Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake

Those who read my blog will know I like going to the ballet. Now I must admit it's been awhile since I saw a performance. I don't know why, perhaps because the National Ballet moved to another locationn which is not easy to reach when you don't have a car?

Anyway, yesterday we did see Swan Lake. When we were in Manchester last August, we saw an announcement of Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake at the Lowry and we were already discussing whether or not we were going to book another trip to Manchester. But then I got a mail, announcing Swan Lake would be coming to Antwerpen, albeit for a short while. We were lucky to get tickets - seat at the front row! We were almost eye to eye with the stage and we could follow all the moves perfectly and saw the sweat glistening on the men's skins.

What makes this performance special is that the Swans are all men. Bourne has made a modern adaption of the classic ballet. He has kept to Thaichovky's score, but the moves are more modern. I can agree with him when he says he visualizes swans are more male than female, because they suggest a power a woman cannot possess. The star dancer was absolutely marvellous! He was just perfect for this role.

And thus we had a wonderful day in Antwerp, blessed with sunny weather for a change. The town was already preparing for Christmas, as the festive lights were being hung at the moment.  We had lunch in one of our favorite restaurants in town (we still call Antwerp 'Town' because that's how inhabitants call it - and our grandma was from Antwerp).