Well, I've recently done something I though I'd never do again. Stop giggling there at the back. No, it's nothing like that. I've been to Covent Garden to see Swan Lake.
I'm afraid that I have a general disposition against most forms of classical ballet. It just smacks of twee as far as I'm concerned. In fact, let's face it, classical ballet can be the absolute epitome of twee.
So why was I there?
Well, I got an e-mail from my friend, Chris, in Cologne asking me to look after a chum of his, John Patrick Elias, who was coming over to Europe from San Francisco to visit London and Cologne. So, John Patrick and I exchanged e-mails. I put some offers before him and, I think, there was a slight mix up and we both ended up going to the ballet (I'm sort of assuming that John Patrick wanted the opera and assumed that everything at the Royal Opera House would be opera).
However, we were both very noble about it and gave it a shot.
If there'd been an interval after the first act, I'd have left immediately. I'm always dubious of any spectacle that begins with the curtain rising on a group of peasants merry-making at a gathering. And these peasants were very second rate. I'm assuming there ought to have been some sort of elegance, symmetry and unison about their expressions of bucolic delight. These elements were entirely lacking. Frankly, it was a mess.
Act two brought the swans and suddenly I was entranced. This is what we wanted. Acres of diaphanous tulle, finely homed limbs moving in exquisite gesture and precision of execution. From there it was quite a romp and, by the finale, I was almost moved to be moved.
However, I think that that is my taste for classical ballet assuaged for quite some time to come.
I gave John Patrick some ideas of how to spend the rest of his time in Londinium. He also wanted to visit Oxford so I suggested the Oxford Tube as the quick, cheap and easy method. I've found out since that he had a pretty fabby time and Ross and I now have a contact to aim for when we visit San Francisco. Hmmm.