Where do you like to sit when you see a ballet?

Obviously not far... and not off to the side. But do you prefer to sit in the first balcony or down in the orchestra? I mean assuming cost of the seat was not the issue?

Can you sit too close?

Do you use opera glasses? Why and what are you looking for?

Do performers focus on anything outside the stage when they dance on stage? If so are they playing to the orchestra level or simply the entire threatre?

I like to be up a bit because I like the "plan" view, but perhaps that is my architecture training coming through. It is also easier to take in the entire stage at once...

For me, at the Met, I like the back/center orchestra. From about row J and back.
I can gauge the hight of leaps better.
But, if I don't get an orchestra seat, as long as I get a central location, I don't mind which level I am on.

I like the first tier up (Although affording it is another issue). At the Met those seats are fairly expensive. I don't mind second tier as I do like to view from above.

Yes, I think it's a real problem to sit too close to the stage. You can easily lose the "big picture"
And to augment those not too close seats, I do use glasses. Where I'm sitting, I can see the whole stage, but at some distance. Sometimes I will want to zoom in on a detail such as face or feet and the opera glasses will do that for me.

Richard( still on a high from last night's Vishneva/Malakhov Giselle)

We have sat in the dress circle at the Met in the center close to the front. The view is quite good but you do need glasses to see expressions and smaller things well like hands and so forth. I like to feel the ceiling above and not the ceiling of the balcony above. The sound is better too.

This season we are down in the grand tier... which is actually a bit better and on Saturday we have some seats in the orchestra. I have seen opera from down there but not ballet... This will be a first. Next week I can report which of the three locations I prefer... I think it will be Grand Tier... but who knows?

Where do the critics sit? Anyone knows? House seats?

For those interested in reading what some of our members have already posted on the subject, please see this thread.

If there is a balcony, first row center. If there isn't then back row center. I like the whole picture. I once saw Moscow Ballet from the first row of the orcestra pit. I could only see their feet half the time and I got sweat dripped on me. That was toooo close.

Depends on size of company and scope of production.

For smaller ballets, I like to watch from the orchestra, as close up as I can get WHILE being able to see the entire stage in one glance. (A big caveat.)

For larger ballets, something higher allows you to see the patterns. Growing up on Balanchine at City Center made me especially fond -- llike richard53dog -- of one tier up.

Re: ticket cost. It's amazing how much you can save by avoiding Starbuck's, eating salads, buying clothes at Marshall's and the like, buying most things on sale, etc. Then put the savings into better seats. First things first.

We just returned from the matinee of Giselle seen from Row H to the side in the orchestra. Much more intimate way to see the ballet.. but you can't see the "plan" view and the Wilis look very different from down there. Side is not great cost you miss a part of the stage and entrances and exits.

Gomes and Herrera were stunning. Paloma seems to have perfected the motion and postion of arms and hands... more than anything this stood out in her performance. Her balance is great and she makes dance seem almost effortless. Gomes is quite the althetic dancer and very handsome to boot. The Wilis are/were wonderful!

Seeing it from down in the orchestra and fairly close appealed to my wife very much as she liked looking at the expressions of the dancers which is much harder, almost impossible without glass from up stairs.

Tuesday we sit in Grand Tier so I can do a pretty instanteous comparison of the experiences. Giselle was stunning and it is no wonder that it has been going strong for more than 150 years.

DefJef, I can understand the appeal seeing the dancers expressions so easily has for your wife. But for myself, I dislike being so close, not only are the patterns harder to make out, even the individual dancers moves through space look more clearly defined (at least to me) with some distance and some height.

But tastes vary. And opera glasses are usefull but somewhat awkward. Let us know what you think of the Met side Orchestra versus the Grand Tier. Again, for my own taste, center Grand Tier is the best.

Fortunately, although the auditorium is pretty drab and dark the seats at the New York State Theater all
seem to be closer to the stage. It was built for dance, unlike the Met, and I think it shows.

Richard

Hi!
Here in Columbia, we attend what is likely considered a "smaller" theater. It seats 2200 in an orchestra with two balconies. We generally sit anywhere in the last row of the orchestra in order to avoid the awkward feeling from others glaring when we don't participate in the standing ovation that ALWAYS happens at the end of EVERY performance. We started sitting in this area years ago when my boys were young. They'd stand or sit on the seat cushion without pulling it down first. We weren't in anybody's way.
mouse