noting applause

thesis journal entry #2

The audience tonight was composed of La Salle's night students; I was surprised actually, I didn't expect La Salle to have classes for career people. A group of them were even deaf-mutes, so they didn't hear the music, but that didn't seem to kill the experience for them. The organizers prepped the audience before the show about how to be an audience for ballet, including encouraging them to clap when they felt impressed with what was going on onstage. It was interesting to notice that they enthusiastically clapped each time a difficult-looking lift was done, or when anyone did fouette turns (really fast turns in one spot with one leg propelling the body around - fouette means "to whip"), or when we kicked our legs up really high. I don't think they knew quite how to react to the boys, so there wasn't really any applause when the boys did their tricks ("tricks" is colloquially what we call the difficult steps for male dancers). They did clap enthusiastically for Nino after his "Sa Ugoy Ng Duyan" solo, but then solos should get that kind of attention. Overall, the audience were receptive and attentive and honestly appreciative. They weren't going "Whooaaaa..." all the time, like the six-graders did.

We finished the show with Classical Symphony, which was choreographed by Anatoli, mainly according to the Classical Ballet aesthetic of pure lines and prettiness. I was thinking, while putting on my tiara for this piece, that if I were to write a paper or review this for publication, I would point out that it was called Classical Symphony yet the music Anatoly uses aren't quite pieces from the Classical period, whether from the Classical period of music or the Classical period of Dance. Still, it works as a showpiece; nobody from the audience I think is going to nitpick about that.

At one point of the first dance (Classical Symphony has four dances in it, an entrada, two variations, and a coda, but we only performed three dances tonight), towards the end, the girls are doing swift passe retires while the boys are jumping temps leves with entrechats, and as everyone is moving as one big unit, the audience erupts into applause. If you're going to show ballet to people who probably have never seen any ballet before, pieces like Classical Symphony is probably what they're expecting and what they'll be most appreciative of.

Near the stage, a few rows from the front, sat a little girl, perhaps the daughter of one of the working students. Every so often, my eyes would be drawn towards her because her arms would be slowly flailing every which way, as she was dancing along with us. It was the cutest thing.