From Here to There

Mummy I want to be a ballerina when I grow up! As promised in my Mao's Last Dancer review, I have now attended the ballet.

From Here to There is the first season in the 2010 calendar of the Royal New Zealand Ballet. A collection of three short works with two intermissions, the performance might well be considered a beginners class to ballet - not a bad place for a novice like myself to start.

I surprised myself (I often do) with how quickly I was able to start analysing the performances of the dancers and the company as a whole. While I suppose I am lucky enough to have seen a number of performances of varying types so I at least have a point of reference to start from, those who know me well will attest to the fact that it does not often take long for the critic within me to surface.

I was also surprised (though not by myself) at how much I enjoyed my night. There were some ensemble issues at times and a few wobbly moments from a number of individuals, but overall I was entertained and enthralled.

Being the virginal ballet attendee that I am, I have chosen to group each segment of the concert by the music that accompanied it and also to refer to them as acts. Both decisions I have made are probably incorrect. If you are greatly offended I offer the following remedy: please write to me with your name & address, and I will send you a $5 Telecom phone card so that you can call somebody who cares.

The first act was set to music from Francis Poulenc which, for some reason, reminded me of a fairytale. I believe in conversation during intermission I likened the act to being a little like Benjamin Britten's A Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra - it's a little bit quirky, but demonstrates a number of different elements of the medium, ballet in this case. The costumes, stage and lighting are sparse and subtle with clever use of curtains drifting across the stage allowing dancers to appear from nowhere.

The second act is sublime. Choreographed by New Zealander Andrew Simmons and set to the haunting music of Philip Glass - dance and score become one. It is a perfect melding of music and dancer. The audience held our collective breaths as the piece played itself out in front of our eyes, brilliantly staged and lit so that shadows danced on the walls as dancers twirled centre stage. It is this act that will sell you on the concept of ballet. Judging from the vocal and prolonged applause others felt the same way.

There was an audible gasp from the audience as the curtain rose on act three revealing a solitary dancer dressed in what I'm going to call Carmen Red in the centre of a walled in stage of Bright Star Purple. The act was set to Bach's well known Concerto 1 in D minor and beautiful and fluid demonstrating well the elegance and poise of the dancers, but the true highlight had come and gone in act two.

If you're anything like me (which I hope for your sake you're not) then reading the programme is like looking at the inside of the lid of a box of chocolates, scanning your eyes and fingers over the list of dancers and picking out the one you want for yourself. I'm terrible - I do it at most plays and operas too.

But it isn't only the ridiculously crafted bodies that you should go along for. Ballet really is an art form full of emotion, grace and poise. I am now sold - the ballet can tell stories, can move and affect you. Have a look at The Edge website and you'll see how this evening's entertainment is actually far more affordable than you might have thought.

I for one will be pinching my pennies to try my hand at a full ballet later on this year either with Carmen (with the same music as Bizet's divine opera) or Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker.

Take a chance. You might surprise yourself.

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4 incredibly sexy dancers

PS You'll have all noticed how incredibly restrained I've been when it comes to the subject of the dancers themselves. So that the record is clear - I want one. Who wouldn't?! A bendy ballet boy or girl of your very own...? You know you would.