Ballet

I have been a theater junkie lately. Last night was the finale to three nights at the theater in a week. Last week went to the Colorado Ballet’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A classic Shakespeare tale of love-triangles, relationships and lovers in an enchanted forest. The performance last night was incredible and unique. It is called The Repertory Series which consists of three different ballets. The first two were fairly traditional in the ballet sense, elegant and graceful in toe shoes and ballet slippers. The third and longest was very contemporary, fast paced and high energy. It was a mix between Stomp and ballet. The costumes were what looked like, black and white striped baggy scrubs, red Pointe shoes and white tennis shoes. The stage was filled with fog and the dancers would just appear. It took ballet to a totally different level. Brilliant!

I had never been to the ballet before last year when my mom asked me to go with her last minute. We went to The Repertory Series, I decided I liked ballet. The production was the same set up, three ballets that went from traditional to contemporary. I wouldn’t say ballet is a dying art, but there aren’t huge crowds of people buying tickets. What I determined last year is this contemporary side of ballet is what is going to bring it to the masses. It is like what RENT, the musical, did for musicals. Its rock opera style with controversial liberal topics typically attended by a conservative audience has created a following from a generation where musicals were nearly dead. RENT brought a young, diverse and virgin crowd to the theater. This same concept is what The Repertory Series is going to do for ballet. Who knew I’d like ballet so much….you just need that one experience and then you’re hooked.