Balletgoer attire...

[Leigh Witchel]

I suggested to Amma (the Tamil word for Mom) that she maybe wear a nice suit, and she muttered something under her breath about "Ugly Western clothing and abolition of Indian traditions". Anyway, she picked out her sari, she'll be wearing it, and I'll be driving her. *cowers from crazy Indian mother*

http://www.indianweddingsaree.com/sareeima...w/big/20387.jpg

It's something like this one, only with a less opulent border. I'm excited to see her in it!

It sounds lovely. But the funniest thing about reading this story is the suspicion I get that "crazy ______ mother" is a universal thing? Change the details slightly and you could certainly substitute "Jewish" in there. (Basically add chicken, and subtract dosai and sarees) From what my friends tell me, "Chinese" would fit in there just fine too (our standard joke is that Chinese and Jews are really the same ethnicity) Now that I've had a few Korean students and talked to them about their families, I'm betting that would work just fine as well.

[Paul Parish]

ngitanjali, that is a REALLY beautiful gown -- frankly, it simply looks classically beautiful, to me, and I can see Audrey hepburn wearing it. But then, I must have been Indian in a former lifetime -- when I saw Monsoon Wedding and the guy was eating the marigolds, it made me feel so good, because I've been snacking on marigolds for years.

[JCP]

Having grown up in the casual 60s in the Netherlands, I always have had the attitude that the most important thing for me as an audience member is to feel "comfortable". If I don't feel comfortable with what I wear, I can't enjoy the performance. As a result I usually dress super casual. Luckily the fabulous new Four Seasons Theatre in Toronto seems to support every kind of attire, from very casual to the fully dressed up with their most recent Holt Renfrew purchase.

[papeetepatrick]

I can respect these thoughts about wanting to dress for the 'Nutcracker' children, but I think it's personal and don't feel it in any way myself; it's a good way of feeling like you pay homage to the performers if that's a way you want to do it. I'm going to see the Los Angeles Ballet's 'Nutcracker' at Royce hall next week, and don't plan to give what I wear any special attention in terms of what's on stage--the weather will have more to do with it than anything else. Nor did I at last year's NYCB 'Nutcracker', where it was freezing in the theater. If you dress up, it's still because that's what makes you feel comfortable. Since I pay a lot of attention to the way I dress every day anyway, I feel somewhat dressed up even if it would be technically casual to someone else; I'm not concerned with what they think of it, and don't expect them to be concerned with what I think about them. The performers simply don't care how the audience is dressed, just so long as the front seats have a reasonable number of formally dressed types. I do think 'physical comfort' to the point of wearing sweats is dreadful. Equally important is not wearing heavy perfumes and colognes to annoy nearby audience members. Also taking baths, which does not always happen in the 4th Ring.

I do agree with those who talk about differences in place and part of theater in which you're sitting. That's the only place I'd make a difference and with my own attire as well. Sitting in the important expensive seats or at a gala or opening, one ought to dress up in the traditional sense. I see nothing wrong with jeans if they're paired with a jacket and a dress shirt, with or without tie, in the lesser seats. Sneakers unless high-style are out unless you're in the cheap seats, and there it doesn't matter whether I dislike dirty tennis shoes, because people are going to wear them--at the Metropolitan Opera House here, people wear anything, and I often find it repellent. If I were to go to the Royal Ballet in London, or the Paris Opera Ballet in Paris I would probably wear a suit, but were I to see either of these in the U.S., I wouldn't see it the same way, unless in the best seats or at one of the festive performances. (If I went to a performance of Wagner at Bayreuth, I would dress up no matter where I sat, but wouldn't go so far as to buy new clothes for it, because nobody is going to care unless you know people; in that case, it's social and you go and pay through the nose if you don't want to be out of place).

It has a lot to do with pride and confidence, so that just so you're not wearing anything too flashy and that's very clean, you're usually all right unless you're involved in it in a social way, sit in the important seats, or are at a gala. In the 4th Ring at NYCB, I've sat next to perfectly gross people, yet some of these were 'dressed up', and it had not helped. But I don't think it's of any importance, at least in the U.S., to try to dress way, way up as in the 19th century, unless the occasion is set aside from others as at an opening or the elite atmosphere is built into everything already, as at Bayreuth. For anything at places like City Center, or any modern dance spaces, it doesn't matter what you wear, you'd match the singular unattractiveness of the place by dressing down, I would think, and that's what people usually do--I've even seen well-known choreographers at performances of other choreographers, and they were even wearing the dirty sneakers.

[kfw]

If you dress up, it's still because that's what makes you feel comfortable. Since I pay a lot of attention to the way I dress every day anyway, I feel somewhat dressed up even if it would be technically casual to someone else; I'm not concerned with what they think of it, and don't expect them to be concerned with what I think about them.

I think that at almost any performance there will be people in attendance who for whatever reason rarely go to the ballet, and consider it an occasion, and enjoy seeing people dressed accordingly. It was certainly an occasion for me when I unexpectedly spent an extra night in New York a few years ago and so was able to go back to Carnegie Hall for a second concert by the Kirov Orchestra conducted Valery Gergiev. It probably wasn't an occasion for the college-age kids who showed up in ripped jeans, and their attire offended me. Of course that's an extreme example, at least in my experience.

Having said that, I could probably stand to dress up more. I'm most comfortable in a t-shirt and jeans, but I wear a polo shirt and chinos for ballet matinees and have never felt out of place. For evening performances I replace the shirt with a coat and tie. When we see a matinee of ABT's Sleeping Beauty next month, it'll be an occasion for us because we're taking in-laws, including a young ballet student. I'm going to mark the occasion with a coat and a tie.

[Helene]

When I was a student travelling through Europe, I took an overnight train from Bonn to Munich, arriving in the morning, with plans to take that evening's overnight train to Vienna. After spending a day at museums, I saw a poster for the Munich Opera, which was performing Die Schweigsame Frau, and it noted that there were student rush tickets.

I was dressed in travelling clothes, and although my jeans weren't ripped, they were still jeans. I expected the student rush tickets to be at the back of the back of the theater, when I found, to my chagrin, that my seat was in the middle of the main floor -- the 100+ Deustche Mark ticket section, and that was the price 30 years ago -- in the middle of the aisle of continental seating. If looks could kill... There is no way I would have gone had I known I would be put in the prime section, instead of a partial view highest balcony seat, where no one else would see me.

[carbro]

Equally important is not wearing heavy perfumes and colognes to annoy nearby audience members. Also taking baths, which does not always happen in the 4th Ring.

Thank you!

I've spent more than a few performances fighting the impulse to sneeze because someone near me overapplied her scent. This can be as distracting as chatterers.

[MJ]

So I guess a kilt is perfectly acceptable for the Irish and Scots?

[Mel Johnson]

As long as you keep your knees together if sitting in the 4th Ring Gallery....

[papeetepatrick]

As long as you keep your knees together if sitting in the 4th Ring Gallery....

How extraordinary. I didn't know about that.

[cubanmiamiboy]

He,he...come to the Carnival Center in Miami to see the Bal Harbor society ladies wearing her big furs during 90 degrees nights...

[Helene]

One should keep ones knees together regardless of seat or location. It keeps one from spreading out into other people's space, like the guys on the subway, who take up three seats.

[SandyMcKean]

One should keep ones knees together regardless of seat or location. It keeps one from spreading out into other people's space, like the guys on the subway, who take up three seats.

But.....but.....but....you don't understand.....

I have a wide stance.

[aurora]

One should keep ones knees together regardless of seat or location. It keeps one from spreading out into other people's space, like the guys on the subway, who take up three seats.

But.....but.....but....you don't understand.....

I have a wide stance.

ha!

I always suspected it has to do with some sort of testicular distress--like elephantitis.

I would like to ask one of these wide-sitters, but am afraid it might lead to bodily harm, so I restrain myself.

[Mel Johnson]

One should keep ones knees together regardless of seat or location. It keeps one from spreading out into other people's space, like the guys on the subway, who take up three seats.

And in the 4th Ring Gallery, it helps to preserve that Ancient Gaelic Secret: What does a Scotsman wear under his kilt?

His shoes and stockings.

[printscess]

One should keep ones knees together regardless of seat or location. It keeps one from spreading out into other people's space, like the guys on the subway, who take up three seats.

But.....but.....but....you don't understand.....

I have a wide stance.

ha!

I always suspected it has to do with some sort of testicular distress--like elephantitis.

I would like to ask one of these wide-sitters, but am afraid it might lead to bodily harm, so I restrain myself.

I am here to tell you that one can ask these 3 seaters to shove their legs together and make room for others (and I always mean me) to sit, and live to tell the story

[aurora]

One should keep ones knees together regardless of seat or location. It keeps one from spreading out into other people's space, like the guys on the subway, who take up three seats.

But.....but.....but....you don't understand.....

I have a wide stance.

ha!

I always suspected it has to do with some sort of testicular distress--like elephantitis.

I would like to ask one of these wide-sitters, but am afraid it might lead to bodily harm, so I restrain myself.

I am here to tell you that one can ask these 3 seaters to shove their legs together and make room for others (and I always mean me) to sit, and live to tell the story

heheh. Well I do ask people to move over so I can sit down. I just don't indulge myself in audible speculation as to why they think they need to sit like that!

Sorry about going so ! clearly this is a subject that many of us feel rather strongly about

[ami1436]

Oooof - anyone who has seen me in Covent Garden is obviously excluding me from their description of classy dressers in that theatre! That said, I usually am standing, or sitting towards the back of the Amphi. If I'm sitting further 'forward', I do dress better, and now that I have 'graduated' (kind of) and am usually coming from work, I look bit more respectable. Still, travel and weather dictate. It's about a 15-20 minute *cycle* to the bus or train station - then the journey to London, tube to Covent Garden... and then back, with that darn cycle ride at the end. I'm imagining the cycle ride in a sari. SO not happening.

ngitanjali, at some point, take your Amma to see La Bayadere, and then let me know what she thought.... it was a Big Event for my mum.