Glorious glorious carport! What joy I have experienced this morning, to come outside where there is one or two inches of snow everywhere, but my car is clean and dry. There is not even frost to scrape!
I'm really disappointed in my cooking habits since the move. Meaning the cooking doesn't exist. I've made a little of this and that, but mostly we go out a lot. There's always an excuse - I got back from dance class late and don't have the energy to cook. I spent the whole day cleaning the old apartment, let's celebrate! We're going to the ballet, we already planned to go out to Indian food! Ben's sick, so there's no reason to cook for one. It's snowy and cold, let's go out for pizza. And on and on. I think it's partly because I'm tired, partly because I haven't done meal planning, and partly because the kitchen is disorganized and doesn't flow well.
The ballet, by the way, was fantastic. I had not seen Giselle live before. For those of you who don't know the story, or have only seen clips on that one episode of Angel: Giselle is a peasant girl who loves to dance, but has a weak heart (literally). She has an admirier, Hilarion, who is a bit of a prick. She prefers her lover, Loys, who is actually a nobleman named Albrecht. She and Loys become engaged, Hilarion reveals that Loys is a fake, and in fact Albecht is also engaged to a noblewoman. Giselle freaks out and dies from shock and grief. In the second act, Giselle has become a Wili - "vampiric ghosts of betrothed girls who have died before their wedding day." Hilarion visits her grave, the wilis catch him and make him dance to death. Albrecht visits her grave and the wilis make him dance. Giselle pleads for the wilis to spare him, they refuse. He dances until dawn, when the wilis must retreat, and his life is saved. Giselle returns to her grave.
Here's a video clip from another company. The first variation it shows it my favorite, those traveling changements are incredible!
The sets and costumes were really impressive. A couple dancers were having an off night, but overall it was a crisp performance. I was a little disappointed that Maria Mosina was playing Giselle. She's ok, but she played the lead in every performance we saw last season. They have other great dancers who I would like to see featured. They rotate the part of Giselle between three dancers, and Maria just happened to be scheduled for the time we saw it. She's always paired with Igor Vassine, who is pretty good, but our favorite male dancer is Kubo Koichi, and he's too short of Maria, so we haven't seen him in a lead yet either. (Link to dancer bios) Oh well, it was still a lively, engaging show. And I love any excuse to put on a stockings and heels.
