Ballerinas Perform Comedic Waltz Full Of Intentional Mistakes

Feb 18, 2020 by apost team

If people think of the opera and ballet, most imagine a very serious performance that mixes classical music with graceful, poised dancers. Quite a few people would also call it boring. A traditional ballet performance is certainly not to everyone's taste. This particular piece, however, is ballet comedy at its finest. Originally written and designed by Jerome Robbins in 1956, The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody) is a satire ballet performance that includes what is now famously referred to as the "Mistake Waltz".

Robbins was one of the most famous American ballet choreographers of the 20th century. Many of his pieces are popular and well-remembered until today, including West Side Story and Fiddler on the Roof. The piece performed in this video is one of his lesser known works, although it absolutely deserves more attention. The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody) is a satire of not only ballet and opera, but also the audience who goes to watch such performances. It is set to classical music by Frédéric Chopin. The dancers in this video are part of the Vienna State Opera which featured this piece in 2011.

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The performance already starts with a hilarious introduction: instead of all six dancers being ready to go, five wait in ready position while the sixth slowly and with slouching shoulders shuffles into starting position. To top it all off, she is even still wearing clunky glasses she supposedly forgot to take off beforehand. Once she is in position, the performance finally begins. At first everything looks normal for ballet: graceful movements and poised dancers. Then one of the dancers seems to have forgotten what is supposed to happen and twirls off into the wrong direction.

What follows is a hilarious compilation of everything that can go wrong during a ballet performance. It almost seems as if some of the dancers weren't there for an important choreography change during rehearsal. Some dancers find themselves standing out of formation and awkwardly shuffle into what could be the correct position. Others suddenly notice they are out of sync and begin looking around to time their movements to what the others are doing. One even awkwardly shrugs while smiling at the audience and simply proceeds to follow through with her move.

As the performance goes on, the ballerinas take it even one step further. Some start elbowing the others when they get in their way. One dancer, forgetting her cue, gets a helpful pat on the back by another who comes twirling by. It's obviously all done in fun and even the ballerinas themselves can't help but smile or grin now and then. The best two moments happen near the end when two ballerinas twirl into each other and the group of six finishes in their final position. Or, well, tries to. It's no wonder this piece is commonly called "The Mistake Waltz" among performers and opera goers. One has to wonder if this is easier or harder to perform than usual ballet.

Did you notice the ballerina on the far left slow motion shifting into the correct position at the end? Have you ever seen this performed live or would you like to? Pass this story along to show your friends this awesome choreography and tell us what you thought about it!