Frank and I spent last weekend at the ballet. Well, not actually, but that's what it seemed like. We're not big ballet fans, at least not of classical ballet, but several years ago we were in Leipzig with Anne and Ingo, Gerlinde and Klaus, on New Year's Eve and in search of a cultural highlight we went to the ballet. Something called "America, America" or at least a similar title. It was a series of sketches (for want of a better word), set to American music from a variety of composers and it was wonderful. We all enjoyed it tremendously, but at least Frank and I never followed up by trying another piece.
Until last weekend. We had heard only good things about the Mainzer ballet and that from our friends who know what they are talking about since their daughter is at this moment at Stanford writing her Habilitation on ballet music. We had also heard how difficult it is to get tickets, but the weather was beautiful last weekend, which may have kept the crowds away. At any rate Frank came home from his weekly Saturday excursion into town with tickets for that evening.
We rode our bikes into Mainz over the Rhine across the railroad bridge. Here is a picture for those of you who have never done this with us.
And a picture of Mainz from the bridge. You can make out the cathedral in the distance.
We had cheapo tickets up at the top of the theater, which turned out to be a blessing. We could see the entire stage very well and follow the patterns in the dancing. The first piece was only accompanied by a guitar-like instrument and was very Spanish. It was written for the Mainz theater and was quite good although a little dark in parts. (I mean that literally, dark lights, black costumes, but luckily there were also beautiful bright scenes too.) During the intermission we went out on the balcony, which used to be the roof before they remodeled and planted an UFO on the top of the building. (Sorry I don't have a picture. I didn't have my camera with me.) There is a beautiful view of the cathedral, which I am planning to take a picture of at the next opportunity. I have also vowed to remember my camera in the future.
The second piece was called "The Green Table" and was written in France some time in the 1930s. It began with a long green table with about fourteen very old men arrayed on both sides, discussing, arguing, complaining, conjoling, I'm running out of synonyms, doing what diplomats do at a conference. The whole piece was a death dance with Death appearing to dance with soldiers, old women, young women, (but not the old fogies at the conference) in a series of scenes. It was excellent and not at all depressing because it was so beautiful. And the first and last scenes (back to the conference table) were also very humorous. We will definitely be back to the theater for more ballet next season.
As chance would have it Robert Altman's movie "The Company" was also playing last weekend so we rode into town on Sunday evening to see it. It's about a ballet company in Chicago and observes the troupe over a period of time (maybe a season?) and one girl in particular. We have liked Altman's films in the past, but the story in this one was pretty weak. In fact, there wasn't any story to speak of in the end. The characters were flat and sometimes strange and when it was over there were a lot of open questions. However, the dancing was absolutely breathtaking. The first fifteen minutes were worth the price of the film. Actually it reminded me more of Cirque du Soleil than anything I had ever seen in a theater, but of course that's not saying much since I just explained above how seldom I've seen any ballet. Definitely go see it. Just don't expect a riveting story.
