The Ballet, Feb 14 at Opera Garnier

Can't say I've ever seen a ballet before. I've watched Swan Lake countless times on the internet but I had never been to one in person, let alone at the Opera Garnier, aka where Phantom of the Opera and scenes from the Fox cartoon movie Anastasia took place!

 The ballet we saw, Kaguyahime, was completely different from anything I had ever seen before and a new experience as far as modern  dance goes. My cousin was involved in several hiphop dance teams so I had seen her perform a couple times in the States, and I'd seen my best friend perform in her college recitals at our university's concert hall, but this Parisien experience was completely different from that.

First of all the setting : the Opera Garnier is beyond ornate and unbelievably beautiful in the most over the top way. It's like the Notre Dame for music! Beautiful carvings of angels, muses, and sculptures both inside and outside of the classical greats like Beethoven, Handel, Mozart, etc. the upmost inspired setting for the most inspired performances. A huge upgrade from the usual hotel ballrooms, convention centers, and modern but uninteresting performance halls typical for young performers in the States:

 The ballet was not as I had expected- despite the classical / baroque architecture the ballet itself was modern. The Opera Garnier, though it is classical, is first and foremost a performance hall. The ballet was called Kaguyahime, the story of a moon princess who came to Earth and grew to extraordinary beauty. She had earthly suitors who were made to present her with unearthly treasures, and even the emperor who could not win her love. There were also several scenes with warring villagers that were really cool, but I thought the most effective message was the contrast between ancient world and modernity.
The story of Kaguyahime is a Japanese folktale dating back to the 10th century, and the fact that it was being presented in Paris, a city of equal age but of diametrically different heritage was cool. The orchestra was also presented in the same manner, traditional with invited taiko drummers and the gagaku wind trio against the setting of plush velvet and guilded seats and balconies of 18th century Paris finery. And then the story itself -presented in modern interpretation, with minimalism and appropriate balance between extravagant flourish and calm composure. The most modern aspects about Kaguyahime ballet, other than the choreography, was the lighting and the jarring use of bold light and color to express what was not said with costume and set. It reminded me a lot of my cousin's hiphop shows back in the States where colors drowning the stage in vibrance were an extension of the dance itself.
Overall, it was a pretty cool ballet. I wouldn't have chosen it myself so I'm really glad to have been exposed to something out of my element. Afterwards we snuck into one of the private rooms because again, it was a scene in Anastasia where Dimitri was trying to get the Dowager Empress to check out Anastasia, lawlz.

Super cool!