Boshoi Ballet Live in HD at BAM

This morning I went to see The Bolshoi Ballet performing Raymonda in HD at BAM. The live screening from Russia was kind of exciting, as I had thought this would be a Met production.

However, the event unfortunately was kind of a sucky experience.

Seeing ballet up close in high definition is kind of intense, and maybe not always ideal. In this case, being able to see the dancers tremble and slightly miss their footing on lands made me tense, and it felt more like watching an athletic event than dancing. Part of this was also due to the fact that I was not at all moved by the music and I just wasn't responding to the ballet on an artistic level.

During the first intermission we headed out for a bite to eat a nearby cafe that was also sucky (terrible service, bones in my omelet, weak coffee). We returned late in the second act and during the next intermission we decided to bail. We had had our taste of High Definition Bolshoi Ballet, and didn't need to fill ourselves up on this particular piece of cultural fare.