Like I've said before, Yerevan is really engaged in cultural events- there is sure to be something going on almost every night of the week. This week it was the ballet Spartak (or Spartacus) by Aram Khachaturyan. The ballet was staged in the Spendiaryan hall of the opera house, to a sold out crowd for the second night in a row. The first ladies of Armenia and Russia even attended on opening night. (Isn't it kind of ironic, the first lady of Russia comes to Yerevan to see a ballet, when she lives in the ballet capital of the world)...
As the story goes, Spartacus and his wife are captured and taken as a slaves by the Roman consul Crassus. After lots of struggle and love back and forth, Spartacus incites a slave uprising and is eventually killed. Tragic plot, but it made for good entertainment. There was some beautiful choreography, and there were some things that could have been better. For example, the dancers seemed to be out of sync with the music- sitting up close you really get to notice the details. Another thing about events like this in Yerevan which fascinates me is the cost. Our tickets were third row center and they cost around $25. In any other city in the world, they would be $1500 seats at the least. It's just amazing. Another perk of sitting up close, is getting to see some local Armenian celebrities in the audience with you- we saw singer Nune Yesayan. I would have thought more people would ask for autographs or pictures, but no one even really paid any attention to her.
Even the audience etiquette during the performance was surprising for Yerevan. No loud talking or cell phones going off. It seemed as though people were there to really savor and enjoy the performance for all of its artistic merit. The only strange thing about the performance was that the principal dancers kept changing after every act. The ballet was in three acts, with two intermissions- so after each intermission the four main dancers would change. The ballet had essentially 12 principal dancers. It was confusing at first, you almost felt as though you got to see three ballets for the price of one. I guess they wanted to give everyone a chance to get on stage and show their talent. Commendable, I guess....
(Images from top: the opera house from afar, the interior of the ballet theatre, the orchestra pit right in front of us, Paulene and Natahsa, Armen and I, the ballerinas taking a bow, Spartak and the ladies, the two Spartak's, chains and torches outside).
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