Ballet in Bristol

Friday 23 January - For Christmas Ian got me tickets to the Ballet at the Bristol Hippodrome, we chose the performance taking place the day after I handed in all my MA work so that it would be a sort of celebration. After a quick by tasty early dinner at home we walked down to the hippodrome to see Coppellia. We were joined by a number of families with young children and it was certainly a family style ballet. The story revolves around a toy maker and his lifelike doll, Coppellia who sits on a balcony above the town square reading and no one can catch her attention. a local swain falls in love with Coppelia much to the chagrin of his betrothed. When the toymaker goes out one evening the swain's betrothed finds that he has dropped his key and she sneaks in to confront Coppelia. She learns that Coppellia is a doll and when the toy maker returns she disguises herself as Coppelia to avoid being caught. Meanwhile the swain enters the toy makers house via the window to plead his love to Coppelia. The toy maker tries to trick the swain but at the end of her dance as Coppellia the swain's betrothed reveals herself and Coppellia's true nature. The last act is a celebration of the swain's wedding. It was a very lively ballet with almost Disney-esque musical accompaniment. The costumes were also fantastic and I particular enjoyed the chorus line of dancers dressed in clockwork style tutus with clock-hand tiaras. We had a really lovely evening and definitely plan on alternating between opera and ballet at the hippodrome.