This is a very exciting day!

I'm going to the ballet with one of my dear friends!! While I love all of the preforming arts, ballet is my favorite. When I lived in Russia, we went to ballets, symphonies and operas regularly. Almost every weekend there was a show to enjoy. The highlight was seeing the Nutcracker at the Большой театр (Bolshoii Theater) in Moscow and then later Swan Lake at the Мариинский театр (Marinsky Theater) in St. Petersburg (although I was a little out of it that night...another story). One of the things that I have sorely missed being back here is the lack of such "culture". I realize it does exist here, but for me it is a rare opportunity since here tickets to such events are so expensive. Even at Russia's two greatest ballet companies (and two of the world's most famous ballets) our tickets were under $20. Most of the other performances we saw were less than $5 or $10. I can do that on a regular basis.... $50-hundreds, isn't possible.

So, tonight I'm seeing Scheherazade: A Thousand and One Arabian Nights (or Шехерезада in Russian, though the word is originally Persian: شهرزاد). This ballet was created by the great Russia choreographer and dancer, (Михаил Михайлович Фокин (Mikhail Mikhailovitch Fokine, or Michael Fokine) composed by Николай Андреевич Римский-Корсаков (Nikolai Andreivitch Rimskii-Korsakov).

Fokine is known as the Father of Modern Ballet. As a dancer he was partnered with the great dancer Анна Павловна Павлова (Anna Pavlovna Pavlova). He later created a solo ballet for her which she loved and became her most famous dance. He quickly became an instructor at the Marinsky Ballet School. Incidentally, he also choreographed the ballet Жар-птица, better known as L'Oiseau de feu (with the great Russian-born composer Игорь Фёдорович Стравинский, Igor Fyordorvitch Stravinskii who was Rimskii-Korsakov's student). I'd love to see that one someday.

Oh, I'm overwhelmed with excitement. Its been about 7 years (how time flies) since I've been to a "real ballet". Though I did have the opportunity to go to an Alvin Alley show a few years ago (which I wish I'd done) but wasn't feeling well that night. We really should do this more often.