THE EXPERIMENT!

Not everyone loves ballet like I do; this I know. Therefore, I decided that while I was here, I would conduct a little experiment on ballet and find out how others, unlike myself, view ballet. What do people who do not possess a love for ballet and have no experience with it, think of the shows, the costumes and the music? How does their overall experience differ from mine? And is ballet unbearable for them to watch, or have they simply never been exposed to give it a real chance?

Today we will find out!

For this experiment I decided to use Swan Lake and Nightmoves--BalletMet's first two shows this season. Being an intern here, I receive two complimentary tickets to the shows, and I gave my second ticket to the person that I would include in the experiment. But, first things first, I had to decide whom I would take to the show.

At first, this seemed a little harder than I originally imagined because I had to take someone who did not particularly have an interest in ballet, but would be willing to see one and keep an open mind. Additionally, I had to pick someone that I knew would be able to give me a genuine opinion and feedback instead of lots of "I dont know." So I basically needed to say to someone, "Hey, I know you're not at all interested in this, but will you give it a shot?"

That being said I decided to go with one of my best friends, Nicole. She has never been to a ballet before and isn't particulary interested in it, however she was open to trying something new and helping me out by being my lab rat for this experiment.

So what are the results of my experiment.........

Surprisingly, she enjoyed both shows! Did she enjoy them to the same degree as me, definitely not (only because I am in love with dance), but she found both of them interesting. She had never been to a dance performance at this level before, so this was a completely new experience for her. When I asked Nicole if she preferred one show over the other, she said that the two were too different to compare and that she enjoyed different things about each of them.

With Swan Lake, she talked about how beautiful the set and cosutmes were, as well as how much she enjoyed watching it at the Ohio Theatre. At first, she was not sure if she was going to enjoy watching such a classical ballet, but was presently surprised by intermission. She also said that some of the music from this piece was really familiar---I think that a lot of people have heard music from famous ballets, but do not realize that it's originally from a ballet.

With Nightmoves, she enjoyed the change of pace from Swan Lake. Nicole explained to me that she did not know ballet could be so modern, but said she really enjoyed watching it being performed like that. She admitted that she was a little confused about some of the pieces during Nightmoves, but still enjoyed it for the most part.

I then asked Nicole, if I had another ticket to give her and she could choose between seeing another contemporary ballet or another classical ballet, which would she choose? She said that as much as she surprised herself by actually enjoying watching such a classical ballet like Swan Lake, she said that she would like to go to another more contemporary show, only because she was so impressed with how ballet could be so modern.

So that was the experiment! I am not only happy with the results , but also that I was able to interest someone else in ballet............I'm spreading the love! :-p

DON'T FORGET!

You can still catch Nightmoves at BalletMet's performance space this weekend through Nov. 21!