Giselle

.
The privatisation of electricity has been a success. Right! So now we are going to privatise water supply. Right! Two wrongs don’t equate to a right. And I see Meridian is talking of higher bills for those who don’t pay their accounts online. The vulnerable, young, poor, infirm and old are not seen as clients in this do-it-yourself world. It’s like service stations. They used to provide service. Now it’s self-service.

Grumps. Bit of a shame really. I intended to blog about grace and beauty. Last night I watched a DVD of the Australian Ballet Company dancing Giselle at Adelaide. It was a competent performance. It made me realise how good our own ballet company is, not just the dancing but in the setting and the staging.

It may not have been great but I found myself crying. I confess to sentimentality. I wept at the end of Chariots of Fire and Crocodile Dundee. Nostalgia, regret, romanticism, they’re all ingredients. But it’s also the art-form.

Giselle was the first ballet I saw. I was in love – first love, head over heels. In Christchurch. I was young, impressionable. It was the last ballet I saw live – in Wellington. I was in love – with Anne, that companionship and friendship that comes with years of living together. In between I’ve seen it performed in Hamilton, London and Sydney. The grace and lyricism of its heroine has always appealed to this country lad.