applause is the last bastion of adult peer pressure. sitting at opening night of the san francisco ballet and we applauded everyone and everything at every turn. i’m all for positive enforcement but it seemed excessive. in between each scene, at the final curtain, at the second curtain, hauling the conductor on stage, the director…by the end i refused to give in to peer pressure any more.

it helped that the last dance was less than spectacular.

i know little of nothing of ballet. this was my first experience in the flesh – spurred on by a pbs special on the sf ballet’s 75th anniversary. with 10 choreographers commissioned to do new pieces i thought this was a perfect chance to expose myself to something new.

so i sat with a friend (a former ballet dancer) and took in the opera house – opulent, gilded – watched people dressed in formal furry and flowing gowns…and, this being the bay area, the occasional person dressed like duckie from pretty in pink.

the first two were interesting…the music melodious and the movement…mesmerizing. i am awestruck by a body’s ability to bend and arch…

my first opera was a comedy and i laughed uproariously. my first ballet, a potpourri of styles, modern edge to a classical craft. i’ll have to go again to see if it truly resonates with me.

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