Cape Town Ballet!

Wow! Wow!! Wow!!!!!!! Amazing! Brilliant!

If anyone gets a chance to see them then please do because they have to be the most amazing dancers we have seen in a long time! My mother being the strictest critic ever especially when it comes to ballet and considering there are very few shows that I will actually stand through, this was definitely worth it!

We were unfortunately late and so as it was a full house (Saturday is already full house too) it was kinda impossible to find two seats together by that point. Mom was thankfully able to sit down and the only other available seat in my view was broken (the fact that 7Arts isn’t full very often, they apparently don’t fix the seats) so I tried to disappear into the wall and stood with one of the ushers – ironic when you think we had actually paid for our seats but this is Zim (a bad excuse, I know and one that I despise but all the same a fact of life). It is a pity that one can’t actually book the seats like any normal theatre production…. However, I am not going to complain!

The show was brilliant! The dancers beautiful! Accordingly to my mother their technique was perfect especially the Prima Ballerina. From a lay point of view who has grown up with an ex-ballerina and someone who further more loved Nureyev, I couldn’t fault them and they kept me captivated. The men looked like men…one did forget that he was supposed to lead his partner but it does happen when you think you are more beautiful than the woman. The costumes simple and yet stunning (I particularly liked the pretty pink dress)!! Lights could have had some work….but that is the critic and the perfectionist in me coming out…again! Music was wonderful!

I know it’s something that mom misses so much; ballets and operas and….dare I say, professional productions. No offence to anyone (being an amateur dramatist myself I feel free to criticise and I am my own worst enemy), effort and passion is great and courageous but there is always something of that complete picture that needs filling; the element of perfection.

I know when I saw “Cats” in London a few years ago it completely blew my mind! It was the most incredible show I’d ever seen and I’ve seen a few….

However, considering the fact we don’t have the Cape Town ballet or the Drury Lane actors on our doorstep we have to appreciate what we do have and the fact that once a year we still get to have HIFA. This way we can still experience the arts of so many varied peoples and the talents of so many stars or future aspirants and see that even though we may be falling apart at the seams, people can still appreciate culture and we still have so much to offer….