Last Friday we had an amazing opportunity to see ballet for free, in a bit different environment. The Senate Square is located in the middle of Helsinki, on one side of it is the Cathedral - in front of which was the stage. People sat on the stairs and on the pavement, sun had heated them nicely. Me and my ballet geek friend got there 18.50 (19.00 was showtime) and it seemed that the place was Packed. But luckily we got good seats in the middle of the pavement. Well, they were very close to perfect! :) Some lady/-ies were handing out programme leaflets, but there was also a presenter on stage.
I had only my small digital camera with me, so the photos ain't that great or sharp. Sorry for posting them as a marathon... But they make me happy and that was the main purpose! :D
 |
| When we came, these 4 were already up there :) |
 |
| Some people behind us. |
 |
| Some (more) people behind them! |
 |
| Dance Match (the first piece, by Tervamäki) was commentated by no other than Antero Mertaranta!! :D Sorry, no good photos of it :( |
 |
| Next up was a waltz from La Bayadere (by Makarova, after Petipa). |
 |
| Double Evil (by Elo, music: Philip Glass). Only an extract but WOW. |
 |
| The photos really tell you nothing about it, but it was pure energy from start to finish. |
 |
| The end. |
 |
| You'll never guess what this is. |
 |
| Yap... |
 |
| The little swans. |
 |
| They were as cool as ever. Got Huge applause! :) |
 |
| Krakovjak (by Rostislav Zaharov, music: Mihail Glinka) was a new piece for me. Happy and characteristic :) |
 |
| Romeo and Juliet (by Cranko) is back on in Autumn. Jani Talo with Tiina Myllymäki were beautiful together. |
 |
| I give you my heart... :) |
|
 |
| Only a fraction of a second later and this would have been a perfect photo of the jump. |
 |
| Nice balance and a very nice retire! :) Etoile Salla Eerola. |
 |
| Second row from the right - up in the air :D |
 |
| Yes, this was the Finale from the Etudes (by Lander). |
 |
| Summer night's waltz (by Soldan, music: Prokofjev). The ballet school kids :) |
 |
| They all remembered to smile! |
 |
| Ending pose :) |
 |
| The Black Swan pdd (by Greve, after Petipa). Mihail Krcmar, Eun-Ji Ha (and Wilfried Jacobs?). |
 |
| Haha, Rothbart is sulking! :D |
 |
| Couldn't pick between this and the previous :) |
 |
| Triumphant Odile. |
 |
| Thank You! |
|
|
 |
| Don Quixote: Fandango (by Udaeta). |
 |
| Mai Komori with Jani Talo. |
 |
| Passionate! |
 |
| One of my favorites: The Sofa (by Itzik Galili, music: Tom Waits). |
 |
| Linda Haakana with Samuli Poutanen. |
 |
| And the roles changed! :D |
 |
| Samuli Poutanen with Antti Keinänen. |
 |
| People laughed! The piece is just hilarious! :) |
 |
| Le Corsaire pdd (by Liska, after Petipa). |
 |
| Hope the knee didn't punch his nose... :P |
 |
| Petia Ilieva, Jaakko Eerola and Frans Valkama. |
 |
| Ending pose :) |
***
As this post is way too long already, I'll save the last photos for another post. They are from the final piece of the evening, 'Minus 7' by Ohad Naharin. A fabulous work that involved the audience a little... ;)
I am sulking like Rothbart here :-) Finland sounds like ballet heaven, I am really happy you got to see all these amazing events that have been occuring recently, you're right Finland is awesome, can't wait to see the rest of the pics, thanks for sharing your ballet blog with us, I love it :-)
ReplyDeleteHaha, I hope you got over the sulking mood :D Also I hope our ballet people (in Finland) stay as active as they've been this year/season. Of course there won't be another competition in 3-4 years, but it's worth waiting for. Don't know if this summer touring will continue, but as they had it last summer and this year, it looks quite promising :)
Delete