Like every little girl, I wanted to be a ballerina when I grew up.  My friends and I took dancing lessons at The Gene Kelly Studio of the Dance in Pittsburgh.  (Yes, Gene Kelly grew up in Pittsburgh just like me, but he had moved to NYC before I attended his school.) My short-lived dancing career ended in fifth grade.

I thought about those dance classes last week in St. Petersburg, Russia, home to one of the world’s greatest ballet companies.  Formerly known as the Kirov Ballet, the Mariinsky Ballet tickets are hard to come by, but we were lucky to get them at the last minute.  However, if our seats had been any higher, oxygen masks would have been required. 

The ballet was “Giselle.”  I sat at the edge of my seat, mesmerized for two hours and ten minutes. (I also sat at the edge of my seat so I could see the stage.)

It was a grand evening. Even Peter, who is not a ballet fan, stayed awake as I revisited my childhood dream.