Ballet

During this Covid quarantine I have been falling asleep later and later. In the good old days, I usually drift off between 2330 and midnight but now I find myself lying awake after 0200. I sleep with the TV on all night so I switch to KCET at 0200 to put on Classic Arts Showcase. I find the classical music that is on it soothing and calming. The music helps me put my brain in standby.

A portion of what they air is ballet and even though I thoroughly enjoy the music, I find the, so called, dancing downright silly. All of that prancing and jumping around make me ask myself what I’m missing. Myself always answers that I am asking the wrong person that he doesn’t get it either.

 My first wife loved ballet and I felt that I was obliged to occasionally take her to performances. This was OK with me but, as I explained to her, I’ll just sit here with my eyes closed and enjoy the music, which I did. I know that I am treading on thin ice when I mention this but I find synchronized swimming even sillier. The worst part is there is no music to distract you.

I know that the Russian people absolutely love Ballet which I find paradoxical due to the perceived brutishishness of their  nature. They also love poetry which also makes me ponder this apparent absurdity. I must also go on record as a self professed intellectual. That I am not a fan of poetry. When I am reading something and the author inserts what he, or she, perceives to be some relevant bit of poetry, the passage is always indented somewhat and my eyes automatically jump down past the indention. I have tried to at least read some even though I don’t really get poetry and it just isn’t in me. It’s not residing in my DNA.

Maybe as a child I was frightened or bit by a rabid poet.

As Popeye was fond of saying “I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam”.

Maybe it’s a sailor thing?