"Ballet - no translation needed"

This past weekend Budapest saw nothing but rain, and a friend and I thought this would be a good chance to check out a new movie as we were itching to get out of our flats but not wanting to spend much time outside either. There is no shortage of massive corporate cinemas or quainter independent movie theatres in Budapest, however to find a movie that peeks your interest and that hasn't been dubbed into Hungarian can sometimes be a little challenging. Therefore since we both live quite close to the National Opera House we opted to watch that evening Ballet performance instead and not only was it much more enjoyable than the latest Zac Effron blockbuster, but it was also half the price!

A balcony seat, which only costs about 400 forints, is perhaps not the hottest seat in the house, but a seat nonetheless with a perfect view of the stage. It's not just watching the ballet though that makes the evening such a treat, but it's rather the whole experience of the evening. Almost everyone still goes in formal attire and at the intersession you can go to the lounge and enjoy a glass of wine on the antique red-velvet chairs.

That evening the ballet was "Sylvia" and as usual it was very lovely and entertaining. For this production the choreographer put a modern twist on the classic ballet, using the technique of "play-within-a-play", that not only told the story of Sylvia but that of the dancers at a studio as well. The love story in Sylvia was juxtaposed with a love triangle amongst the dancers making it a refreshing performance - probably much unlike Zac Effron's performance in his latest film that we could have saw instead.