I am incredibly sore everywhere. My biceps and triceps are sore, upper back muscles that I never knew existed are suddenly making themselves known and my inner thighs and calves that went to their extremes are crying out now... In spite of all this, I feel awesome. It is this sense of absolute and inexplicable delight at feeling completely drained out and exhausted.
And the music... I felt like I was floating in heaven. Kolleen Fischer from the Configuration Dance Studio has some excellent taste in classical music. Every little piece was perfectly chosen to the ballet moves we were executing. There were some well-loved piano pieces and some unknown but absolutely delightful pieces from the romantic and classical period (written for the orchestra but played on the piano). (I really must get hold of her playlist!)
If I were to describe it more precisely, it was like an (exorbitantly expensive at $17) hour of flowing and active super-intense yoga with a minutely detailed French nomenclature set to some brilliant classical music pieces. I guess this is where I am happily blowing through my tax returns.
A relatively inexpensive way to enjoy the grandeur of Shea's is the film series: :::link::: Thinking of going to the live orchestra Sound of Music version 2 weeks from now.
I agree. Shea's is like a grand palace inside. It's really amazing. I went to Shea's to see a couple musicals (Salsa based "In the heights" and "Lord of the Dance") I LOVED Lord of the Dance and sort of hated In the heights. So it's not been a uniform experience.
Actually, I have seen several - although not in a theatre because they are so prohibitively expensive for the really good seats. Reasonable money gets you nosebleed seats that are so far away from the stage that you really can't see a thing and miss seeing the sheer strength and beauty of human muscle in fluid action... or dead sound spots.
The Buffalo Public Library has quite a collection of original Ballet DVDs by technical groups such as the Bolshoi Ballet from Russia or several brilliant fusion and neoclassical companies from NYC. I was addicted to ballet movies, documentaries and taped performances a couple years back and was hell-bent on exhausting the whole library collection, but school came in between and I only completed viewing around 1/2 or maybe 3/4th of them at that time... I checked their catalogue out last month and they have several new ones now. I am inspired again.
I think I am not that excited about going to real performances in person because one ticket costs about as much money as five classes that I could take (pretty much what I am doing now). Out of all the dance classes I have been taking the first class of ballet was perhaps the most demanding and the most satisfying at the same time.
Have you ever seen a ballet performance? I went to see the Nutcracker at Shea's in December and it was fantastic. Everyone looks nice, they have champagne cocktails during intermission, the music and dancing is amazing. Shea's is also a wonderful setting. It costs a mint but if you haven't gone before I definitely recommend you check it out sometime.