Skerdude and I enjoyed a Friday night at the Orange County Performing Arts Center watching the Eifman Ballet perform Onegin, a classic Russian novel set to Tchaikovsky and living composer Alexander Sitkovetsky. We arrived to a very elite atmosphere, with ballet royalty intermingled in our midst. An old Russian man to the left of Caitlin informed us that the row in front of us a few seats to the left held two well known danseurs, Nikolay Tsiskaridze and Vladimir Malakhov.
I could contain myself no longer, and unleash a flurry of questions to this old Russian man and his wife. I found out that he'd left Russia after the cold war, in '93, and inquired about cold war conditions versus current Russian conditions. The man grew passionate, giving vivid detailed facts and opinions.
The ballet was quite incredible, capturing much personality and emotion through the well orchestrated choreography. There were moments of captivating, intense climaxes, and easily connecting interludes. Boris Eifman, considered Russia's greatest living choreographer, took a bow with the cast to a standing ovation by the hall.
Walking out of the performance hall with the Russian couple, the old man informed us that a man we'd passed speaking Russian with another man was Sitkovetsky, the composer. Cakes and I turned around to speak with him, but he'd moved on.
I knew Caitlin really didn't want to go, though she was graceful in coming. She'd asked beforehand if we could leave midway through, and I'd agreed. However the musical intensity, dramatic contrasts in stark colors, and masterful choreography and execution captured us all, and quite frankly I wanted it to continue on.
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