Ballet, what?

Most of my adult life I've been a marine biologist living in one small coastal town or another. I've been able to wear flip-flops or hiking boots every day, enjoy windsurfing and simple beach life, and socialize with familiar friends and co-workers at beer-and-bbq-based parties. Basically, it has been great.

The only thing I thought I would do more as an adult that I haven't done so much is partake in an urban cultural scene. You know, like going to indie rock shows and theatrical productions and talking about fancy things while drinking coffee with creatively-dressed artists in cafes and bookstores. I'm probably not cut out to be a full-time hipster or intellectual, or even a half-time one, but now that I live near Boston I reckon I can marinate myself in culture now and again, and hope some soaks in.

I got a good dousing on Saturday at the Boston Ballet. It would have been real expensive, but a friend of mine who is a theater person managed to score a couple free tickets. Awesome! The dances they were doing for this particular show were choreographed in the 1950s, 70s, and 80s by two famous ballet dudes: George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. (The latter guy was apparently the same one who came up with the dances for "West Side Story".) The music was classical stuff by Mozart, Debussy, and Stravinski. The Mozart part seemed more like "old school" ballet, with lots of dancers lined up on the stage at one time, all the ladies in twirly tutus, and the men in little gold jackets that didn't cover nearly enough of their deeply-wedgied buns.



The Debussy part (my favorite) seemed more modern and had a good dramatic romantic segment with two star dancers. Ballet dancers all seem to be good-looking, but the blonde diva in that part was especially, um, radiant. The Stravinski section of the ballet was good, too. I can't quite describe it, but I thought it had a vaguely "Eastern" vibe with the costumes and stuff.

Conclusion: Ballet is pretty cool. I might even pay to go to one someday.