Let's Go To the Ballet

I have a subscription to the Ballet. My seat is in the 5.1 ring at the end of row D. I wait for everyone to get to their seats at the start of the ballet and at the end of each intermission because there are no aisles - everyone enters the long long rows from the ends.

So I wait.

All of my tickets are for Saturday and Sunday matinée performances. I didn't choose these shows because I don't like to stay up late or because I don't like weeknight performances - I chose them because they are the ones that kids are most likely to attend. This weekend's performance was a brilliant hilarious interpretation of Cinderella.

And there were Lots of Kids.

Kids who get excited about dancing - and who gasp and ask questions during the performance. Kids who show up in mini ball gowns and costume. Kids who dance in the aisles during intermission.

Kids who race each other up the long staircases during the intermission - like those bottom two... while their parents caffinate.

I saw them gearing up to run and composed my photo - then waited for them to "run into the frame". I'm a superstar at waiting...

I spent all three intermissions people watching in the beautiful glass atrium. The building, itself - is fantastic. Serious engineering went into isolating the building structure from the surrounding subway and streetcar noise and vibrations. It is built on top of millions of rubber "hockey puck" like forms in order to dampen the TTC vibrations and noise - yet it is also physically attached to the subway. The original intention of the design was to make the acoustics so perfect so as to not need any amplification for the Opera... A la the Vienna Opera House.

There are a few notes attached to those photos on Flickr. There is a lot going on in each of them - if you look closely enough.

That bottom photo is during the third intermission. There were huge line ups for drinks during the first intermission (previous photos), less for the second.. almost none for the third.

Probably because people realized that $4 for a bottle of tap water was an absolute rip-off and they weren't that thirsty after all.


/<.