Thanks to an awesome Arts Council England scheme called A Night Less Ordinary I managed to go along to the Birmingham Hippodrome to see Birmingham Royal Ballet’s world famous interpretation of The Nutcracker. Having been to the more modern ballets of Matthew Bourne‘s The Car Man, Edward Scissor Hands and this year Dorian Gray and also to the more unusual Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo. (Just a few links to send you away from this amazing blog…)
So yes, after that long winded, link laden introduction, I went to the ballet. As the introduction was aiming at explaining, I’ve never been to a tradition *slash* classical ballet with the closest to doing so highlighted with links in the opening paragraph. It was a very different experience from the moment I stepped foot into the Hippodrome, a theatre I’ve been to many times since moving to Birmingham for university in 2005. From the number of men in suits and ladies in their more formal dresses (with me in my good jeans and a shirt), to the dark blue programs with Birmingham Royal Ballet and it’s crest embossed on the front and a piece of paper with that evening’s list of dancers to accompany it I established it was going to be a more cultured affair than, say, We Will Rock You!
The traditions of ballet is very different to those of a standard musical with ladies with a full orchestra who get their own round of applause before the performance, the condcutor who is as much of a draw as a celebrity would be in a smash hit West End show who also gets his pre-show applause and then the silence as the lights went down and the orchestra started playing the opening bars of the overture was something unprecedented for a show targeted at the more ‘casual’ audience member. It wasn’t until the woman in front of us got out her gold plated opera binoculars while leaning forward to see the conductor that it dawned on me that I wasn’t in the company of an audience who would sing along to Mama Mia, but in the company of a more exclusive bunch of people who believe they can interpret the movements in front of them into an in depth story with hidden meanings and symbolic kicks of a leg or twirls on a toe. I’m not implying that not all people in the audience hope to have butlers waiting on them hand and foot – far from it, it’s just the stereotypical view of a ballet audience was there to be seen amongst those who were either first timers like myself, or those who are of a younger generation, or those who go to the ballet to have an entertaining evening. The best sight in the audience was a little girl coming with her Mum and Gran to meet the sugar plum fairies and to maybe set a seed in herself to either be interested in the theatre or to pester her Mum to let her go to ballet lessons and one day be Ciara or the sugar plum fairy herself.
I didn’t have expectations when I went to the theatre as to what I’d see or what I’d expect. I knew a little bit of the story which helped and knew there was a big Christmas tree involved, what I didn’t expect was the amount of set changes, scenery and the huge amount of technical wizardry behind the scenes. There’s a famous transformation scene where the huge room turns into Ciara’s ‘dream’ and the tree grows, the walls turn into woodland and the fireplace becomes a huge firey home for the huge rat soldiers. Reading an interview with the stage manager she explains how it must be done exactly on time and cue otherwise there might not be a rest of the show let alone the rat soldiers trying to take Ciara away from the Nutcrackers. The second act involves yet more amazing visuals with Ciara riding a huge bird/swan thing over a stage full of dry ice and the never ending stain glass window during the dances in the great hall like building of the magician.
On the whole the show is an amazing feat of technical know how and strength on behalf of the dancers. To think having such strong toes would ever give anyone such an amazing career!! The dancers must have such strength and stamina to be part of such a show and to do it night after night to audiences after audiences. I’ll take being part of that audience as an experience, clapping after solo dancers have done their solo dances mid-show and the presentation of the flowers at the end, to help me when I go to another ballet (which I hope to to extend my cultural experiences).
Maybe I’ll start rating the shows I go and see. If you’ve never been to a ballet then go! Read up before you go, find out the story so you don’t spend the whole performance trying to work it out so you can enjoy what you’re seeing. The Nutcracker seems to be a good one to start with (my knowledge of ballets is so extensive of course…) Take the opportunities when they arise and inject some culture into your lives!!
Jonny
