What was the first ballet that you ever...

[Doris R]

Okay, the first was a Nutcracker ... ;)

but after that I was in my 30's and two of my daughter's dancing friends' mothers and I took our 11 year olds to see ABT performing Romeo & Juliet at the Kennedy Center. Marianna Tcherkovsky (I'm sure I've butchered her name) was Juliet. I remember the girls wanting to wait around to get her autograph, but she didn't exit inside. We were starting to leave when she pulled up in her car to help her mother who was in a wheel chair into the car. The girls cautiously approached her and she was so lovely and gracious and wonderful to them. Just what I believe a ballerina should be. I'll never forget her kindness to these three star-struck little girls

[primapink26]

Well the first ballet i went to was actually the Nutcracker;) however i have also been to Swan Lake and I absolutely LOVED it. the dancing is so beautiful as well as the music!

[tutu14]

My first ballet was Nutcracker. I took my 3 year old daughter to see it. That was the day she decided she was going to be a professional ballerina. I remember it vividly because we were in the first row of the balcony and she couldn't see over the railing. She spent the entire performance sitting on my lap absolutely mesmerized by the whole thing. Since then we have seen lots of ballets.....not sure which the next one was but I think it was Sleeping Beauty, possibly with Karen Kain.....my daughter's memory is much better for these things than mine:)

L.

[Tessa]

My first ballet (other than Nutcracker) was a mixed rep program at Pennsylvania Ballet when I was 11 (1988?). The only portion I remember was a ballet by Lynn Taylor-Corbett that I think had something to do with human rights violations. The house lights stayed on for the ballet's first few minutes- I've always wondered whether that was accidental or intentional, though I presume the latter. ;)

The first ballet I saw that I really liked was Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream (also performed by PA Ballet).

[BW]

It's fun to read this thread and get a peek into everyone's first time...

Tessa, I loved your comment about the first ballet you saw that you "really liked"! Isn't it a good thing you had another shot at enjoying yourself? ;)

[Mary J]

I was just finishing my freshman year in college when the Royal Ballet tour stopped at the Old Met in New York. This was (okay, do the math) May 1965 and the first ballet I saw, from the very top row of the Family Circle, was Giselle with Fonteyn and Nureyev. Could I see much? No. Did I care? Not really - I was just happy to have a ticket! The performance seemed magical. The second act had me spell-bound.

[BW]

Mary J - I think my sister may have been up there near you in '65! ;) But what made you decide to attend the ballet for the first time that night? For my sister, I'm sure it was the dansuer noble, himself.

[Mary J]

BW - There had been an enormous flood of publicity about Nureyev including fantastic covers on the major news magazines. I knew nothing about ballet but it was, indeed, Nureyev that started it all for me! He was breath-taking to watch, and phenomenally fast. Giselle is probably a great ballet for someone unfamiliar with the art, because there is such a good mix of dance, drama and music.

Six months later we had the Royal Danish Ballet at the New York State Theatre, and I got great seats for most performances so I began to see ballets from much closer range. At that point, although I still idolized Nureyev, I became an admirer of Henning Kronstam (see Alexandra's fabulous book!) and I would have to say that with all the great dancers I managed to see over the years (Nureyev, Dowell, Bruhn, Barishnikov), Kronstam was the single most accomplished, both as a dancer and actor.

[Mel Johnson]

Mary, I remember that RDB season well, I was entirely hooked by the glamour of sneaking down to town to see the company, and also to see my "TV Hero", Henning Kronstam (eat yer heart out, Marshall Dillon!). He had performed guest shots on the "Voice of Firestone" and "Bell Telephone Hour" with Kirsten Simone, and I wanted to see them more than anybody else. What I got was a real revelation about what the company was about (it ain't just Bournonville, but they do it better than anybody!), and an insight into the "types" of balletomanes who were attracted to the Danes, who were very different from the devoted fans of the Russian companies and the Royal. How sorry I was to see that season end!

[BW]

Mary J, thank you for the background information - it makes your story even better! I'm jealous of you, Mel and everyone else who's had such wonderful opportunities...but I love hearing about them.

What's changed so much that we no longer have these "floods of publicity" nor the Bell Telephone Hour, and other types of performances on television - is it that our culture has changed so drastically? I know there are some who will say that we're long past that golden age of yore... but isn't it true that almost every generation thinks that theirs was the best of times? Just a little aside, here. ;)

[Alexandra]

Sorry, BW, but every time someone raises the notion that anyone who thinks that the 1960s were a golden age is wallowing in a misremembered nostalgia, I'm here to say no. And I wasn't watching it at the time! There are high points and low points in dance history -- or that of any other art form, and while there are always good moments/artists and bad ones in any given year, there are eras that go down in history as great ones. And that was one of them. Those who claim, from memory or otherwise, that the Diaghilev Era, or the Romantic Era in Paris were high water marks were not just sighing over their lost youths, either!

[Mel Johnson]

I think that any adolescent who was involved in a professional progression of ballet studies is entitled to start his or her memoirs of this period of life with Dickens: It was the best of times(yaaayyyy!), it was the worst of times(boooooo!)....;)

[BW]

No doubt - I believe you completely!

It was just wishful thinking and envy on my part. If I were drinking a beer, I'd be crying in it for sure.

[BW]

Just thought I'd bring this old thread back to life...in hopes that some of the new people on the board might wax nostalgic and feel compelled to add to this thread.

[Guest Mahler_seele]

I think the first ballet I ever saw was the Swan lake on Laser Disc about 10 years ago when I was 12. My uncle bought it and we saw it at his house...personally I thought it was VERY boring.

The when I was about 18 I saw the swan lake again but live performed by the biggest local ballet corps (Ballet de la Municipalidad de Lima). and I thought it was marvelous this time....maybe it's the thing about watching it live. i didn't hesitate to see it again the next year and also watching it performed by the Bolshoi the year after.

Well that was my first experience with ballet....ever since I haven't been to the ballet many more times (maybe around 10 times) because such cultural programs do not happen often in my country...... but I did see Giselle performed by a Japanese troupe in Tokyo last year when I was living there. I htought it was great. I wish I had the luck to live in NYC or somewhere like that to be able to experience it often...

[BW]

Thanks for your input Mahler_seele. I would have to guess that for a first time viewing watching a ballet on laser disc or any recorded material would probably be pretty boring for me, too. And I agree that there's nothing like a live performance - where you have to dancers in the flesh and the audience has its own energy as well!

Though you may not live in a country where there is a great deal of ballet going on, it sounds as though you've gotten a chance to see some interesting companies in places that many of us have probably not even been to...though I suppose I should only speak for myself on this one. ;)

[Ed Waffle]

Like a few people on this thread I am not counting several "Nutcrackers". They seemed more a part of the Christmas season than a ballet performance as such.

And the first actual ballet performance I attended was "Swan Lake" (what else) in Chicago--either in 1970 or 1971. But that is another story. I wonder if Victoria Leigh made those trips to Chicago with the ABT then?

What I count as the first ballet I attended, though, wasn't even a ballet. It was the Igor Moiseyev Dance Company at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago. I had splurged on orchestra level tickets in the middle of the house. It was a great show. Moiseyev's dancers are trained for ballet (although I had no idea of that at the time, of course) and perform flamboyant folk-based dances that were amazing to a first time observer. Lots of flying through the air, impossibly high kicks, heel clicking, extremely athletic and acrobatic movement, wonderfully colorful constumes. They know how to sell a show.

I remember it so well because it was the first real date that I went on with the woman who is still my wife . I was wanted to impress her so I chose dinner and the Moiseyev. I had no idea that she really liked that kind of dance and had studied it a bit in college.

So it worked.

If you want to impress the woman of your dreams (of someone who may be) take her to the ballet.

[carbro]

I had two grandmothers who took me to Nutcrackers, but I think The Moment came when one took me to see NYCB's Midsummer Night's Dream (probably new at the time) at City Center. I loved the music and Arthur Mitchell's Puck. I was probably about 10 or 11.

The summer I was 11 I spent with family friends in London. I remember them taking me to see "Coppelia" at the Royal Opera House, but I don't remember who danced.

Around 1972-73, I started taking myself to NYCB, then to ABT. First I had a subscription; the next season I kept the subscription and added some extra performances; the third season I cancelled my subscription but took in even more performances. Before long, I had moved to the West Side because I'd been spending so much time travelling to and from the theater.

Like Treefrog, I was in Paris the summer of '73, and like Treefrog, I saw the POB Swan with Makarova and Nureyev in the Cour Carre. (I splurged for a ticket and saw it from "the front.") It was freezing -- probably less than 60 F. -- and during Act I, Nureyev was seated most of the time with heavy blankets over his lap. It was my first vision of Makarova, and I was awed by her supple lyricism. I was also struck by the contrasting styles between the principals on the one hand, and the POB dancers on the other. The stylistic imprints were more distinct then than they are now.

In '76, I was in London and brought a friend to see RB do Swan Lake with Makarova and Dowell. (Dowell had just injured himself; I do not remember who danced Seigfried in his stead.) By the end of the performance, I had seen Makarova dance Odette/Odile in three different productions by three different companies in three different countries!

[Justdoit]

This is why I come to BA--to continue my education! Worldwide experiences to draw from each day. Anyway, I remember growing up in Chicago only being aware of the national companies, Joffrey and ABT, due to the fact that they toured through "our town" each year. Though I had heard of Balanchine and SFB and Suzanne Farrell, etc., I hadn't quite made the connections and it all didn't pertain to me anyway. Who is this NYCB anyway--never saw them! Of course, I was too young to take myself to Ravinia back then. I found out differently when we moved to the east coast and that question was finally answered. Evenso, I very much remember the first ballet I attended at the Auditorium Theater in Chicago. It was a Joffrey mixed bill which included, "The Green Table." I still remember thinking, "this is ballet?" and, liked it immensely.

[diane]

Luckily, my parents had fallen in love with ballet while we were living in Japan in the early '60s.

They had had the good fortune to have seen the Royal Ballet with Fonteyn and a very young Nureyev.

Due to unusual luck, my mother and father were also able to meet with them afterwards.

My parents were both so taken with these dancers - with the whole experience - that they both started taking ballet lessons at a small Japanese ballet studio.

A few years later we were living just outside of NYC.

I believe the first ballet my parents took us (kids) to was either (part of?) Swan Lake or Nutcracker in New York.

I remember both, to some extent; but the the former had a much stronger and lasting effect on me.

We were FAR up and away from the stage. (one of my younger brothers complained that there was "too much velvet";) )

We had binoculars, and passed them back and forth often.

The colors in the spotlight were mesmerizing, the music almost painfully beautiful, the ballerinas looked so delicate - and yet they were doing things I was sure I could never do.

That clinched it for me. :)

-diane-

[grace]

KateB - i agree with you about seeing things alone - sometimes.

victoria - amazing that a family friend introduced you to what has become so important in your life. do you still have contact with that person? did/do you parents realise/know who 'turned on the light' for you? did they appreciate that, or not? - hope this isn't getting too personal: if so, please ignore me!! ;) do you recall what your response WAS to 'the red shoes', at that time?

farrell fan: i have always assumed you were a woman (since i, a female, was a 'farrell fan', too) - so, when i read that after being taken to great ballet by a friend, you married HER, i was slightly taken aback at how frank 'you americans' are, about lesbian marriages... haHAH - the joke's on ME! ;) thank you so much for answering the questions i wanted to ask mel about Opus 34 ~ and i *LOVE* your Nutcracker story!

GWTW - i quite like the idea of *PERFUME BALLETS*.

treefrog - "Rudolf Nureyev and Natalia Makarova, under the stars in the Cour Carrée of the Louvre, age 16, while biking through france" - WOW! what a wonderful experience.

diane: "too much velvet"?

- how is this possible? surely it's like being too rich or too thin? ;)

i have really enjoyed reading people's experiences here, including svenia's recent one. keep going, svenia!

[carbro]

Originally posted by grace

KateB - i agree with you about seeing things alone - sometimes.

99.999% of the time I go alone. Over the years, though, I've met enough like souls that I always have someone to share thoughts with during intermission -- unless I am in a distant city, but sometimes there, too!

[BW]

I'm so glad that both relatively new posters and you "old" ones are coming out of cyber space to add your memories here.

Ed Waffle has just added a new thread in a different forum that should be of interest to everyone as it deals not so much with our collective pasts but our futures. Old people will save ballet, opera and other performing arts

[Redstorm]

I have always loved ballet...my best friend growing up was a dancer and she danced with the SFB in the Nutcracker. I believe that was my first but I really don't remember. Once my daughter became completely immersed in ballet, I bought tickets to SFB Giselle. I was awestruck. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine something so amazing and beautiful. Yuan Yuan Tan was the lead and her dancing and acting were stupendous. We bought season tickets after that and attend any ballet we can. My daughter loves to go to dream of one day being on stage...I go because I am in love with the beauty of it.

[mom2]

Don't know why I didn't see this thread before...last but not least, perhaps?

I didn't dance as a child...heaven knows how my kids got involved...anyway, I digress.

I grew up in Houston, Texas and when I was about 12 or 13 a friend of my parent's invited me to attend the ballet with her. This would have been around 1970, so I'm showing my age, but it was before the Houston Ballet came to be.

Anyway, the ballet I saw was Swan Lake with Fonteyn and Nureyev. Of course I knew nothing about ballet at the time, and we sat in almost the very back row, but I could tell I was seeing something really special. I'm sure there were many bitten by the ballet "bug" with that performance...maybe with me it just skipped a generation!