Letters from the Equator

royal opera house
Originally uploaded by jaremfan.

I went to see Sleeping Beauty at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London a week ago. Lee Lian wanted to go, but was struggling to justify the cost of the tickets. But we went anyway, and it cost us only like GBP14 for the day tickets, which was okay.

The picture you see on the right is where we were seated. If you move further towards the stage, it gets more expensive.

I found out there were many variations of Sleeping Beauty performed in the past at the Opera House. The one they were showing today happened to receive some critical acclaim, so I was looking forward to something quintessential.

Of course, I didn’t know what to expect. I hadn’t been to a ballet before. But I guess you wouldn’t want to start by watching bad ballet.

There are a few things I observed to appreciate about ballet. Firstly was the music. In particular, Tchaikovsky’s own classic of the same name. The next thing was the choreography and solos. And finally, the props and the little storytelling details.

I would watch another ballet, but I think I would skip Sleeping Beauty in exchange for something more modern or adaptive. It’s just a primer to the world of dance, for me anyway.

Still, I’d recommend this ballet to any plain Joe out there, just for the experience.