A Night Out

(sculpture by Elizabeth Macqueen: Jorge Donn)

Photos: October 22, 2016

My daughter and I both love ballet; we go together to Les Grands Ballets Canadiens each year. The performance on Saturday: Romeo and Juliet with choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot and music by Prokofiev (I'm happy to say there was a live orchestra). It was beautiful, lyrical - simply wonderful. And it is always lovely to share the experience with my daughter.



Our dinner at a sports bar before the ballet was anything but lyrical - it is a place of sensory overload with loud music blaring and more screens than I could count. We were both happy to get out of there. Its only asset was its proximity to the theatre.



Yet more rain greeted us as we left the theatre (this was taken while I was parked - it did not take long for my windshield to be covered with drops). It is not my favourite weather to drive in at night, but I do love the reflections like an abstract painting on the streets.

Coppélia

Last night my daughter and I went to see Coppélia with the Shanghai Ballet. Many years ago I went to a fine arts camp. While there I played music, worked in the pottery  studio and danced. Ballet was one of my passions. The ballet teacher at the camp, a woman named Natasha, taught classes. She walked with a cane and a pronounced limp and spoke with a  Russian accent. Although she could not demonstrate every step, she conveyed what she wanted and had a couple of dancers she brought with her demonstrate when needed. Each summer she staged a ballet every summer. The first one I was in was Coppelia. It's funny how the body remembers. While much of the choreography was different in this version, certain steps resonated in my muscles.

Interestingly, my daughter also did a lot of ballet as a child and performed in a number of productions, one of which was Coppelia. She too, had that sense of knowing, though her experience was much more recent than mine.



I usually don't post photos of myself, but even my daughter didn't recognize me in this one! It goes back many years! I long ago left my ballet days behind. But music has stayed with me.