Swan Lake: The Ballet

Tweet

Swan Lake is my favorite ballet, so when I had another opportunity to see it, I was excited. I convinced my youngest son to go with me, because he had never been to a ballet. He really had no interest in going, but I told him that he should go just for the experience, so he did,. He was about 17 years old at the time. We dressed up and paid for the more expensive seats so that we could really enjoy the program. Well, unfortunately, there was a man, and I won't call him a gentleman, who sat right behind us, who ruined the whole experience for us. The audience applauded at appropriate times, as usual, but he applauded every five minutes and he clapped his hands so loud in our ears that we actually had to put our hands over our ears. We gave him several glaring looks but he only got worse. So when the intermission came, we asked the usher to find us new seats. She did, but they were not situated in the best place, toward the back of the theater. Needless to say, I was very disappointed and I'm sure that my son will never, ever go to another ballet. I have to tell you what I had actually thought about doing, but didn't. I still think about it today and when I tell this story, I always add this part. I wanted to get up from my seat and lean over as if to whisper something in the man's ear and scream at the top of my lungs. I really, really wanted to do that. My bad. My own ears hurt for several days. I was very angry about the whole situation. What would you have done?