), and I enjoy the second half better than the first because its has many "themed" dances like Egyption, Chinese, Spanish, etc. The cosutmes are colorful and fun and the dances follow that as well.
Swan Lake wasn't as colorful but it was beautiful. The background was a beautifully painted castle beside a lake and forest. When the scenes switched to the lake, the lightening was a magically shade of blue. Swan costumes were snow white & sparkely. It's hard to describe the actual dancing. Um, the dancers were graceful, unbelievable flexible, enduring (the spins & jumps just keep going). I am no ballet expert, but I would have liked to see a little more unison & in sync-ness so that the lines were cleaner, but all in all I really enjoyed it and want to do it again.
Shannon, my "date" for the evening is from my Mommy group. I first met her on Halloween and mentally marked her as a mommy I would like to get to know better. I put out a message that I'd like to go to Swan Lake and she responded pretty quickly with interest. Shannon is originally from New Brunswick, her hubby is from Quebec, they have a daughter 16 months old (Joesphine), and they most recently moved from Edmonton to Leduc. She's about 2 years older. On the 1/2 hour drove to & from the ballet we barely had a moments silence we had so much in common to talk about. I can't remember all that we talked about but I know we had fun and are looking forward to getting together more. Shannon started a day home this week so she'll be pretty housebound during the week, but she has invited us over for a playdate next Thursday!
Excited about your new friend Shannon!
ReplyDeleteI would like to see a ballet, but I'm fairly confident that despite the beauty and grace of a ballet, it wouldn't 'entertain' me. I am definetly a fan of the RDC productions when i've gone - those are more my cup of tea!