coop shift and half of a ballet performance

this morning greg and i had our first coop shift since we rejoined. we worked stocking, which was fun (our first ever coop shift together! of course when the girls were young, we did our shifts separately.)

afterwards, we did some shopping.

heading back home . . 

----

we were actually on a time crunch to get home quickly as chanda and i had matinee tickets to see "mary, queen of scots" with the scottish ballet. we arrived a little bit late and waited about ten minutes for the late seating with several other tardy audience members. it began well and we really enjoyed the music and the  company's dancing . . they were wonderful! (chanda said she felt intuitively that the music was composed specifically for the ballet - she thought it had a particular dynamic quality to it). but by the time the first intermission was coming around we were growing disillusioned. the story line and dancing became very violent and didn't let up . . we also weren't sure which dancers were portraying mary and which ones were elizabeth. we did finally realize there were two elizabeths, but we couldn't figure out the story line. we had no idea what was happening, and it certainly wasn't good. when intermission came, we both obtained a program from the usher and were able to read the synopsis to understand the events in the two queens lives that we had just watched. in reading about act ii, it appeared it would be even more violent than act i. i knew that she was executed, but much of the other heavy action felt gratuitous to me. maybe this was how her life was, and i should have read more about her before purchasing tickets? however, the choreography should be able to convey the story with some clarity without having to read a synopsis. while reading the program, we also finally saw the "trigger" warning sign by the entrance to the house seats which we had been standing next to when first waiting to go in: "warning, scenes in this afternoon's show include child abuse, sexual abuse and execution." i decided i did not want to stay and chanda agreed to leave also. on the way out, the security guard at the door asked me if we were returning, i apologized and said, no! i'm so sorry! chanda laughed and said he only asked the question to know if he should look out for us - to let us back in for the rest of the ballet. i felt stuck in some strange world and was glad to walk awhile before hopping on the bus.

anyway, we took the bus to la bergamot cafe to sit and talk for a little while and then we walked home.

the scottish ballet

chanda and i walked up to the joyce soho for a performance of the scottish ballet company. afterwards, there was a chat with the artistic director (christopher hampson) and three of the dancers (sophie martin, christopher harrison and bethany kingsley-garner). we really enjoyed hearing how the pieces were chosen for new york, and about how the dancers liked working on them. it's a lovely company and we were both impressed. they performed sinfonietta giocosa (music by bohuslav martinu and choreography by christopher hampson based on balanchine technique - it was very good and originally made for the atlanta ballet company in 2006); motion of displacement (music by bach and john adams and choreography by bryan arias  - i had read about this piece on their website - the choreography was inspired by his mother's journey from her native land in search of love); and ten poems, ten dylan thomas poems read by richard burton - all pieces woven into an nyc state of mind, which we definitely felt.