La Dame Aux Camélias

I don’t even know where to begin. Last night, NYU gave us free tickets to go to the ballet, and I can’t even describe how amazing it was. Let me just preface with the fact that it was at the Opera Garnier—the most beautiful opera house I’ve ever seen. We went to see La Dame Aux Camélias, which is an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ (Jr.) novel. It’s your basic Moulin Rouge story, about a courtesan, Marguerite, who has a heart of gold, as well as tuberculosis. She falls in love with Armand, but continues her old lifestyle, rushing from ball to ball and from admirer to admirer; all this time Armand waits for her at home. Marguerite’s main admirer and “client,” the Duke, takes her to his country estate, where she brings her friends as well as Armand, and lavishly spends the Duke’s money. When the Duke grows jealous of him, Marguerite publicly declares her love for Armand and in doing so repudiates wealth and security. On hearing about his son’s lifestyle, Armand’s father visits Marguerite at her country house without Armand’s knowledge and insists that she should stop seeing him. Marguerite agrees to this sacrifice out of her love for Armand. She writes a letter to him, telling him that she has gone back to her old lifestyle of admirers (which is the only thing he will believe), and everyone is unhappy. In the end, Marguerite dies of tuberculosis and Armand only learns the truth after she is dead.

 The afternoon before the performance, a professor held a “preview” where she showed us clips of the opera, film, and ballet adaptations, and told us the entire story in detail. What was also extremely helpful and interesting was that she described the choreography that conveyed all these emotions and plot-points. So that when it was time for the ballet, I was able to see the certain movements she had described and really understand them.

And I actually cried. I never cry at movies, I think the last one I cried at was I Am Sam in sixth grade. But the choreography was so incredibly beautiful and the costumes…I can’t even describe how beautiful they were (Marguerite made ELEVEN costume changes!). Do you ever think about if you could choose one thing to be in your life, what it would be? I would totally choose a ballerina. It’s this inner fantasy I have that keeps me going back to the Nutcracker every single year. This might sound stupid, but do you know what my five-year goal is? To see a production of Swan Lake. And I’m completely serious. But come on, it’s not like I know what I’m going to be doing with my life in five years, and I have a concrete idea of at least something that I want to do, no matter how miniscule of an event it may seem. But I learned that we can get student-rush tickets to ballets and operas here for something like €7—that’s less than a movie ticket. Guess who’s going to see La Dame Aux Camélias again? That’s right.