Day 10: The Russian Ballet

One of the things that Russian culture is well known for is ballet.  So, even though I’m not particularly inclined on my own to see ballets I figured it’s the Russian thing to do and so off we went.

The Bolshoi Theater and Theater Square in the evening.  The National Ballet Theater is across the street to the left (west) and the Maly Theater (“Small Theater”) across the street to the right.

The prominent national theater for Russia is the Bolshoi Theater (literally, “Big Theater”).  Unfortunately, its closed in August, so we ended up going to the theater right next to it, the somewhat less well known Russian National Ballet Theater.

The Russian National Ballet Theater.

We had tickets to see Tchaikovsky’s “The Sleeping Beauty” and had a rather entertaining evening.  As for the ballet itself, I like how actors/dancers are able to convey a story purely through dance (which also lends itself to foreign audiences too since there is no language barrier).  Unfortunately, the plot seems to be more a device to showcase ballet versus the ballet being a way to convey the plot – such as the twenty minute solo dance routine that takes place at the end of the ballet, after everything has been resolved.  Again, just a layman’s opinion on this ballet: the dancing and the music was great, I just wish the plot was a bit thicker.  I know, I know – if I want plot, I need to either read the fairy tale or watch the Disney film.

Jasper was surprisingly well behaved during the show (or it could have been that the orchestral music reduced Jasper hearing range to about 10 meters), and it was an interesting experience for me (being single) having to split my attention between enjoying the show and keeping Jasper entertained through the long dance routines.  I think I found a good compromise in moving Jasper’s hands like a conductor in time with the music whenever he decided to park himself over by Dad and me.

The dancers and conductor on stage at the conclusion of the show. 

We were all rather exhausted between arriving in Moscow at 4AM going through the ballet at night, so we walked back to the Hostel and called it a good night.