Nutcracker
I went to the Korean National Ballet to see Nutcracker with my mother.
I love going to the Nutcracker, even though lots of things about it usually annoy me.
First off, all those danged children at the ballet. This hate Of children problem is something that is perhaps not something to be proud of but my GOD Korean little kids are raised to be utter monsters. And their parents encourage it too. (Little girl shoves her whole body into mine to rush into the elevator from the lobby when people are still exiting. I look at her, disapproving. Her aunt or grandma walks in behind her, sees me disapprove, and says to her kid: What a smart little girl you are for getting on the elevator so fast. - Korea is doomed and when I am old I am going to hole up somewhere with a shotgun and shoot all who approach because these people, when they become adults, are going to be hideous).
Second, Korean ballet is still barely out of amateur class when it comes to male dancers. And the audience, which by the way pays New York City Ballet prime seat prices for their seats, acts like they're at a school production where the audience has to be nice to the performers on stage. This is bullshit. So when someone trips, falls, visibly loses nerve and half asses it, they give them 'encouragement' applause. I REALLY miss the attitude of the New York audiences - if you stumble on the Metropolitan Opera House stage, all three thousand people look at you and think Who let that mess on stage??
At this production, in his big grand jete tour en ronde, the lead dancer totally crashed and fell on his butt because he placed his foot wrong. HUGE round of applause when he got up. What the fuck. I don't know if he hurt himself, but he could not go on, and yet he did, which is SO WRONG. If you're hurt, fucking get the understudy on you moron. So we were treated to about six beats of music in the grand finale where the male dancer hugged the female dancer like an old woman carrying her cat, and just twirled her around and around and around and around - this was not dance, this was not ballet. This is what my Dad used to do when i was a little girl and wanted a merry-go-round. THE NATIONAL BALLET OF KOREA performance! Are you serious?
And yet people yelled 'bravo' and whistled and hooted. This would've been find for an elementary school dance recital - That little boy fell but he danced all the way to the end! Wasn't that brave of him? - but really, if the dancers had any real pride in being dancers they would've been humiliated by the coddling.
BUT
It was the Nutcracker. It had Tchaikovsky, snowflakes, pretty girls in tutus and toe shoes, a corps de ballet that stayed in line almost all the time, and the most fantastic child dancers I've ever seen.
Currently, the Korean National Ballet is about at the level of the Sarasota Ballet. But in 10 years, we are definitely going to have a world class dance company or two to boast. The 10-12 year old kids who were Young Clara and The Nutcracker Doll were FANTASTIC. Clarity in their footwork on pointe, perfect carriage, musicality, absolutely lovely mime skills - vastly superior to the current 20 to 30 something set of dancers in the lead. Things are getting much better.
It was a nice date with my mom too. We went to see a photo exhibit, had coffee, went to the ballet, had dinner near the opera house, drove home chatting away companionably. It was a fun day.
I love going to the Nutcracker, even though lots of things about it usually annoy me.
First off, all those danged children at the ballet. This hate Of children problem is something that is perhaps not something to be proud of but my GOD Korean little kids are raised to be utter monsters. And their parents encourage it too. (Little girl shoves her whole body into mine to rush into the elevator from the lobby when people are still exiting. I look at her, disapproving. Her aunt or grandma walks in behind her, sees me disapprove, and says to her kid: What a smart little girl you are for getting on the elevator so fast. - Korea is doomed and when I am old I am going to hole up somewhere with a shotgun and shoot all who approach because these people, when they become adults, are going to be hideous).
Second, Korean ballet is still barely out of amateur class when it comes to male dancers. And the audience, which by the way pays New York City Ballet prime seat prices for their seats, acts like they're at a school production where the audience has to be nice to the performers on stage. This is bullshit. So when someone trips, falls, visibly loses nerve and half asses it, they give them 'encouragement' applause. I REALLY miss the attitude of the New York audiences - if you stumble on the Metropolitan Opera House stage, all three thousand people look at you and think Who let that mess on stage??
At this production, in his big grand jete tour en ronde, the lead dancer totally crashed and fell on his butt because he placed his foot wrong. HUGE round of applause when he got up. What the fuck. I don't know if he hurt himself, but he could not go on, and yet he did, which is SO WRONG. If you're hurt, fucking get the understudy on you moron. So we were treated to about six beats of music in the grand finale where the male dancer hugged the female dancer like an old woman carrying her cat, and just twirled her around and around and around and around - this was not dance, this was not ballet. This is what my Dad used to do when i was a little girl and wanted a merry-go-round. THE NATIONAL BALLET OF KOREA performance! Are you serious?
And yet people yelled 'bravo' and whistled and hooted. This would've been find for an elementary school dance recital - That little boy fell but he danced all the way to the end! Wasn't that brave of him? - but really, if the dancers had any real pride in being dancers they would've been humiliated by the coddling.
BUT
It was the Nutcracker. It had Tchaikovsky, snowflakes, pretty girls in tutus and toe shoes, a corps de ballet that stayed in line almost all the time, and the most fantastic child dancers I've ever seen.
Currently, the Korean National Ballet is about at the level of the Sarasota Ballet. But in 10 years, we are definitely going to have a world class dance company or two to boast. The 10-12 year old kids who were Young Clara and The Nutcracker Doll were FANTASTIC. Clarity in their footwork on pointe, perfect carriage, musicality, absolutely lovely mime skills - vastly superior to the current 20 to 30 something set of dancers in the lead. Things are getting much better.
It was a nice date with my mom too. We went to see a photo exhibit, had coffee, went to the ballet, had dinner near the opera house, drove home chatting away companionably. It was a fun day.