Last night we went with my mother to see The Nutcracker, at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham. It was performed by the Moscow City Ballet, and the performance was wonderful – there are some good photos of the show we saw on their website. Some of the ballerinas were improbably thin – particularly the lead – and it was hard to understand how they had the energy to dance for so long. Their dancing skills were amazing though – we were seated near the front and so had a good view of things. The backdrops were very pretty, with tiny twinkly lights and paintings of snow-covered houses.
And the costumes! They were amazing – I think there were perhaps 40 ballerinas, and a few costume changes. Someone must be very busy laundering and caring for everything. While we watched the dancing I thought about how it had been someone’s job to design and create each costume – and to sew on all the sparkly bits and the layers and layers of tulle. I’ve found my recent sewing projects quite daunting, and so it’s hard to imagine that the person who created those costumes must also have started out with the same basic sewing work that I do.
I’m very very envious. I love ballet but can never persuade anyone to go with me to a performance.