Ballet Under The Stars

Ballet has been something I've always held interest for, whether it was doing it myself or watching others perform. I however had never learnt it for myself nor watched a professional performance, so the advertisement that stood out ever so boldly in many of the bus stops I frequent has given me a chance to experience something new.

The caption itself was alluring.

I asked around for weeks for accompany and it was difficult seeing how most of them whom I asked replied that they'd fall asleep watching something as "boring" as ballet. I thankfully found a friend whom I knew had similar interests with mine and I just barely booked the tickets the night before. (phew)

We met about an hour and a half earlier to have dinner together at a Japanese restaurant that was "strictly vegetarian". It was a good experience and I'll definitely be going back.(If anyone would kindly have a meal with me since none of my friends are vegetarian or pescetarian like I am.)
And with me being the usual absent-minded sotong, I completely forgot to take any pictures of the food served only until dessert came.
Dessert came in a small ceramic dish - a chilled matcha panna cotta.

It was at an unbelievable price for its size so we decided to share it among us. My friend knew how crazy I am for strawberries so she left it for me. (wipes tear)

We caught up with each other on our post-secondary days and spent a little too much time in the restaurant, which left us about fifteen minutes to get to the venue before the start of the performance.

Both of us are horrible with directions so I whipped out my GPS and not-very-successfully guided ourselves there. Needless to say, we were late, and also very sore from brisking our way through the roads.

Sweaty and fatigued, we scrambled up to higher ground in search for a space for two on the grass.(It was an open-air/picnic kind of event, which I would have never expected) We settled down somewhere we thought would be fine but little did I know that we made a grave mistake. The 'space' that we found was open for a reason- it was too steep to sit comfortably. Throughout the performance I found myself fidgeting to find a tunnel of sight to the stage from the whole wave of heads right in front of me. There were times where all i could see was a few arms and legs(of the performers) rising out of a black orb of a head and at times, not even their arms could be seen.

This may not depict the scene accurately, but the stage was really far away and the space between me and the stage was completely filled with people. Taking photos or videos was strictly not allowed so I had to make do with the booklet I got by donating to their organisation.

The performance consisted of four different plays and my favourite by far was the third item, Theme and Variations.

After all, if you talk about ballet, it has to be tutus, doesn't it?

I could remember thinking to myself that those tutus resembled fully bloom flower heads swaying in the wind(though they probably don't 'sway' only up and down)

Every move the performers made was picture perfect- the angles of their arms, legs, and even heads were completely in sync and absolutely beautiful.The violin that played along the field of flower heads made the performance a whole. It was uplifting and I caught myself smiling out of excitement and happiness a few times.

The last item was captivating and not at all modest- The play opened and ended with a satin red cloth and the dancers were dressed in sheer white robes that flowed after their every step, which reminded me of jelly fishes.

 I wish I could have enjoyed the performance to the best I could, but the pain and discomfort from pinning all of my weight on to my bottom with was pinned at an angle that wasn't the most recommended bothered me and held me back from concentrating on the play. To make matters worse, the sole of my shoe broke off and I had to walk with a limp for the rest of the night.

The wrist bands we were given in case of re-entry.

(Only in pictures like these do I realise how fair I actually am next to other people)

Just a little thought I had that is completely irrelevant from this topic- A Japanese family was sitting near us (I heard voices of two children and most likely their father) which didn't watch the performance very quietly, and I could hear one of the kids going "静かにして"(Be quiet) instead of the usual  "うるさい"(Shut up) you'd hear anywhere. That was then that I once again realized what polite beings the Japanese are.

We followed the crowd out after the show and we could then appreciate what we didn't see in our rush to the venue. The churches that lined the path were beautiful. However, both of us were of the exact same kind- bad memory, bad with directions etc- so I had to whip out my GPS once again and looked at a piece of metal instead of the scenery. We live in different areas so we had to take different means to get home; for me, it was of no difference as I took the exact bus from the same stop I go to from school, which is an hour-long ride home.

When asked about my experience at the show, I spoke of how enjoyable it was and what I liked about it, but my family still didn't understand the appeal of such "dull and climax-less" sleep-enticing plays. But that's alright, for I do understand, although I still haven't watched enough to put them in words.

(I couldn't take many pictures this time round so I hope I made up for it with words.)