I love watching men dance. Male ballet dancers are rare at the amateur level. When I first started taking ballet a few years back, we had a boy in our class and I was fascinated to watch how the same steps that looked graceful and delicate on the female form, looked totally different when performed by a male. It wasn't a deliberate change in presence. The steps were not altered in anyway. Our two body types are simply constructed differently and we carry our muscles in different ways. The distinction is markedly obvious when you push your body.
And that difference can be seen in all sports. You're watching it right now every night on the Olympics. Male snowboarders seem to get more air than than their female counterparts. I watched a figure skating pair do a move last night where they each grabbed one of their skates and pulled them up to their heads. Her skate went much higher than his. We're built differently.
But dance is my sport of choice and something that I've always found irritating about ballet is that as much as I love the classics, they generally have a limited cast of men. The corps in those favorites like Giselle, Swan Lake, even the Nutcracker is made up of women. The few men who have distinct roles spend most of their time making the girls look good.
I've been feasting on ballet performances in the past week or so. I had tickets to both the San Francisco Ballet's performance of Swan Lake and tickets to my little dance studio's performance of Peter and the Wolf tacked up on my fridge with magnets, when my co-worker Lara came to me and asked if I wanted to see the Sacramento Ballet's Carmena Burana with her. I thought of the money I had already spent on the San Francisco tickets and almost said no. But what the heck? So I borrowed a dress from Jenny and went out with the girls from work. I knew very little about Carmena Burana and wasn't expecting much. I had heard it was kind of modern and I'm not much of a modern fan.
Little did I know that it would be the best ballet performance I've ever seen.
Complimented by a live orchestra and a live choir, the Sacramento Ballet company was on it that night. They didn't miss a beat. They had minimal costumes. Very few props. And they were absolutely enthralling. I can't even describe the impact this performance had on me except to say that if you ever get the chance to see Carmena Burana, take it.
For a nice change of pace, the cast actually had a balanced number of men and women, and wonders of wonders, they actually let the men dance. There was one particular dancer who you would swear was born with wings. This guy looked like he was more at home in the air than the ground. Jumps, leaps, turns - this guy was in the rafters for the most the night. He had a partner, naturally, and she was very good as well but every time she stepped on the stage, I just wanted to shout at her to get out of the way and let the man dance.
The whole performance was so amazing to me that when we left the theater all I could do was hug Lara and thank her over and over again for inviting me.
Alas the show is over now, so here I am telling you how wonderful it was and there is nothing you can do about it. But don't despair. As I understand it, Carmena Burana is the Sacramento Ballet's signature piece and so it will return. And I'll be sitting in the best seats I can afford when it does. You can come sit next to me, if you like.