I've now been to see a ballet for the third time in my life, and that was just yesterday in Seattle where the Pacific Northwest ballet company put on a matinee for Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker. Five of us made the trip from Kirkland, Emily (our hostess) and her daughter Ella, Dot and myself, and Bec.
It might have been dull and drizzly outside, but inside the theatre it was magical. We weren't allowed any photography of the performance, which was very good and elicited much applause, but I did sneak a couple of shots of the theatre before the ballet commenced:
Guess who was in the audience: LR Bec, Ella and Em.
At the end we explored the many exhibits featuring scenes from the ballet, usually with Ella, who goes to ballet classes, in the pictures:
And, can someone help me interpret this photo?
The two previous ballet performances took place in unusual locations / circumstances and a long time ago. 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of my initial experience when I was on a student tour of Russia - then the USSR. We wound up at the Maly Theatre in then Leningrad (now St Petersburg) to see Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and we were seated in what we later discovered would have been the Tsar's royal box.
Ten years later the second experience occurred in perhaps even more unusual circumstances, but in the same country. I attended the International Geographical Union conference in Moscow and its opening ceremony was inside the Kremlin in the Russian parliamentary building. After the usual speeches that accompany such events - for example I was in Kyoto three of four years ago listening to an address by the Crown Prince of Japan - the stage was cleared and on came members of the famous Bolshoi Ballet to perform selected scenes from famous ballets.
So the dates were 1996, 1976 and 2016. I look forward to seeing more ballets in 2026, 2036 and 2046, by which time I'll have reached my own centenary. Hint to Emily and Rebecca ... and perhaps Max, Ella and Flynn.
AS
It might have been dull and drizzly outside, but inside the theatre it was magical. We weren't allowed any photography of the performance, which was very good and elicited much applause, but I did sneak a couple of shots of the theatre before the ballet commenced:
Guess who was in the audience: LR Bec, Ella and Em.
At the end we explored the many exhibits featuring scenes from the ballet, usually with Ella, who goes to ballet classes, in the pictures:
And, can someone help me interpret this photo?
The two previous ballet performances took place in unusual locations / circumstances and a long time ago. 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of my initial experience when I was on a student tour of Russia - then the USSR. We wound up at the Maly Theatre in then Leningrad (now St Petersburg) to see Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake and we were seated in what we later discovered would have been the Tsar's royal box.
Ten years later the second experience occurred in perhaps even more unusual circumstances, but in the same country. I attended the International Geographical Union conference in Moscow and its opening ceremony was inside the Kremlin in the Russian parliamentary building. After the usual speeches that accompany such events - for example I was in Kyoto three of four years ago listening to an address by the Crown Prince of Japan - the stage was cleared and on came members of the famous Bolshoi Ballet to perform selected scenes from famous ballets.
So the dates were 1996, 1976 and 2016. I look forward to seeing more ballets in 2026, 2036 and 2046, by which time I'll have reached my own centenary. Hint to Emily and Rebecca ... and perhaps Max, Ella and Flynn.
AS
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