I could have danced all night
Feb. 4th, 2005 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaalaWell... actually, I couldn't have. But I certainly could have danced more, especially if there'd been enough space on the dance floor to, say, actually move around.
Last night, I attended "A Night In Vienna", a School of Music fundraising concert that was thoroughly schmaltzy and also thoroughly enjoyable. It featured all the expected music: Strauss, Lehar, (I can hear![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dsch gagging from here) and some Mozart thrown in for good measure. All fun to listen to, even if a tad underrehearsed... but the real kicker of the evening was everything else. Pretty much everyone dressed very formally, including me--imagine that! (I borrowed the dress from a friend.) The Mahler professor bought $40 tickets for everyone in the class who wasn't performing, so we got to sit at the tables on the orchestra level. Spiffy hors d'oeuvres, several varieties of coffee with real (and garnished) whipped cream and Sachertorte came with the tickets. (Viennese as well as domestic wine and beer and liqueurs were available also available for cash, of course.)
The voice professors and students doing excerpts from The Merry Widow used costumes, danced a little, included a bit of dialogue, and even interacted with the audience. It was all terribly entertaining. We clapped with the Radetzy March and sang along (in German!) with "Vienna, City of My Dreams". And... there was dancing!
Professional ballroom dancers were hired to start things off and teach people the steps. Much of the audience joined in quite enthusiastically, including many of the voice students who obviously didn't care that much about remaining well-kempt. All the men at my table refused to dance and we were far from the floor so people didn't just walk over and ask; eventually, I taught one girl to dance and we got out there for the final five minutes of the first waltz. At intermission, I scoped out a couple of male friends who were willing to dance. Following a brief attempt at polka-ing with another girl, I called on one of them during the next dance. During the final waltz, I actually stood on the sidelines and waited for someone to become free--an notable reversal from my usual position at dance events, i.e. skulking as far from the dance floor as possible and hoping that no one will insist I participate.
I've always been unable to manage impromptu party- or club-style dancing, perhaps as a result of being choreographed in ballet class for nine years but also because I'm physically self-conscious. But this was different because the steps were already set out. Almost nobody aside from the professionals knew how to navigate around the floor so everyone had to make do with a tiny little space. That was frustrating, especially when I was dancing with one of the aforementioned professionals who kept insisting that I step backwards and invariably onto someone's foot. But it was fun nevertheless; I left wishing they'd included more than three dance numbers.
The Blue Danube is much less boring when one is waltzing to it. Why... one could almost swear it had been written for the purpose! I've always wanted to try ballroom dancing and I wish I got the chance more often.
* * *
Then a bunch of us went pub/bar-hopping and ended up at a karaoke night. And we danced a jig to "Home For a Rest". In formal wear.
* * *
I'm pretty damn impressed by that Mahler's Symphonies class so far. Today, I had the pleasure of finally watching Leonard Bernstein's Norton lecture on "The Twentieth Century Crisis". Now, if I could just get rid of that annoying habit of weeping in public during Adagio movements...
Last night, I attended "A Night In Vienna", a School of Music fundraising concert that was thoroughly schmaltzy and also thoroughly enjoyable. It featured all the expected music: Strauss, Lehar, (I can hear
dsch gagging from here) and some Mozart thrown in for good measure. All fun to listen to, even if a tad underrehearsed... but the real kicker of the evening was everything else. Pretty much everyone dressed very formally, including me--imagine that! (I borrowed the dress from a friend.) The Mahler professor bought $40 tickets for everyone in the class who wasn't performing, so we got to sit at the tables on the orchestra level. Spiffy hors d'oeuvres, several varieties of coffee with real (and garnished) whipped cream and Sachertorte came with the tickets. (Viennese as well as domestic wine and beer and liqueurs were available also available for cash, of course.) The voice professors and students doing excerpts from The Merry Widow used costumes, danced a little, included a bit of dialogue, and even interacted with the audience. It was all terribly entertaining. We clapped with the Radetzy March and sang along (in German!) with "Vienna, City of My Dreams". And... there was dancing!
Professional ballroom dancers were hired to start things off and teach people the steps. Much of the audience joined in quite enthusiastically, including many of the voice students who obviously didn't care that much about remaining well-kempt. All the men at my table refused to dance and we were far from the floor so people didn't just walk over and ask; eventually, I taught one girl to dance and we got out there for the final five minutes of the first waltz. At intermission, I scoped out a couple of male friends who were willing to dance. Following a brief attempt at polka-ing with another girl, I called on one of them during the next dance. During the final waltz, I actually stood on the sidelines and waited for someone to become free--an notable reversal from my usual position at dance events, i.e. skulking as far from the dance floor as possible and hoping that no one will insist I participate.
I've always been unable to manage impromptu party- or club-style dancing, perhaps as a result of being choreographed in ballet class for nine years but also because I'm physically self-conscious. But this was different because the steps were already set out. Almost nobody aside from the professionals knew how to navigate around the floor so everyone had to make do with a tiny little space. That was frustrating, especially when I was dancing with one of the aforementioned professionals who kept insisting that I step backwards and invariably onto someone's foot. But it was fun nevertheless; I left wishing they'd included more than three dance numbers.
The Blue Danube is much less boring when one is waltzing to it. Why... one could almost swear it had been written for the purpose! I've always wanted to try ballroom dancing and I wish I got the chance more often.
* * *
Then a bunch of us went pub/bar-hopping and ended up at a karaoke night. And we danced a jig to "Home For a Rest". In formal wear.
* * *
I'm pretty damn impressed by that Mahler's Symphonies class so far. Today, I had the pleasure of finally watching Leonard Bernstein's Norton lecture on "The Twentieth Century Crisis". Now, if I could just get rid of that annoying habit of weeping in public during Adagio movements...
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Date: 2005-02-06 04:26 am (UTC)Cool.
Date: 2005-02-06 04:57 am (UTC)This is my first year in QMT (sadly, also my second-last) but I appear to have gotten in deep very quickly!
Re: Cool.
Date: 2005-02-06 04:01 pm (UTC)Unfortunately my journal is not all that exciting a read, but maybe things will get glamorous in the next few weeks.
QMT rocks. I'm sad to be done. And yeppers, I was Jen. The memories.
Re: Cool.
Date: 2005-02-06 08:03 pm (UTC)