Spectacles | Victoria Goes to Paris

On Wednesday, November 11th, my Histoire de Paris class took a field trip to the Palais Royal area. (Side note: this class is quite strange because everyday we have an all-over-the-place lesson in the classroom, then one or two student presentations, and finally we head out on a field trip to somewhere in Paris. And we, the students, don’t know where we’re going until we leave the classroom. Everything happens so on the spot! It is very unstructured, in my eyes. I don’t think professors or classes are ever this improv in America. Now back to Palais Royal.) And at Palais Royal, we went to that courtyard where there are black and white vertically striped columns of different heights. (I can’t remember what this place is actually called.) I was listening to the professor speak when all of the sudden, Cali brought to my attention that there, in the back of the courtyard, was Hatsune Miku of Vocaloid fame.

Hatsune Miku? Vocaloid? Yes. Vocaloid is a Japanese computer-engineered software designed to allow users to make the virtual character sing. Hatsune Miku, one of the characters, is the most famous and has thousands of videos on YouTube. It’s a bit bizarre.

Anyways, we saw her and ran to see her up close. Near her was a group of Japanese men and women. No idea what they were doing there. I quickly snapped a photo of her and right after that, two men came with a large wooden box and started to pack her away. What?! Well, thank god I snuck away from the class for a minute to take a photo. And the coolest thing was that that night, I was going to see her in concert at the Théâtre du Châtelet. COINCIDENCE?! I think not!

Don’t worry. I did not get in trouble. I even brought my professor to see them pack her away. She was very interested and curious in this character and her performance at Châtelet. (For those who don’t know, that’s a high-class theater.)

I’m not a fan of Hatsune Miku or Vocaloid. But I bought tickets to her “opera” because I was familiar with her and was super curious how a virtual character can have an opera, especially in a very fancy theater/opera house, and because the tickets were pretty cheap. Under 15 euros.

The End:
First: the audience for this show was much more eclectic than I expected. There were men and women of all ages, mainly white, with a lot of Asian adults, young adults, and teenagers. There were even preppy teenage female tourists from England! This was completely unexpected. I thought the audience was going to mainly be Asians, otakus, and teenage boys and girls who are obsessed with Japanese pop culture. Paris never ceases to randomly surprise me, but in a totally good way. That Wednesday night was the second out of three showings. It was a full house.

As for the actual concert, it was so strange, I can’t even really describe it. Three huge screens created a trifold board view of one big image and a transparent screen went over the three. (Terrible description, I know.) It was basically like watching a movie, but with 3D illusions. There was a storyline of some sort. I think it went something like Hatsune Miku thinking about her own eventual death. But to be honest, I had no idea what was going on 80% of the time. Especially because there was another character designed to look like Hatsune Miku who, when she talked to Hatsune, I couldn’t tell which one of them was talking. Everything was a bit choppy.

Oh, in regards to the Hatsune look-alike, there was one scene where Hatsune’s ginormous anthropomorphic mouse friend saw the silhouette of the look-alike buying a drink from a vending machine in a desolate vast and dark land and told Hatsune that it doesn’t like the look-alike because she’s trying to look like Hatsune. Then, the figure started approaching them, walking in a very creepy manner with an increasingly grotesque body the closer you got to see her. I kept thinking, “Oh my god. Oh my god. When she reaches the screen, they’re going to show a sudden up-close shot of her face and it’s going to be just like a horror film.” They didn’t do that. But she was still creepy. And then, in a later scene, they did do a quick shot of her face and my god, it was so frightening. Her face and body were so emaciated and her face was basically a large, stretched open oval mouth with a few razor sharp teeth. I KNEW IT.

The music was very odd. Nothing made for a light, relaxing listen. But I definitely liked it. The whole spectacle was so strange that I really enjoyed it. And if it ever comes out on DVD, I will 100% watch it again. It was an experience.

After the show, because I really enjoyed the concert, I bought the “program.” It was a cute little folder containing some info on the production, an interview, and small images of scenes from the show.

Or known as Swan Lake at Châtelet Theatre in English.

This past Sunday, September 29, I went to a 3PM showing of Swan Lake at Châtelet Theatre by the Ballet National de Chine. Getting cultured in Paris~ I typically don’t go to these shows in NYC (although they are abundant), but something about Paris made me feel the need to go. I booked my tickets a bit less than a week before the actual date of the performance. But there were still plenty of seats available. Thank goodness! I would have been crushed if all the seats were sold out. I paid slightly extra (28.50 euros) for the 2nd cheapest option online. And for the rest of the week, I was super excited.

This is what the theatre looks like from the outside:

This view of the Theatre from outside is not as flattering as other photos I found on Google Images. Ah well. The inside, however, is stunning!

I sat on the 1st balcony, seat B27. The seat was decent. However, there was a pillar that blocked my left view. Fortunately for me, no one sat in the next seat. This seat was right behind the pillar, but if you sit back comfortably in the seat, you can see the whole stage! So for the second act, I moved to this seat. An upgrade for free! (According to the seating charts, this seat in one category level higher than the one I paid for. Score!)

Here are the stunning views of the Grand Salle:

As the lights were dimming at the start of the spectacle

When the performance began, I felt so overwhelmed by the orchestra. Listening to live classical music always gets to me. Especially in a big production like this. All my emotions go haywire at this sound. Really, I felt my throat go dry and my eyes about to tear for no reason. Anyways, I was pretty excited because this was my first time seeing Swan Lake in person. Having listened to the score multiple times before, this was one of my favorite ballets that I had not yet seen.

I know absolutely nothing about ballets, but here’s my opinion on the spectacle put on by the National Ballet of China:
I loved it! It swept me away. Everything felt so magical. I absolutely loved loved loved the costumes and especially the set designs. They were gorgeous. I didn’t watch for technical perfection or acting skills. I just came to have a good time. And I definitely did. The ending scene pulled on my heartstrings. I will admit to one embarrassing thing though. Towards the end of the first act, I suffered from one of my migraine attacks. I held in the pain during the second act, but at the beginning of the third act, I rested my head in between two seats and then dozed off a bit a few times accidentally. 🙁 I tried my hardest to stay awake, but I occasionally knocked out for who knows how long. It felt like minutes, but it could have been seconds for all I know. Anyways, I did not miss much and I caught all the climatic scenes so, in the end, no harm done really.

I had such a wonderful experience going to see the ballet. It’s quite an expensive pastime, but I think it’s worth it. It makes me oh so happy inside. For the rest of my year here in Paris, I will be going to a lot more spectacles. How exciting!

Here are some extra photos: