Booty Shorts, Baby Swans & Bee Swarms

A trip to NYC this weekend was a treat that was long over due. We met up with Tracdc, Satan and Satania in the Poconos and rode in their slick hybrid car into the city. The weather forecast was a nasty one but we were lucky that the rain didn't really start until we were a few blocks from the underground parking garage.

The parking garage we love in Lincoln Center allows you to park your own car and retain the keys. Using this lot has saved us trouble and worry many times. We have helped Ravenboy move in to School of American Ballet by borrowing Toolman Luke and Maga11's van by parking there and being able to access the van multiple times over the day. Using our favorite garage has allowed me to change clothes for an evening performance after exploring the city most of the morning in more casual clothes. Another great thing is you don't have to worry about a parking attendant scratching your car or leaving the lights on.

Saturday it was great to take advantage of the underground lot because we didn't have to go outside in the pouring rain. We used the many underground walk ways to explore the different buildings at Lincoln Center. We popped by the stage door but nothing was going on, we walked to Avery Fisher Hall because some construction had closed the bathrooms we were counting on near the Met Opera House and we snaked our way into the crowded Met Opera House lobby to buy some future performance tickets and get in to see the matinee performance of Swan Lake.

We had time to shop a couple of the little boutique tables that had the stars shoes on sale. We enjoyed champagne and treats on the grand tier level before getting out seats in the 3rd row of the orchestra. We played with the sleeping opera dialog viewers in the seats in front of us when we tired of looking at the grand surroundings. The Metropolitan Opera House has 3,800 seats plus 195 standing room places, making a total capacity of 3,995. For ballet performances, the size of the orchestra pit can be decreased and another row of 35 seats added at the front of the auditorium. The huge lake-like drape of a scrim hid the large stage. The proscenium is 54 feet wide and 54 feet high. The distance from the curtain line to the back wall of the main stage is 80 feet, and the height of the stage to the rigging loft is 110 feet.

Ravenboy had performed solo roles over the past 2 nights and was a couple of minor roles for the matinee performance we were attending. When he finally learned his casting for the performance we planned to attend he sarcastically said, "Oh great, you get to see me in booty shorts and a fake mustache." When I told him where we we sitting he was even less pleased we would be seeing costuming he felt was unflattering. He was still gentleman enough to note our exact seats and promised to project to us during the performance.

This might be the 6th time I have attended a performance of Swan Lake. It's fine except for all of the white tutus that make me want to fall asleep. But a ballet is a ballet and we shouldn't hope for anything different. Satan joked, "I didn't realize there would be so much dancing." The opening prologue was text book except for the crowd going absolutely crazy with the first appearance of Veronika Part, the Swan Princess du jour.

The scene in which Ravenboy did most of his dancing was next and it was the celebration of Prince Sigfried's birthday. Sporting booty shorts and what Tracdc called faerie boots, Ravenboy danced his heart out as a peasant. He helped to heft out a huge maypole and presented it a graceful gesture of a raised hand (and just a hint of his tattoo showing out of his cuff.) We enjoyed watching one of Ravenboy's good friends, Blaine Hoven, perform the role of Benno - the prince's buddy. The peasants get into the wine at some point and the dancing gets more interesting for them. A shocking moment was the conclusion of a series of tosses and catches of one peasant girl. Jackie Reyes was being tossed and caught exactly down a row of peasant men until the last toss. It was either the last fellow was not in place or the second to last fellow who was tossing her didn't /couldn't look. Ms. Reyes was thrown into the air and landed partially on a chair. It looked painful and was the most horrifying thing I have seen happen in an American Ballet Theatre production. We found out later that she is fine and her neck was just a little sore. The peasants danced on and closed the scene with random shenanigans, Ravenboy, wine goblet in hand, vaulted from a wall just as the scrim drew closed.

The rest of the production was, as Ravenboy might put it, text book. I will say Veronika Part was the best white Swan Princess I have ever seen, Maria Riccetto and Misty Copland were great Cygnets and Marcello Gomes the most deliciously evil von Rothbart. Conductor David LaMarche must have had someplace he wanted to get to because he kept a blistering tempo throughout the matinee. This bought us 20 extra minutes for a terrific meal at Ollie's Noodle House. The rain had ended and our walk to and from the restaurant was a nice stroll up Broadway. We got back a little before Ravenboy's post production rehearsal was over to wait by the stage door.

We saw a few stars and some of friends walk by. Most of them were hustling trying to avoid the hag who hangs out there harassing the dancers for their autographs. Ravenboy says she sells them on ebay. Ravenboy finally came out and took Tracdc, Satan and Satania backstage. Tracdc even got to drink out of one the the golden wine goblet props.

The trip home was one of the smoothest out of the Lincoln Tunnel and only a bit of a storm slowed out progress in New Jersey. We got home and were able to enjoy the rest of our weekend hanging out with Mososo Kruppe. Something I have to share is a photo of something we had never seen before. A swarm of honey bees are on a multiflora rose bush on the edge of our field. We watched them come and go and dance their bee dances for quite a while as the football sized swarm undulated in the stiff breeze. An astounding vision of a mass of honey bees.