I've been intending to write this for ages but it was such a full day I never found the energy. It started with my niece's tap and ballet class which was cute to watch. All girls, of course, all in pink...! One of the mums and I were trying to persuade my nephew to join - it's more athletic than football and you wouldn't have to wear a pink leotard. This is the boy who objects to writing a rap poem at school because anything to do with singing is'sissy'. More fun was what was going on outside, which was a procession of 525 scooters and about a dozen police outriders riding along the road. They must have had a right turn further back, because the traffic in the other direction was stationery and backing as far as the eye could see in the other direction.
After dancing class it was a quick dash into Manchester. Niece and I skipped down Oxford Road from Peter Square to the Palace, even though she tried to persuade me to leave the skipping to her.
The purpose was English National Ballet's Swan Lake. It was absolutely gorgeous. I have to say that I don't really follow the story by reading the nuances of the choreography, but it is a sensual delight - the music and the dancing. I thoroughly loved it; so did Eleanor. I think she most loved the visual impact of the lake full of swans, and poor Odette dancing outside the window as Prince Siegfried was beguiled at the ball by Odile. I enjoyed those, too, as well as the athleticism of the male dancers. What was most memorable was the lighting, which may seem a strange thing to say, but it transformed a resonably good performance into a very good one. And the programme was superb, double page after double page of sumptuous colour pictures. Fabulous if you're five. Fabulous if you're *over twenty-one*.
And of course the experience was fun too. There were two intervals, so she had three Colas and two ice creams. I had one ice-cream and three waters. Although, she later told my sister that I had two gins. I suggested that she was a lying cow. I had water. 'Oh yeah I forgot.' And the other day she asked me whether I was drinking gin. Of course I was, I have gin for breakfast, I always drink gin. 'No at Barbie Swan Lake you drank water.' We also had great fun going up and down stairs in the balcony at the Palace which are very very steep, and gave me lactose in my thighs.
And there was the journey home, which took an hour and a quarter, and slightly dampens the magic of the ballet.
After wolfing down a pizza, it was back out to Manchester for the Manc blogmeet. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, meeting Lyle, Sarah, Lori, Chris and Meg. We spent the evening drinking and chatting. Very nice people, and I would love to attend another.
Comments