A Night at the Ballet

Last week I had the chance to see Misty Copeland perform in the role of Odette/Odile in Swan Lake and it was like a fairy tale. I recently joined a social group here in New York City that organizes a variety of events and this Culture Night at the ballet was one of them. Before the performance started I got to Lincoln Center an hour before the curtain call and enjoyed a glass of champagne in the Founders Lounge where I learned about the what to expect in the performance from a ballerina on her off-night.  

Having only been to the ballet a handful of times it was interesting to hear the background of the play, about Tchaikovsky’s score, and learning which parts of Swan Lake that were the most difficult to perform – it particular where Misty as the black swan had to do 32 fouetté turns!  (And I will be honest with all of you, I did not know what a fouetté was until last week – if you are in the dark like me it is a a pirouette performed with a circular whipping movement.  And if you are more of a visual person, like I am, check out this video to see a real example).

I did not take that many pictures as photography was not allowed during the performance of Swan Lake at Lincoln Center but did snap a few at the Intermission.  And I was obsessed with the chandeliers in the lobby, according to the New York Times they are comprised of 49,000 individual pieces of crystal!

Over the course of eight weeks there were many performances featuring a whole host of dancers but last week when I saw Swan Lake at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, June 13th Misty Copeland was dancing in the role of Odette / Odile, Herman Cornejo as Prince Siegfried, and James Whiteside as Von Rothbart – truly an all star cast.   Overall the American Ballet Theater did an incredible job with this performance and I am excited to have the chance to perhaps go back and see Misty dance again soon!