Paloma Herrera

It's dans: season, and I really wanted to watch some of the performances. Dunas was one, and An Evening with Paloma Herrera was the other. Growing up I often, and in my even younger days, always, watched dance with my Mum. And this is something I hope to keep up, even though now I'm busier cos I'm working, a wife, and a mother myself. Still, I think it's definitely worthwhile making time to be with Mummy, just the two of us, going for a dance performance, spending time together.

Pre-performance we went for dinner at the Peranakan restaurant at Esplanade. Guess who we had dinner with? PM Lee! :) He was at the next, next table. Ok lah, that's quite close already. We were wondering why there were so many people waiting outside when the restaurant looked like it still had capacity. PM and Mrs Lee sat in a corner of the restaurant, and seemed very comfortable there. That was something my Mum and I observed - nobody really hounds our politicians and celebrities in Singapore. Both categories of people can go out and live a decently normal life even though they have technically high-profile jobs. And that is something I appreciate about Singapore. Why make a big fuss over these people? It was nice to see Mrs Lee being comfortable enough to even take off her shoes under the table ;) As they left, they quietly waved and greeted everyone on their way out :) Perhaps they were there to watch the performance as well.

Anyway, back to Paloma. She is the principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre, and has garnered accolades from, well, everywhere. It was a mixed bill, and dancers from other companies performed as well. Paloma herself did only 3 dances.

My take? Perhaps I expected too much from her, but I felt disappointed. She did not live up to the hype. I suspect, though, that she really is as good as everyone says she is, but the dances that were chosen to be performed did not show off her technique and flair that well. She seemed very good, but not inspiring and moving.













In fact, it was another dancer that inspired me more - Iana Salenko, a principal dancer with Staatsballett Berlin (the Berlin State Ballet). She a had grace and spirit that filled the theatre, and which, I felt, connected with the audience.











I love this pic!







At the end of the day, the other thing I realised - I don't really enjoy watching mixed bills. They are too disjointed for my liking. I'll stick mainly to full-length performances from now on.