A Study in Beauty at the Mariinsky

Last night we went to the Mariisnky and saw a ballet performance of Don Quixote.  Just take a minute and soak in that sentence.  I know that I have several friends that would gladly do something highly illegal to be able to say the same about themselves.  It was a huge gift to be able to go to one of the premier ballet performance companies in the world.

I don't even want to talk about the set or the lighting, because both, though immaculately done, pale in comparison with the beauty of the dancers.  I have seen my fair share of of ballet before this, but never at the level of the Mariinsky.  Most of the shows I have seen prior have been high-school/student performances of the Nutcracker, or selections from Swan Lake.  I did see the Joffrey ballet in Chicago when I was little, but it comes nowhere close to the quality of the Mariinsky.

I couldn't help but whisper to myself in excitement during the wedding dances of the last act.  The dances were so impressive, and I found it extremely poignant to notice the tensing of the dancers' muscles and watch their chests heave after finishing a dance.  The movement that they accomplished was so seemingly effortless and beautiful.  It was wondrous to watch the dancers just move across the stage, let alone gracefully leap into the air.

Don Quixote had a very large ensemble that was often on stage, either posing, as in Don Quixote's dream sequence, or acting as local Spaniards in most of the other scenes.  Despite the ensemble's huge presence, it never drew attention from the principal dancers.  Though the ensemble often joined in with the dance, they seem lesson blended into the background when they finished.  One of the most impressive scenes was during Don Quixote's dream scene.  About 30 female ensemble members were in the background holding poses for upwards of 15 minutes at a time, while the principals had their solos.  Their ability to hold pose and then run across the stage was quite impressive.

I admit I have fallen into the habit of disrespecting ballet as an art.  At points in the past, I fell into the trap of labeling ballet as a pretentious "high art", and writing it off as disinteresting and unimpressive.  Thankfully, last night I had none of these thoughts, and I could only think of how impressive the dancing was.  When faced with the beauty of the show, I could only be blown away and watch in wonder.