An old love of mine: the ballet

When I grew up, there was no talk in our house about ballet or much else. My grandma loved opera, but she only spoke to me about it and she only played the music when my parents were not at home. My father came from a destitute family where there was no use for culture (I admire him for being able to get away from the streets and making something of himself).

In my earlies twenties, I was unemployed for a while (and so was my sister) because most teachers had been made redundant by a then minister of education. So I spent my free time reading a lot, writing - and knitting. I bought my wool in a little shop in town, and became quite friendly with its owner, a lady who had two daughters of her own. One of them, Bernice, went to ballet school. She was so good her teachers sent her to the ballet school in Antwerp, which is the best in our country. Of course we got invited to all the school performances where Bernice starred in, and as she grew older she became the star dancer of the Royal Ballet of Flanders at first, then moved on to New York and now is the director of the Monaco Ballet. Her full name is Bernice Coppieters.

 

Bernice is one of the best ballerina's I've ever seen perform, and through her both my sister and I developed a love for the ballet.

Once bitten, we went to all the performances in Antwerp and whenever we were abroad we tried to see one or other ballet. So we've seen the Bolshoi, the Kirov - even seen an older Rudolf Nurejev perform - the ABT, ...

I must admit I love those classic ballets, like Swan Lake, Le Corsaire, Les Sylphides, ... but I can also enjoy modern ballet. I've seen more than one performance of Béjart, which I think is very good.

       

           

 

My favorite dancers are, after the afore mentioned Bernice Coppieters, two male dancers:  former Russian Mikhail Baryshnikov and Danish Peter Schaufuss. Both men have this rare quality of being utterly male and full of vigor and force. The way they jump, they move....

 

                                                    

Any other lover of the ballet? If so, what are your favorite ballets and/or dancers?