The American Ballet Theatre

Thursday’s event was my favorite event thus far. Seeing the ballet was an absolutely incredible experience. The way the dancers moved, the costumes, and the sets were beautiful and unbelievable. The first part of the ballet did not have a story and was a very traditional piece. The costumes were standard ballet tutus and the dance was what one would expect when going to a ballet. However, the way the dancers moved and twisted their bodies with such ease was mind blowing. I particularly enjoyed when the entire company was on stage. The shapes and patterns they formed showed the vision of the choreographer. Our seats were especially advantageous and helped us to see the picture the company was trying to create. Also, the chemistry between the male and female dancers looked effortless. In fact, everything the dancers did seemed effortless. Throughout the entire performance they had very emotional or smiling expressions on their faces as they did movements I cannot even dream of doing. The second part of the ballet had a story that went along with it, and the stage was completely transformed by the set and costumes. Although I found this part of the ballet to be a little boring, the way they were able to communicate the story without any words demonstrated true talent. The dancers were able to communicate emotions, events, and even thoughts through their facial expressions and their movements. The third section of the ballet was interesting to me because of the way they used costumes and a very simple set. When the dancers first came out on stage, I thought there costumes reflected different colors when the light hit them, but then I realized that the front was a purplish-gray and the back was a bright pink. Each pair in the duets had the male in a purplish-gray body suit and the female in the pink body suit, perhaps showing the differences between males and females. The company’s two-toned costumes showed that men and women are also very similar. The movements were very beautiful in this section of the ballet as well, and they were enhanced by the symbolism of the costumes.
One thing that I noticed and was interested by was the fact that none of the men were en pointe. While all of the women were en pointe, the men did standard ballet. It is because going en pointe is considered to be more feminine, or is there a better reason for this difference in technique?