Ballet

I went to the ballet last night.   The program was called, “The Stravinsky Project”.   It consisted of 3 ballets with music composed by Igor Stravinsky.   The first, “The Firebird”, is a classic ballet.  The second was a world premiere, just called “The Stravinsky Project” and was a very modern take on ballet.   The third was called “The Rite of Spring”, which also had modern choreography.   This program was performed by Oregon Ballet Theatre, to which I’m a season ticket holder and patron. 

I’m not sure when I became a fan of ballet, but I do remember one of the early points in my development of an appreciation of this art form.   When I was in elementary school, probably around the 3^rd or 4^th grade, I remember the school librarian showing us a film about, “The Nutcracker”.   I was fascinated.   It’s really kind of a creepy story, but then all of the classic ballets are a little creepy.   There is usually a struggle between good and evil.   Good usually wins, but sometimes not without great cost.   The stories aren’t really what ballet is about though.   It’s about the telling of the story through music and dance.   It’s very hard to do well.   I decided that I would be a ballet fan pretty early.   I think that it was in part because I like to be contrary, and most boys and young men don’t particularly like ballet.

I had a crush on a waitress when I was about 17 and working in the restaurant business.   She was a ballet dancer and performed with a very small company in Ft. Worth.   I went to that company’s production of “The Nutcracker” that year and sat on the front row.  The place was mostly empty, and so I was somewhat conspicuous looking sitting in the front row with no one else around.   I enjoyed the show though.   I also really enjoyed telling my friends that I had gone.

“You went to a ballet? Why?”, my friends would ask.

I’ve always enjoyed getting that reaction from people and I still have friends say things like that today.   I’ve been a season ticket holder and patron to both The Washington Ballet, in Washington, DC and Oregon Ballet Theatre in Portland, OR.  I’ve effectively held season tickets to one of those two companies for the last 18 years or so.   I’ve probably missed a year here or there, but not many.   I’ve donated money every year that I’ve had season tickets, even in the early 90’s when I was poor.   (Okay, I wasn’t really poor, but I also wasn’t exactly in the philanthropy business either.)   It’s safe to say that I am a fan of ballet.   Ballet is not for everyone though and I completely understand that.   It’s not, however, something you can discount after watching for 30 seconds.   If you go to a good production and you pay attention to the performance, you might find that you too are a ballet fan.   It can be extremely evocative; in both good and bad ways.