One of the many things I have really enjoyed while I’ve been here is going to the Ballet. I love the Ballet in Columbus and I was curious to see what the national ballet troupe would be like here in Korea: I wasn’t disappointed!
Then my next visit to the Ballet was this past Saturday! Saturday Gabi and I headed over to the Seoul Art Center to see the KNB perform Swan Lake!
I was shocked to see that the music was going to be performed by a live orchestra! I was so excited!
The ballet itself was wonderful minus the ending. They performed the Yuri Grigorovich choreography which completely changes the original ending. I’m not going to lie, I always like a happy ending but hey, don’t change the story.
The best dance scene by far was with Odile, Rothbart and the Prince. That whole scene was really well done! Actually, the enter second half of the ballet was better than the first but this scene stood out in my mind.
I also have to comment on the staging as it was really beautiful! Most of the time in Columbus the stage is pretty bare or don’t change at all. But here the backgrounds for Swan Lake were both elaborate and changed throughout the storyline. I really liked the use of screens that could drop down for shadowing or towards the end, to display Odette in the background as the prince confesses his love to the wrong girl.
Overall it was a really great performance. The music was especially strong, thanks to the live orchestra.
My one main complaint, and this didn’t happen at the other performances, is that the troupe was constantly asking for applauses. I mean, really? they even did a whole ordeal at intermission where everyone came out and bowed…. It wasn’t even the end of the performance. And then, they came out AGAIN at the end of the ballet. Not to mention the bows during the actual storyline. I have to say, this was pretty tacky on the KNB’s part. I was highly displeased and I will be interested to see if they do it again for the Nutcracker. So yeah, that is really my only complaint about the night. Lol.
Next up is the Nutcracker! YAY! Gabi and I are going to go and see it on Christmas Eve! Can’t wait! If you’re interested, tickets to the Nutcracker are still available and run through Christmas Day!
T&S
K.C.
I first saw Cinderella in January and then Tchaikovsky in February. Both were really good! Tchaikovsky was the better of the two but I really enjoyed both!
Then my next visit to the Ballet was this past Saturday! Saturday Gabi and I headed over to the Seoul Art Center to see the KNB perform Swan Lake!
I was shocked to see that the music was going to be performed by a live orchestra! I was so excited!
The ballet itself was wonderful minus the ending. They performed the Yuri Grigorovich choreography which completely changes the original ending. I’m not going to lie, I always like a happy ending but hey, don’t change the story.
The best dance scene by far was with Odile, Rothbart and the Prince. That whole scene was really well done! Actually, the enter second half of the ballet was better than the first but this scene stood out in my mind.
I also have to comment on the staging as it was really beautiful! Most of the time in Columbus the stage is pretty bare or don’t change at all. But here the backgrounds for Swan Lake were both elaborate and changed throughout the storyline. I really liked the use of screens that could drop down for shadowing or towards the end, to display Odette in the background as the prince confesses his love to the wrong girl.
Overall it was a really great performance. The music was especially strong, thanks to the live orchestra.
My one main complaint, and this didn’t happen at the other performances, is that the troupe was constantly asking for applauses. I mean, really? they even did a whole ordeal at intermission where everyone came out and bowed…. It wasn’t even the end of the performance. And then, they came out AGAIN at the end of the ballet. Not to mention the bows during the actual storyline. I have to say, this was pretty tacky on the KNB’s part. I was highly displeased and I will be interested to see if they do it again for the Nutcracker. So yeah, that is really my only complaint about the night. Lol.
Next up is the Nutcracker! YAY! Gabi and I are going to go and see it on Christmas Eve! Can’t wait! If you’re interested, tickets to the Nutcracker are still available and run through Christmas Day!
T&S
K.C.
