Deseret News | "It Made Me Feel"
Ballet West has been inspiring its audiences for over 60 years, and this season is no different.
You walk into a bustling theatre with your friends or your family, not quite sure what to expect. Patrons excitedly take their seats as you do the same. The orchestra begins to tune, and the boisterous crowd falls silent. The somewhat cacophonous noise of the instruments settles into a quiet harmony before fading.
Something special is about to happen.
The lights dim. The audience holds its collective breath. The curtain rises.
Then magic ensues as patrons embark on a journey of creation. The beauty on the stage is unique and ephemeral. Something that will never happen in quite the same way ever again.
Together, they are having an experience. A human experience of live performance as old as humans themselves.
After one particularly riveting performance, one patron noted simply, “It made me feel.”It’s not necessarily what one expects to say walking out of a professional ballet performance and yet, many first-timers are discovering just that. “I’ve never been moved like that by the ballet,” said one recent attendee.
People walk in without knowing what to expect and they rarely walk out the same. So, what’s behind it?
It all comes down to what happens the moment the curtain goes up, when it becomes an experience that is ‘aural as well as visual,’ according to another enthused patron.
Soloist Victoria Vassos knows what that’s like on the other side as the performer. “I hope that the audience trusts me to guide them to another realm so that they can just enjoy what they’re watching and let their mind and soul be somewhere else for a few minutes,” she said.