Lopatkina's Bayadere

Yesterday evening, I crammed myself onto an extremely hot and crowded public bus, accompanied by my friends Roosa and Juli. The Mariinsky Theater is a popular destination for both tourists and Saint Petersburg natives alike, and the bus is by far the most convenient way to get there. This means that the bus ride to the theater is certain to be a stuffy, toasty, squished experience, where you can barely even move your arms enough to count out the proper change to pay for the bus ticket. Upon arrival at the theater, ninety-nine percent, if not a full one-hundred percent, of the people riding on the bus are certain to get off, and a large portion head off in the direction of the theater's front doors.

Yesterday's uncomfortable bus ride was more than worth it - we got to see la Bayadere with the lead roles performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Andrei Yermakov and it was amazing. In fact, it may just be the best performance I've seen here so far. Lopatkina is absolutely incredible, as close to perfect as it's possible to be while remaining human. Her arms have got to be a few inches longer than the average person's, and she moves them fluidly and smoothly. Her acting skills are fantastic, as is her technique, and there's just something about her dancing that makes you unable to look away. Yermakov is another favorite - his jumps are high and cleanly executed, and his turns are extremely good, too.

Both received a lot of flowers, though Lopatkina most especially. Most or all of the flowers come from audience members, so you can be sure that the dancers who receive many flowers are much-beloved by the people who come to watch them dance. In the picture below, she is the one in the white tutu in the center, holding several bouquets. The basket and other bouquet or two on the ground on the left are also hers! On the right of the picture is Yermakov, dressed in blue, leaning down to place his own flowers on the ground so that he can take another bow.

To make everything just that much better, all three of us got seats - and they were right next to each other. Our student tickets are only good for a spot to stand and watch the ballet, but if there is an empty seat nearby, then we're free to go ahead and have a seat.

When we got our tickets, we were at first a bit disappointed; we had gotten to the theater a bit late and, as such, the better standing spots had already been taken. That initial disappointment quickly turned into a cautios excitement when the show began and the four of the seats nearest us remained vacant. As the orchestra began playing the overture, we sat down, hoping that the people who had purchased the tickets for these seats didn't arrive later on, which would mean that we would need to give the seats up and return to our standing positions. They didn't though, and so we got to watch the ballet from actual seats (a very rare occurrence), we were seated all together (even rarer), and Uliana Lopatkina was dancing (which essentially guarantees that every single ticket for the show is going to be sold long before the day of the performance - and that usually means absolutlely no empty seats). In any case, we were extremely lucky, and quite happy about it, too!

Here I am (in the middle) with Roosa (Finland, on the left) and Juli (Hungary, on the right) SITTING and enjoying the ballet :)