I Went To The Ballet! by Aiden H. '28

This past weekend, I went to my first ballet!

Unfortunately, my previous level of knowledge of ballet was at best mediocre. I know vaguely of tutus and the word pirouette, but I haven’t even seen The Nutcracker,⁠01 I was supposed to go in kindergarten but I VIVIDLY remember lining up single-file to get on the bus, and on the way out of the classroom I threw up all over the rainbow carpet and had to go home sick for the first time much less anything more. In fact, the only live ballet I have ever been to is my sister’s dance recitals,⁠02 my sister herself was not in ballet, but all the groups had one recital when the three-year-old ballerinas would come hobble around and everyone would aw (including me).

This was of course until people from floorpi⁠03 my floor in east campus informed me that day-of tickets to the Boston Ballet are only $20, and they were planning to go. With nothing better to do and $20 to spare, I headed off to the Citizen’s Opera House!!

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The Opera House itself was stunning enough to deserve a visit, but when I tell you the ballet itself, for lack of a better word, completely and utterly GAGGED me.

The show we saw is called “Jewels”, which is a three-act ballet created by George Balanchine, cofounder of the New York City Ballet, aka one of the biggest names in ballet ever, aka head honcho (RIP). Each act is represented by a different jewel, each of which corresponds to a city with a distinctive ballet style and in which Balanchine lived.

First was “Emerald”, representing Paris. The set was completely minimalistic, decorated only with a green backdrop. From there, dancers came in what my friend says is “traditional French ballet attire”, meaning fluffier tutus instead of skirts and longer shirts for the men. The style itself was very…flowery? Instead of being high energy, it was more of a faerie aesthetic, with a lot of focus on the arms and the artistic nature of the body (as opposed to technique or hype factor). The orchestral arrangement (performed by a live orchestra!) was very spring.

Second was “Ruby”, representing New York City. This was by far my favorite act, and I feel like most of the crowd felt this way! This featured what I can only describe as faster and more flashy dances. The music was more upbeat with a swinging, jazzy style. The dancers were focused on getting the most from the movements themselves, performing a bunch of shorter routines in groups of twos and threes. This also features a duet that was absolutely one of the greatest things I have ever seen–there was actively clapping starting halfway through because everyone was so impressed. We also got the principal dancers for the duet, so it felt even more special.

Third was “Diamonds”, representing Russia. Meant to highlight the difficulty and technique of ballet, this act very much felt like a large ballroom dance, fit with a bedazzled chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There were the most people on stage (about 30) doing a bunch of synchronized and symmetrical moves across the stage. It felt much more theatrical than championing a solo routine, which made it more of a spectacle to watch. And, of course, the grand finale finished with a series of difficult moves by soloists that I could not begin to name, but that I know if I ever had to put my body in those positions (much less hold them for the minutes they did), I would leave Earth.

Not only do I feel a newfound appreciation for ballet (and ~the arts~), but I also gain a sense of wonder at any live performance. Even getting dressed up and going into the city, only to be greeted by the warm, sparkling opera house is enough for me to be taken completely out of the MIT bubble I’m constantly trapped in. I want to go out, I want to have experiences and be a person in a city doing all of the things that one can. Each minute at my desk feels like a minute wasted doing everything outside of here. There’s a sense of doing something–taking the T, seeing a movie, going to a restaurant, seeing a show–that makes me feel so adult, so city, whereas most of the time I feel like a soul tethered to my desk chair, questioning why I do things like MIT in the first place. But then it’s that city aesthetic, of being an “adult” in the real world that pulls me back in. Of waking up in an apartment, going to do work in my fancy adult business clothes that were reasonably expensive, going home at 5 to do things like cook a real dinner and have plans after. As much as I hate to admit it, I want that mystical, unrealistic, I’m-upper-middle-class-and-happily-live-in-a-sitcom lifestyle. In order to get there, I have to do this first, or I would probably just be trapped in my hometown. It might be a fantasy I sell myself, or a facade I buy into, but those are intriguing for a reason: because they’re pretty.

And sometimes I just want to look at pretty things, like jewels.