Dreaming the Impossible Dream

And in the theatre I want to change my seat
Just so I can step on everybody’s feet.

- I Want to Be Evil, Eartha Kitt

Last night, Fred and I went to the ballet. It was Het Nationale Ballet doing Don Quichot. I’ve said this before here, but when Fred asks me if I want to see a ballet, I always ask, “Traditional or Modern?” At this point, he knows the answer is Yes and No respectively, but I still ask. I have see one really well done ‘modern ballet’ here, but it was more modern and less ballet. It was totally stylized, on a big black set and everyone was in white. It was totally wack. I’d see it again in a hot minute. But as a rule, I don’t like the modern ballet.

We tried reading up on the story so that we’d know what was going on, but the story in this one (as with most) is really incidental. It’s just a frame upon which they hang various dance solos, duets and other numbers. The two main characters (Don Quichote and his side kick, Sancho Panza) were played by Mini & Maxi, a pair of Dutch comedians. They were perfect and they set the tone for the whole show. Like most Dutch comedians, they do that very broad, exaggerated comedy. I don’t particularly like Dutch comedy (read: I generally avoid it), but in the context of a ballet, where everything is pantomimed and exaggerated, they were spot on (as the British say). The ballet was a comedy. Maybe it wasn’t written as a comedy, but with those two, it definitely wasn’t a serious drama.

The first act was one of those village scenes where certain people (and groups of people) come in and dance for a while and the whole village looks on. As it’s supposed to look somewhat natural and organic, the villagers are in the background talking and busying themselves with some kind of ‘business’ like talking or eating. The problem with the villagers in Act One was that their business was often so big that it was distracting. For instance, there were some kids playing in the background and I was watching them (there was a whole thing because one of them fell) for so long that I realized I wasn’t watching the dancers. Then there was a woman knitting (I know!) on a small balcony. When her ball of yarn fell, someone threw it up to her, missed, threw it up again, missed, threw it up again and I realized I wasn’t watching the dancers. On the bright side, there was a female Asian chorus dancer who I couldn’t keep my eyes off of. The rest of the girls were doing fine, but this one Asian girl was fully committed to everything she did. There was also a whole thing where the men danced with capes. It was a total throwback to the Nineties and flag dancing.

The second part of Act Two was a scene in the forest. The curtain had only been down for a few minutes and when it came up, it was completely different. The scene change and the set got a nice round of applause from the audience. Lots of shiny green and dancers in white. There was a fairy who was wonderful.

One of the things that Het Natioanale Ballet often screws up is when there’s a whole line of dancers doing exactly the same thing. There’s always someone wiggling or their legs don’t go up the same height or they’re not in a straight line. There was a scene in the last ballet we went to - La Bayadére - that was just painful. I swear, if you can’t do it well, just don’t do it. People are paying money to come see these girls squirm around and walk through a performance. “Ballet is hard.” Yeah, it is. If you don’t like it, go work at a bank.

On a lighter note, the main two dancers were pretty amazing. The female dancer was tiny and limber and fearless. The male dancer was your standard issue gorgeous guy with amazing legs who could jump and twirl endlessly. They worked really well together. There was also a couple who wore black in red who were pretty great.

They wrapped up the story at the beginning of Act Three and then it was just another 45 minutes of dancing. At the end of it, Fred said, “I think Wikipedia had the story wrong.” I think the director played around with the story. No matter. You don’t go for the story. You go to see people dance. My only complaint is that since it’s our national ballet company, it should be flawlessly good. If I’m in the balcony and I can see you twitching, that’s a problem.

As we were leaving, Fred gave it one thumb up. I gave it two. The photo above was snagged from the Het Nationale Ballet website. They’re the two leads.