).Anyway, I've been lurking for a while now and very much enjoying the civilized, intelligent discussions.
I studied ballet off and on as a young child, then started seriously at around the age of 12 until the end of high school. There was never any chance I would become a pro, but my mother was kind enough to foot the bill for my daily lessons all those years just because she knew how much I loved ballet.
As an (almost) senior citizen, I was lucky enough to see some of the legends when their companies toured to my hometown of Philadelphia back in the '60s - I remember the audience singing Happy Birthday to Fonteyn after Swan Lake (she must have been accustomed to this happening, but she was kind enough to act like it was the first time). And then there was the Bolshoi and Raissa Struchkova in (I think) Spring Waters, where she flings herself halfway across the stage at her partner. Naturally, the next day, before class, all the girls insisted on flinging themselves halfway across the studio at the boys. We were lucky nobody got hurt, since at that age, most of the girls were quite a bit bigger than the boys!
Right now I'm living in the San Francisco Bay Area and finally have season tickets to SFB. I look forward to sharing thoughts on the upcoming season.
