Last Ballet

We saw our last Ballet for a while. We've had season tickets the last 2 years, purchased when Silicon Valley was humming, our house was worth more than our mortgage, and we were both fully employed. We also had season passes to San Jose Rep, and American Musical Theater of San Jose (AMTSJ). Yes, we were living high on the hog for a while there!

Unfortunately, AMTSJ declared bankruptcy mid-season, making our remaining tickets worthless, and eliminating the need to make a decision about renewal for next year. With the economy as it is, we had to limit ourselves to one season renewal anyway.

San Jose Rep won out over the Ballet. We have enjoyed the ballet more than DH ever expected to, but theater is our first love. We almost downgraded our Rep tickets, but decided to stay in our great seats after the stunning Kite Runner show last month. It really left a lasting impression, and reminded us why we love theater so much. The Rep is also a small theater, with a small stage, so even the balcony seats have a great view.

The Center for Performing Arts, however, is so large, that just 16 rows from the front seems like a mile away. Both the San Jose Ballet and AMTSJ performed there. The stage is very deep, and even today, in the front row middle (we are really going to miss these seats), some of the dancing was staged a bit far back.

So, in farewell, I am listing below some of the people and things we are going to miss about our Ballet season tickets:

1. Being in the front row in the middle--these were AWESOME tickets. I don't know how we lucked out, but like George Costanza from Seinfeld who did not want to move his car after getting the perfect parking space--this was probably half the reason we renewed last year.
2. Getting to know the dancers after 2 seasons. Some we even recognize from when we lived in Cleveland, when this ballet troupe was called the San Jose-Cleveland Ballet.
3. Karen Gabay, Prima Ballerina, who has been dancing with this troupe since 1980! Do the math folks, she's been dancing professionally for over 29 years!!! We had seen her in Cleveland.
   
4. Alexsandra Meijer, Principal Dancer, who is our favorite, and also happens to look like a friend from my office.
5. Maria Jacobs-Yu, Principal Dancer, who cannot seem to ever stop smiling. Like seriously, we think her face would break if she tried to frown.
6. Rudy Candia, soloist, who looks exactly like Agent Cooper from Twin Peaks.
7. Kaleena Opdyke, who looks like Agent Sculley from the X-Files.
8. A certain ballerina, who I won't name, but who SWEATS rivers in every performance, and must have a personal toweller waiting in the wings. She comes out dry for each act, and is covered in shiny sweat within a few leaps.
9. Ramon Moreno, Principal Dancer, who was a superb Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream this season. This show was the first ballet we ever saw together in Cleveland, so it was lovely to see it again this year before our subscription ran out.
10. Tiffany Glenn, Preston Dugger, Daniel Gwatkin, Maximo Califano, Maykel Solas, and Seth Parker.
11. Seeing male dancers dressed in Greek soldier costumes, looking all tough from the waist up, but wearing tights and leaping across the stage like gazelles.
12. Seeing the gorgeous costumes! Sigh...I am really going to miss the dancing in those floaty, pretty dresses. If I had some dresses like that, I like to think I would also move as gracefully. I always felt like such a little princess when I did ballet as a little girl. Watching ballet brought some of those memories back--that was fun.
    

What we will NOT miss about our season passes:

A certain neighbor who ate green onions before every show. DH and I would switch seats at intermission to get relief from the bad breath. Ugh!