Trocks

John and I went to see Sacramento Ballet's performance of Giselle last night. Giselle is one of those classic 19th century story ballets that I haven't yet seen. It's a part of the genre of French romanticism. I generally prefer Russian classical ballet to French romantic. It's crisper and seems more technically challenging. French ballet is mushier, with lots more gushy arm movements, and those darn "romantic" tutus instead of the really cool stick-out kind. Nonetheless, it was a good show. I liked the 2nd act best. It was beautiful. It had a large corp of Wilis dressed in their wedding gowns doing the requisite chugs in arabesque. (I say requisite because they seem to be a staple of all classic French ballets.) John, in keeping with his contrary nature, liked the 1st act best. He thought the 2nd act was "too repetitive". Dork. Wouldn't know true aesthetic beauty if it attacked him... The 1st act was too dull though. It had way too many "scenes" which just set up the plot. These have no real dancing, just pantomime. And ballet isn't really known for it's pantomime... The only word that I think exists in ballet sign langauge is "dance". Additionally, what choreography there was was really boring in the first half of Act I. It picked up in the middle though. There was a really incredible pas du quatre.

One thing I was very interested to learn is that Giselle, which debuted in 1841, was actually the first ballet performed en pointe.

But back to the Wilis. Wilis are maidens who die before their wedding day, and are therefore denied the comforts of the grave, instead cursed by unrequited love to haunt "enchanted forests by lakes shrouded in dark mystery". I think there's also a clause about having to dance all night, but the program didn't mention it. Their queen is named Myrtha. (I think that I'll name my first born triplet daughters Myrtha, Moyna, and Zulma after the Wili queen and her demi-queens.) John thought that that Myrtha was a man. Granted, she was a rather muscular Lithuanian dancer, but no way mistakeable for a man...

I think that John might enjoy Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. This is the world's premiere all male ballet troupe. They're pretty farcical, in general, I think. Sure, they perform avante garde contemporary choreographies that aren't hindered by the lack of ballerinas, but they're especially known for their parodies of the classic story ballets, in which the female parts are danced by men regaled in tutus and pointe shoes. So I decided to check out their website for procrastination's sake. It's really funny! My especial favorite is the company page. This consists of a series of pages devoted to each member, complete with photos, mock-biographies, and assumed names of both their male and female personae. And boy, do they ever try to make themselves the ugliest women ever! So awesome!