bolshoi ballet

we weren't the most organised of tourists. to be fair, i didn't think the mister would be interested in ballet and tentatively broached it half-expecting him to say no. but a little part of me did think it was payback time after he sat me down for football olympics at wembley during london2012. seeing how one of our first dates was orchestra at the esplanade, you'd think it'd bode for slightly more highbrow date ideas. alas they were but free tickets and i misread the mister's so-subtle-actually-unintentional cues of, "hey i've never been to a classical music performance..." without realising that i'd be serendipitously gifted two tickets the very next week. i mean, when someone says, "oh i've not watched XYZ movie yet" isn't it date-talk for "i want to watch XYZ movie with you!" but back to the ballet. it was on our walking tour that elena helped promote a random panhalder's scalped tickets to the group. i was tempted but wary, deciding that we should try to buy tickets from an official source. no such luck and the sour-faced ticket women stuck in their little ticket booths only smiled when they said it was sold out. defo some major schadenfreude going on there! our last resort was the park hyatt concierge and the mister resigned himself to being ripped off. after all, happy wife, happy life. 

so you can imagine our sheer delight and disbelief when dimitri the miracle worker found us tickets at 6pm for the 7pm performance. better yet, these were first row, dead centre! even our olympic tickets were second row haha. was telling the mister that now i'm accustomed to not having to peer over the top of peoples heads, it's going to be increasingly difficult to find satisfactory seats ;) expected to pay a premium but when we got to the theatre and clocked the price chart, we paid the list price for our seat category. now i don't want to demystify fortuitous provision but goodness knows what goodwill dimitri was riding off to score such sweet seats :) plus points for park hyatt!

the theatre was ornate and the orchestra pit was so big we were actually an optimum distance from the stage. all these photos were taking, for once, without zoom! yay!

the ballet was 'the bright stream' about a rural farming community all abuzz with the arrival of some big city dancers, and the mistaken identities and comedy of errors that ensues. light-hearted and excellently executed. i've literally been wanting to watch the bolshoi since i was four and my ballet teacher sang their praises. promptly forgot about this long-held dream and it only hit me when we got to russia that ohmyword, i could actually catch them in the flesh! short-term memory and delayed gratification is the name of the game.

there were five curtain calls - russian determinatoin at its finest. the more enthused of the audience just made their way to the front row after the curtains closed and stood there clapping in unison until the leads made another appearance. and another, and another... the mister and i sat there transfixed, curiously taking moscow theatre-etiquette in and wondering about the demographic of the audience.

stumbled out into the dusk and took a slow walk to nobu for dinner. ironically he's not been to nobu london but seems determined to visit the nobus around the world (milan, dubai, moscow).