A badass ballet

I already know what you’re thinking and it’s pretty much true. How can there be such a thing as a badass ballet? The terms are contradictory, oxymoronic. But ask me the subject of this production and perhaps I can begin to change your mind.

Pirates.

I attended Colorado Ballet’s production of Le Corsaire this past weekend at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in Denver, CO. The idea for the ballet originated as part of a “date night” for my girlfriend and me. My initial expectation for this voyage was between “lame” and “really lame,” but I came away impressed. Some of those reasons:

• Firstly, these guys can jump. Let there be no mistake about it, male ballet dancers are athletes. Yes, they wear tights. But so does LeBron James (at least before David Stern revealed his homophobia). The leaps and midair moves are nothing short of remarkable. Some of the one handed lifts defy gravity (80 pound ballerinas or not). Their thighs are the size of… well… uh… they’re large.



• Ellie Caulkins Opera House is a great facility. Very intimate (my way of saying there is no opera/ballet following in Denver) and newly remodeled, you can’t help but feel a cut above the bourgeois just upon entering. The brand new seats are a deep crimson and provide a deep sense of timelessness. Additionally…



• …the seats feature the “Figaro” seating system! This means each seat has a small LED screen politely informing you of the sponsors of the evening and kind donors who made tonight’s show possible. (For the record, the Figaro seating system was donated by an area doctor in memory of his departed wife, Ursula. How do I know this? It told me!) More importantly, however, this screen provides translations of opera lyrics or ballet storyline commentary in a multitude of languages.



• OK, the seats deserve a third bullet. You can “read” the ballet in French! Feeling haughty yet?

With a bit of program reading the story is easily followed. The short version is this: The pirate leader falls in love with a sex slave who is sold to a dirty rich old man. The sex slave falls in love with the pirate. The pirate follows her and rescues her and they live happily ever after.

The dancing was impressive, the orchestra was competent, and I watched pirates in tights chasing sex slaves. Move over Nutcracker, Le Corsaire is a badass ballet.