The Mosco Ballet Comes to Nuoro

A wonderful Christmas, much of which was spent in the company of Maria Rita's extended family, was rounded off by a visit to Nuoro's concert hall 'Teatro Eliseo' on the evening of Sunday December 27th to see the Moscow Ballet dance to Tschaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite. Maria Rita was very keen to see it as she had practised ballet for several years as a teenager and young woman and such shows are rare in Nuoro! Although I'd been to a few classical music concerts before I had never actually been to watch a ballet and didn't know quite what to expect. Well, visually it was stunning and you couldn't help but admire the grace and athleticism of the dancers and, in the case of the male dancers, their strength too. I was reminded of something my late father said to me when I was about 10 or 11 years old and I was never happier than when I was kicking a football about. I had been rather dismissive about ballet dancing being a manly activity when my father said, "you'd be surprised how much fitness, strength and skill is required in order to be a male ballet dancer. Probably more than is needed to play football." After seeing the male lead effortlessly lift the female lead above his shoulders, and turn with such elegance and precision during this performance, those words and the obvious truth of them came back to haunt me. Ironically, I was also reminded of something a young footballer said to me many years ago, about how some ballet training was a huge help in strengthening the muscles around his ankles, with which he was having some problems. All in all, it was a thoroughly enjoyable and uplifting evening.