I went to see my first ballet this year. A friend got some free tickets so off we went to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden - if you're going to do it, you may as well do it right!
My attitude on ballet at that point was much like synchronised swimming - yes, you have to be amazingly fit and skilled but it still looks stupid.
Well, my attitude changed.
Despite having some of the worst seats in the house (near the stage at the side so we could only see half of the performance) I had a great time.
The ballet was Giselle (the same production was filmed and shown on the BBC this Boxing Day) and the costumes were adorable, the women beautiful and gorgeously made up (and incredibly muscular - especially their backs!), the guys strong (and yes, seemingly, mostly camp), the dancing enjoyable to watch, and to my surprise, the acting great too - which made all the difference.
The bad seats (they were free so I can't complain) actually made it easier to see the all the details - especially the performers. It was great and I left the Opera House humming the tune (the music was uplifting).
I have to say the, the plot was pretty implausible. Village girl gets romanced by mysterious gentleman, falls in love, then when she finds out said man is spectacularly rich and powerful, kills herself in despair. Then part two includes him chasing her in the afterlife. I can surely imagine someone these days being horrified to find the love of their life is rich! Go figure.
