On Pointe
A night with the Scottish Ballet is quite different to a night with Slayer or Alice Cooper, which is the kind of stuff I used to go and see before I was made-over with culture. I kind of knew what to expect, but I got slightly more than that. Most importantly, as a 29-year old hair metal enthusiast, I thoroughly enjoyed it.
The Scottish Ballet has taken the fairytale Cinderella and recreated it completely through ballet and banter. It worked, it made sense and it was unexpectedly pretty funny at times. There’s something extremely relaxing and soothing about watching people dance on their tippy toes, even though the thought of putting all of my body weight on chunks of wood and sheep’s wool for 2 hours makes my eyes tear up. Ouch. But you would never know this by the sweet smiles and glittery eleganza.
Going to the theatre and getting a frequent dose of culture injected into my system has slowly brought me up to the same cultural level as the general population. After seeing the story of Cinderella in a few different forms, I knew what was going to happen next. I was waiting for a glitzy ball, I was waiting for a glittery shoe and I sure as hell have never muttered those words before.
For context, I grew up in a cave, as Victoria reminds me every time I give her a blank stare and say the words “I’ve never seen that.” We’re talking fairy tales, Disney movies, TV shows and basically any pop culture references that someone who grew up in the ’90s should have a nostalgic moment over. But not me. I was too busy shooting imaginary monsters with a water pistol, in the middle of a field of cattle.
The great thing about the Scottish Ballet’s rendition of Cinderella is even if you are a historic cave dweller like me, the mash-up of talent, gracefulness, calmness, and comedy has you at ease with the plot and entwined in the ambiance. Like me, you might not think ballet is your ball until you have your pumpkin glitzed. Tickets can be purchased here.
