Ballet

Social
#1

Doing, watching, marrying ballet dancers, any.

Used to do ballet when I was younger and loved it. I quit when I was 10 or so, because they wouldn’t let you just do 1 class per week, it was like once you stopped being a little kid you had to either devote your whole life to ballet or leave. This was a problem with other things I liked too, like swimming or gymnastics. It’s like it wasn’t allowed that you just did it for fun, you had to seriously pursue it competitively, and I’m neither competitive or made of champion material.

Probably a good thing I never set my heart on being a ballet dancer anyway, I passed the height and weight limit a very long time ago, and it seems like it can be a brutal job if you’re stuck in the corps.

#2

My little niece is dead into it and apparently very good, my sister is dead into it and makes tutus for her.

I went to school with a guy who now dances in Matthew Bourne’s things, he joined school late and was a proper cockney wide-boy, really lovely bloke and I remember us all being astonished when it turned out he was a) really into ballet and b) absolutely incredible at it. I keep telling myself I’ll go and see him in something one day but I just don’t think I’d enjoy it in the slightest. Don’t really “get” dance in any form really let alone ballet.

1 Like
#3

Really don’t get dance in any form, I’m afraid. Saw a bit of Strictly this year because I’m getting old and senile, but ballet? Yeesh.

Once my parents bought family tickets to a theatre production of A Christmas Carol and we all went along. After five minutes, we assumed it must be a musical version thanks to all the music. After ten minutes, we thought “that was a long intro, but I wonder why no one is singing yet”. After 15 minutes, it dawned that maybe this was a dance version of A Christmas Carol.

We left at the interval.

#4

10 Likes
#5

Might be joining a beginners class this year. Always wanted to do it when I was younger but didn’t have the opportunity in rural Ireland.

1 Like
#6

#7

Ballet/dance is a lot like music to me: I have absolutely no technical knowledge about it or ability for it, but I like going to see it, and for some reason tend to most impressed by the more out there stuff, which also tends to be a lot more affordable to see, also.

My mum really likes ballet and used to do it a lot (maybe too much) when she was younger, until injury and adolescence made it impractical. I have inherited none of this talent.

1 Like
#8

That reminds me, I did go to see a Riverdance show once, and it was pretty awesome. Maybe I only like dance when it’s troops of people drilled with North Korean precision to do it all in spectacular unison.

#9

Sister-in-law used to be good at it. Was doing it at uni, but her knees were fucked by the time she was in the 2nd year.

#10

Is he… Is he almost giving a Hitler salute?

#11

Yes, it’s his impression of a Nazi dressage horse

3 Likes
#12

generally i cannot stand choreographed dancing of any style, but I went to see Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake a couple of years ago and it was pretty, pretty great

#14

Sorry for turning both the registered interest and yoga threads into ballet threads. I’m as bad as the cyclists

#15

And your dreams aren’t going to be crushed the minute it turns out you are not the magic 5ft5 and the right weight with the right sized shoulders.

1 Like
#16

Haha not at all. I’m enjoying annoying the bros with some enthusiastic discussion of ballet.

1 Like
#17

Loads of boys in my ballet class used it keep it secret from their mates so they wouldn’t get picked on. Kinda sad really as a load of them were very good and that sort of thing really deters boys from dancing

1 Like
#18

My dreams were crushed when I grew boobs and they threw off my balance :frowning:

#19

Aye, I can well imagine, he didn’t keep it quiet or anything (he was properly brash) it was just very surprising to us all as it didn’t seem to fit and that is almost definitely down to the fact that any other males that were into it at our school (which ended up being a performing arts school and became known for good dance facilities) kept it quiet to the extent that none of us knew if they existed.

#20

there was a boy in my class who did ballet and was briefly picked on for it (more gentle ribbing really, he was always one of the popular kids), then when we hit 13/14 he just got suddenly hench and loads of the other lads signed up for ballet classes

#21

I think I asked this before on here, but I don’t remember the answer, so here’s proof of how ignorant I am about ballet:

When you talk about, say Matthew Bourne’s production of Swan Lake, what aspect of it is his? With Trevor Nunn’s King Lear for example, the script is still Shakespeare’s. Is there a “script”, or at least scene-by-scene for a ballet? Is the music the same? The choreography? Is “Swan Lake” just a basic story and everytime someone does it it’s different, like someone doing a play about Robin Hood (so it would have common elements like characters, but nothing else)?