American Ballet Theatre Reflection

I went to LaGuardia High School, and I passed by the American Ballet Theatre every day on my way to school, never thinking it would be something I would enjoy. Prior to this trip, I had never been to a ballet and the American Ballet Theatre was definitely a great introduction to this one of a kind form of art. The first ballet was the Brahmn-Haydn Variation. I think this was a good ballet to start with because it was how I imagined a traditional ballet to be like. The costumes, the music, and the story were what I expected to see the whole evening. The second ballet was the Monotones I and II. I really liked this ballet because I got to focus more on individual dancers and how their movements corresponded with each other. The three dancers in the green costumes were my favorite. I thought the music in that dance was extremely haunting and beautiful and the way the dancers synced their bodies with each other and seamlessly followed each other’s moves without looking at one another was incredible. The last ballet was called The Green Table. This ballet definitely had the strongest story line and was captivating from the beginning until the end. I loved the beginning of this ballet and how untraditional it was. I did not expect to see the dancers wearing masks and dressed in suits, surrounding the green table. I really enjoyed the storyline of this ballet. The way I interpreted it was that the people around the Green Table were politicians who were all pro war and the dance was a representation of how war effects the actual citizens who have to fight, as well as their loved ones and families. The main dancer in this ballet was amazing. His repeated movements were so precise and identical each time that it almost felt like he was a machine rather than a human.

It is incredible how much strength these dancers have. It all looked very easy and light, but I’m sure that it took unimaginable amounts of practice to get it to that level. I liked how the evening altogether was split up into three ballets. I felt like each one was so different and for someone who doesn’t know much about ballet, it was interesting to see the varying styles.