I’ve always been a fan of dance, in particular the ballet, and have been fortunate enough over the years to have seen a number of excellent performances in Australia. The idea of telling stories not with words but with movements and music is awe inspiring to me.
So how could I resist when I saw a poster at Edinburgh train station advertising Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty? I couldn’t, of course, but I was coming to the end of my trip and money was in short supply. I had another week in which I needed to feed myself and Katy without food at least every three hours is not a happy Katy.
So what to do?
My Italian bred, Scotland-living host, Beatrice, and I went to the magnificent Festival Theatre to assess the situation for that evening’s show. It was my last night in Edinburgh and Beatrice had never been to the ballet before, so our fingers were crossed.
Luck was with us that day as it would seem, when we were told we could not only get tickets but, being after noon on the day of the performance and being the students that we are, tickets would be 10 pounds. TEN POUNDS I TELL YOU!
On receipt of our tickets, we saw the words ‘restricted view’ stamped in bold at the bottom, but were not at all disheartened. Did I mention they were 10 pounds?
The performance was beautiful and the costumes were outstanding. Visually, it was a masterpiece of a show and Tchaikovsky’s music never fails to disappoint.
As for our seats, well, I’ll leave it up to you to decide how restricted our view was:
Curtains closed before the performance
Probably the best seats I’ve ever had in my life!
I leave you with a trailer for The Sleeping Beauty so you can see some of the production in action.
storytelling nomad 
Enjoying this! I used to dance professionally in Russia.. thanks for posting this
el
My hat goes off to you, El! I’m in total admiration of anyone who dances professionally after seeing my best friend work her ass off for years of training. It’s a truly beautiful art.
I’m not into ballet, but it looks wonderful. I’m glad you got to see it. :)
Thanks Nila! I really did find it wonderful :)
Isn’t the Festival Theatre incredible? I saw their production of The King and I earlier this month. Such a beautiful theatre.
A beautiful theatre it is indeed. There’s something quite majestic about old theatres with their dimmed lighting and lavish decor. The ambiance is magical.
I’m jealous!
I’m jealous of myself. I wish I could go back and do it all again! :)
That view looks to be about where I sat when I saw Wicked on stage. I sat in the very last row of the tallest balcony! It wasn’t too bad, though, except for the odd feeling of looking down on the play.
I usually get seats in the stalls, but here we were in the second row of the upper circle, and it really was an amazing view. Not for those afraid of heights though, I’m sure!
I saw Wicked a couple of years back…amazing show! Did you enjoy it?
I loved it. :-D
Ballet has always been a frustration of mine. I stopped dancing years ago and I miss it every day. Thank you for posting this Katy! :)
I did ballet until I was about 12. I loved it, but as I got older it became more and more competitive and less and less enjoyable. I understand now that I was probably at the wrong ballet school; the teacher was a real meanie with the attitude that if you weren’t going to pursue ballet professionally then don’t bother coming at all. I’ve never been a competitive person when it comes to any kind of sport, but I am disappointed that I didn’t pursue it longer. That said, I realise there would have come a point anyway where I would have had to either put in more work and training to get better, or stop. I watched my best friend pursue dancing for many years, and I understand the level of commitment it requires – something I was never particularly prepared to give.
Perhaps one day you’ll put on your points again? :)
Lucky. I would love to see a ballet someday. Every year, I say I want to go see the Nutcracker and every year, I miss it.
Good choice! I haven’t seen it live yet either, but would absolutely love to. Maybe next time.
Oh so lucky – it must have been amazing!
I loved it! Thanks for stopping by Anita :)
Restricted? Those seats look brilliant! What fun! :)
I know, right? We had an excellent view!
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