On Ballet...

We went to the ballet last night. Saw some swans and a prince. As planned, we stopped at Sal’s for pizza beforehand. It was pretty busy and Adam got in line as I snagged the only open table. I had forgotten how good the pizza is there. And how enormous it is. The slices are huge! I’d say they’re the equivalent of a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza all in one slice. It’s a thin crust, but not saltine cracker thin. The bottom is crunchy but the top is still gooey. Delicious. They changed from breadsticks to a garlic roll but it’s still a great deal. Huge pizza, rolls, and drinks for under $5 per person. Yum. After dinner we walked across the street to the PAC. We were still a bit early and they hadn’t opened the doors to the theater yet. We hung out in the loveseat like we usually do. We are totally creatures of habit. We got seated in our third floor box seats and read the program to pass the time.

I was suspicious of the prima ballerina’s bio. It says she graduated from their ballet school in 1982. Even assuming she took the fast track and graduated at 16, that still makes her over 40! She didn’t look that old. I’m thinking it had to be a typo, right? In any case, it was a delightful evening of good music and sparkly costumes. If I remember correctly the Youth Symphony played something from “Swan Lake” at some point, but the music is pretty well known even for those without a background in music. For the most part the male dancers were not too distracting. But the principal who played the Prince. Man. He wore white tights that left pretty much nothing to the imagination. Hella muscular legs. Yes, his legs are what attracted my attention. Ahem.

It’s been a while since I watched (or participated in) a dance performance. Considering I spent a decent portion of my younger years taking dance classes you’d think maybe I’d long to get back on the stage. No way. I got tired just watching them hop around. But I figured perhaps I could take this opportunity to look back at my varied dance career:

I’m pretty sure my mom enrolled me in ballet classes so I’d stop “stomping around the house like an elephant.” I admit I wasn’t the lightest person on my feet. While I wasn’t too excited about the tights and leotard thing, I enjoyed the classes. I definitely preferred tap to ballet, but one had to learn the basics of ballet before one could move on to the noise and chaos of tap.

I had many embarrassing costumes.



Many.



And I marched in parades in them.



I had my picture in the paper in them (with my mom!)



I matched my sister in them (and look! I was taller than she was at some point!)



Argh.

I don’t quite remember at what point I stopped taking classes. I think it may have had to do with becoming too busy or getting a job. I really can’t recall. But I hung up my tap shoes and stowed away the crazy costumes. Most of them anyway. Did I ever tell you about the time I wore a cow costume to school? But that’s a story for another time…