Last night was Carter's last night in town, and the end of our Big Ballet Marathon. I did something I never did before: I bought two tickets for the same performance. It goes like this:

I ran into Bill and Aidan in the subway on the way to Lincoln Center. We were discussing the ballet program we were about to see, and I mentioned that I hadn't yet bought a ticket. Aidan suggested that I buy a cheap ticket (standing room or fourth ring) and watch the first ballet from up there, and then move down for the second and third acts (there are always empty seats in prime locations to move to after the first intermission). That seemed like a good idea, since I've spent so much money lately on tickets, and because the first ballet on the program, Divertimento N.15 (which I've already written about in a previous entry), would be a good one to see from high up in the fourth ring. So I bought a $15 standing room ticket--as opposed to my usual $70 orchestra ticket--and I headed for the heavens. I go through the door, show my ticket to the usher, she points me toward the ceiling, and gives me my program. A change of cast slip is sticking out of the program and as I go up the steps I pull it out to find that they've changed the order of the program--and the ballet I really came to see, Episodes, which I want to see from a good seat, is first. Grrrr. So, after a moment's indecision, I went back down the four floors I'd just climbed, back out to the lobby, back to the box office, and bought the #*@%! $70 ticket I should have bought in the first place. Hot and sweaty from the eight-story workout, I took my seat smack in the middle of the 6th row of the orchestra, and loved every expensive minute of Episodes. Of course, it was worth every penny, and I don't mind giving an extra $15 to the ballet, but I did make Aidan buy me a champagne at intermission to make up for it!

The middle ballet was "Robert Schumann's Davidsbundlertanze" (there are a couple umlauts in that title, but I don't know how to do that in HTML!). Balanchine made this ballet to be somewhat referential to Schumann's own life. It's a very dramatic ballet, set within dark and brooding decor. It's about passion as much as it is about any other kind of love, and it was indeed danced passionately by the whole cast. I loved Kyra Nichols and Alexandra Ansanelli particularly. After I saw it the first time, a couple years ago, I bought Murray Perahia's recording of it. I now think that was a mistake. Perahia's style is very precise, mathematical, and deeply devoted to perfection. This brings out the "Art" in a lot of music, but I don't think it's right for the sweeping passion of these piano pieces. But who's recording should I listen to? I feel a CD purchase coming on.

The last ballet was the aforementioned Divertimento, which was lovely. The andante was Carter's favorite part, I was partial to the fast footwork and spinning tutus of the ending.

We dined at Otto on Eighth Street, and I had a pizza with anchovies and potato which was heavenly.

The highlight of today, besides doing a bit of housecleaning, was eating amazing ice cream at the Laboratorio del Gelato on Orchard Street. I had almond, fig, and chocolate. I felt, for just a tiny second, like I was back in Rome. But then, the Lower East Side ain't no Piazza Navona. But the gelato was delicious anyway.