Men not in tights.

Dancing is wonderful training for girls. It's the first way you learn to guess what a man is going to do before he does it.~Christopher Morley.Ditz did not come to the ballet. She does not like men in tights & cod~pieces. Eeeew! Liddy said, "They don't really wear tights ~ do they?" Apparently not. These days they wear briefer than brief shorts in stretch fabric. Not a good look.


We left Dearest & Ditz to their own devices. I might have felt guilty about Dearest only I know he is no fan of modern ballet & he would have hated last night's offering. My Dearest is a traditionalist & he would much prefer Giselle or Swan Lake.

What we saw was With Attitude, Queensland Ballet's present offering. This is 4 short modern ballets & I'm not sure Liddy chose well. Not for me. I had a ball. For her. I think she might have been better off with a more traditional ballet that tells a story rather than the self expressionistic modern offering where everyone seems to spend an inordinate amount of time rolling round the floor.

We arrived early & dined on icecream then meandered over to the Playhouse to find our seats. Because the ushers were rushed, I'm blind & Liddy wasn't paying attention we ended up in the wrong row with someone else's seats. They were very nice about it when they arrived & found us in possession & simply took the seats behind us but Liddy couldn't get over it. I found it hilarious ~ but then I'm easily amused.

The first ballet, Refraction, was awful. There is no other word for it. Just Yuk. Liddy was cross because she felt the idea was good but poorly developed. I just don't like too clever for their own good arty~farty stuff that doesn't work. The dancers also spent a lot of time with their backs to the audience, bending over & this grated with me. It was also the most poorly danced in my humble opinion. Not that I blame the dancers. It must be hard to work with poor choreography but hey, how do up & coming choreographers get a chance to learn from their mistakes if no~one ever lets them make some?

The second dance was Nineteen & we both liked this one. Beautiful costuming, nice dancing. The girls wore long filmy skirts over their leotards & it was all very ethereal & danced to Mozart's music. Couldn't lose with this one really.

The third one, Chant d'Amour, was my pick even before I saw it danced. Seriously, mention something folky & you have my complete attention. Tell me you've combined old folk song with modern dance & I'm bound to be absolutely enchanted. This pas de deux was danced to 2 *fado* [Portuguese folk songs] & was stark, simple & brilliant. As it opened the dancers, all in black, were silhouetted against dramatic red/yellow lighting. Libby was all for keeping the silhouette; I liked it the way it was done. In art, as in everything else, the KISS principle applies.

We then broke for interval & Liddy told me all about the absolutely awful movie Mrs Bean invited her to watch last night. Halfway through it dawned on me she was describing Life is Beautiful. But you've seen that before, I protested. In the original Italian. She doesn't remember. Knowing most of my household they probably walked out & left me to my subtitles on my own! I love Life is Beautiful. Sophie's Choice, now that one gave me nightmares for weeks.

We stayed in our seats while the drinks crowd made a rush for the alcohol & crowd watched. Given we had 5 kids, & Dearest broke his back in the middle of raising them, we've never had the money to be *culture vultures*. Liddy is a very straightforward, uncomplicated young person & watching her reaction to the *culture vulture* crowd made my day! The lady beside her was at the ballet to be seen & spent the entire evening networking & working the crowd. She got Liddy bristling beautifully. Liddy struggles with the arts crowd anyway. Any time she comes to any of Ditz's things she cringes while I find them great entertainment value. Entertaining is, after all, what they do.

Last was Sync. By this time we were both really tired. Liddy's having an awful time at work just now; me, my day just starts far too early. I would have appreciated this piece far more if I wasn't so tired. The syncopated movement & music just hurt my eyes after a while ~ to the point I felt like I was going to fit ~ so I closed my eyes & of course as soon as I did that I wanted to drift off. It was a constant battle to stay awake which was a shame as this was a high energy piece

beautifully danced. I loved the chorus flittering all over the stage on points & Liddy liked how the men worked the bar.

We left promptly given Liddy's tendency to find Brisbane bridges & cross them into unknown regions but without Ditz distracting us I managed to keep Liddy left all the way out of Brisbane & we made it back to the jetty without mishap. She is still deciding what she thinks of the ballet & was contemplating trying live theatre. QPAC is doing The Crucible shortly, which is completely harrowing but such a good play I suggested it. Unfortunately their advertising shows some nudity [as I suspect does the play] & while this does not bother me unduly [apart from feeling for the poor actor so exposed before the masses] it does bother Liddy.

Worse, I got up this morning to find Iss with his nose pushed far, far down into one of Liddy's work shoes. I investigated & shook out a mouse! Oh my! Liddy will have an absolute fit but serves her right for leaving her things lying around. As for the mouse, when I could stand Issi batting it round no longer I rescued it & shoved it outside where it is unlikely to survive but not being tormented to death either. I know. I keep a cat & I'm a terrible softie. It's not a good combination.