"CREATION" IN MANY FORMS: IN MUSIC, BALLET, AND FAMILY

We drove seven hours to visit our son and his family in beautiful Slovenia. While waiting for the parents to tell us to come over to play with our granddaughters, I've been watching the most wonderful cable TV channel called "Mezzo." I'm not sure if it's available at our home in Italy, but since we don't have TV there, it's irrelevant. The Intermezzo network features performances of music, opera and dance in artistically filmed close-ups and mostly in excerpts. The quality is superb and it all feels like a private concert.

I stumbled on a ballet set to Haydn's "The Creation" which is being sung in the background of a gorgeous ballet at the National Opera of the Rhine choreographed by the late Uwe Scholtz. Even though the execution on this 2014 rendition could be better (the young, attractive dancers are not entirely together), the effect is mesmerizing. It's a great mixture of the classical and the modern. Grandpa J already left our inn to see the grandkids, but I wanted to stay to watch the end of the ballet.

The diversity of race and body types in this dance troupe is striking. The whole piece opens with the dancers backstage at the barre, casually dressed in their civvies as they warm up for the actual performance. I initially thought it was going to be some really modern ballet that I had never heard of. But then the corps transform themselves into the more traditionally dressed dancers that they will be in this performance. 

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The irony is not lost on me that in the middle of the visit to the son we created and to the beautiful family he has created, I have postponed joining them this morning to watch the end of this ballet of "The Creation." But come to think of it, there is no real opposition between these two "pulls": the word "creation" is inclusive enough to embrace all. 

Indeed, there are many different versions of the Creation story. One is the Big Bang theory. Always a dunce in science, I tend to expect all electronic devices to blow up when I approach. I imagine every machine saying, "Here she comes. Let's act up!" 

But Slovenia is a delightfully brave country where they think it's a good idea to name their largest electronic store the BIG BANG. To me, that would be just tempting Fate. Be that as it may, our son and daughter-in-law registered for some wedding gifts at their local BIG BANG from which they received one of their favorite presents: an electric dart board. They even taught me how to throw darts. We all have lots of fun with that dart board, and the good news is that it hasn't blown up yet!