Easter Sunday

I forget how big of a holiday Easter really is. It being one of the biggest Christian holidays Paris is full of people, the entire city is off tomorrow- nothing will be open therefore, I don't have classes.

Today for Easter one of the girls in the dorm organized a easter egg hunt. It was fun to run up and down the stairs and push people out of the way to get some jelly beans! haha

Ruth, Meredith and I had tickets to see the Paris Opera Ballet about two weeks ago but it was canceled due to a transit strike (which seems to happen a lot in Paris). So we got to exchange our tickets for today. It was the perfect thing to do on Easter Sunday! I have always felt like theaters are my churches therefore it seemed fitting to go to the Paris Opera Ballet today.

They performed a new ballet Siddharta. New music, costumes, set, choreography everything. I can honestly say it was the best production I have ever seen. The Ballet was performed at the Bastille Opera House, which is the new, modern opera house. It was completely fitting that Siddharta was performed at the Opera Bastille. It was a modern ballet that had no pointe shoes or fancy tutus. The music was also very modern -a lot of electric guitar! So rarely do we get to see new ballets with a new musical score.

The choreography by Angelin Preljocaj was incredible. The dancers are so talented and have so much control over their bodies that simple movements of the arm become completely captivating. Preljocaj didn't choreography thousands of pirouettes or unnecessary high legs; instead the choreography was more simple, clean and elegant. There was a lot of partner work throughout the production, the way the dancers intertwined themeless with one another was amazing. There were 16 scenes in the production with no intermission I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. Each scene had a beginning, middle and end that fit perfectly into the entire story of the production. I haven't seen a production where the lighting, costumes, sets, and choreography work absolutely perfectly together. Really, I'm just speechless about seeing the Paris Opera Ballet. I could talk for days about it and wouldn't do it any justice i found it to be that incredible. I just hope to witness more productions as amazing.