This past Friday I went to the ballet with Jared, Charlotte, Plesser, and Dave to see the George Balanchine-choreographed version of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Boston Opera House. I really enjoyed it; I've always really liked ballet and though the ship has thoroughly sailed on my ever doing much of it myself, it's one of those many things that, if I had an unlimited amount of focus and time, I would have loved to study and work at. It was very beautiful, though strangely structured-- though even the real Midsummer is very easy to weight in favor of whichever group you want to treat like the protagonists, either the lovers, the fairies, or Bottom, but this version had an unusually strong emphasis on Oberon and Titania, and the entire second act seemed to be celebratory dancing after the story was concluded. I also really enjoyed Puck, who ran like Jack Sparrow and was portrayed in my personal favorite lusty clown manner, the choreography (eerily similar to Charlotte's in places) representing the lovers chasing, fighting, and rejecting one another. One thing I really enjoyed is that it was not only beautifully performed, in places it was actually quite funny! Like when Titania had fallen for Bottom, and she had her fairies bring her stalks to grass, which the now-donkey kept trying to munch on rather than pay attention to her. I never really thought a ballet could make me laugh before, so that was a pleasant surprise.
I want to see more ballets in the future, more cultural events with friends. This outing was really fun for me, getting dressed up and going out all together. I'm very grateful to Dave for suggesting it, and to Charlotte for organizing. We should do stuff like this more often!
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