The Review - Sleeping Beauty

Anyone who knows me, or has seen the way my feet tap when there is the slightest beat to be heard, knows about my love of dancing. One of my early aspirations as a little girl was to be a ballerina (as is probably the case for 9 out of 10 girls under the age of 5), but since my love for dancing grew as I got older, it still amazes me that it took me until I was 23 to see my first Ballet.

Perhaps it was my natural inclination to musical theatre which has prevented me all these years, and yes I have to admit the glitz and glamour of Broadway will always be my first and strongest love when it comes to the theatre. So last Saturday I rectified my uneducatedness in regard to ballet, when Rebekah, Alina and I went to see Sleeping Beauty.

The main purpose of course was to celebrate Alina's fast approaching marriage to Luke's youngest brother Michael, a kind of cultured hens' night if you like. They are getting married on the 16th November, which is very, very soon! And I have to say, Alina is a welcomed addition to the Tysoe Tribe. She oozes creativity and like Michael is an incredible artist. In fact, you can check out her art on her blog snowlullaby. She is also an extremely caring and loving person. Anyway, where was I... oh yes, the ballet. Oh but first, you have to see what we wore:

Alina, me and Rebekah

I'm actually doing Rebekah's makeup for the wedding - she's the bridesmaid. I agreed to do it before I realised I had never really done anyone else's makeup except for my own! Luckily it's not that much different, and fortunately Bex tends to like how I do my makeup.

But of course you can't go to the Ballet on an empty stomach. So we went to the restaurant Foxglove on the waterfront for a pre-theatre dining experience.

The food was was amazing both in taste and value. $45 for: bread (with the most amazing butter in the world), an entree, a main and a chocolate truffle to take away. I think I could quite honestly eat this snapper every day for the rest of my life.

And now to the ballet, what this review was originally supposed to be about... sidetracked much?

Anyway I loved it! The costumes were amazing.

Just 30 dancers and over 200 costumes, and watching it I suddenly had a strong urge to go out and buy a beautiful tutu.

I'll have the red one please, no wait the green one. Can I just have them both?

The sets were also amazingly done, each new one bringing a unanimous gasp of approval from the audience. 

And of course the most memorable and breathtaking part of all was the dancers. What talent, what grace. As Rebekah commented, at times the males jumped so high you wondered if they were going to come down again.

However, the thing that really brought a smile to my face was a little girl behind us, who asked how Sleeping Beauty had done a dream sequence with the Prince, but still needed to be woken with true love's kiss.

"If she's still asleep, how did she do all that dancing?"

Priceless.

Needless to say, I do not think this will be my first and last Ballet... now, where are my dancing shoes?