Ballet and a Movie

This weekend I met up with Lori for some Saturday adventuring that included visits to the National Gallery and the movies (with a necessary break for Chipotle in between).  At the museum, we went to an exhibit about Russian ballet called “Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes, 1909-1929: When Art Danced with Music.” It was a really great exhibit, displaying costumes, set designs, photos, advertisement posters, and even footage of the different ballet shows. I know very little about ballet and virtually nothing about Russian ballet, and this exhibit made me wish I could have seen some of Diahilev’s productions.  The costumes were beautiful, the sets were fantastical, the music was beautiful and the choreography was dramatic and energetic. I would highly recommend this exhibit to anyone in D.C. looking for an inspiring art experience!

  

~Entrance to the exhibit in the National Gallery East Wing~

  

~I couldn't take pictures in the exhibit, so I drew a few sketches and then took

some photographs from the exhibit catalogue~

~Beautiful dress!~

   

~Sketch and a [different] costume from "Sadko"~

After a morning of artsy culture, we had a different but just as fun afternoon at the movies, opting to see “Star Trek: Into Darkness.” I saw the 2009 Star Trek and loved it, and I’ll admit that I’ve seen an episode or two of some of the series (what can I say, I’m a sci-fi fan). Lori isn’t as into sci-fi, but the great thing about the newest Star Trek franchise is that it's completely accessible to an extremely wide audience. Star Trek: Into Darkness becomes one of many superhero-type movies to come out this summer, with the same sense of adventure and attracting the same large crowds as the traditional summer blockbusters. Needless to say, I thought the movie was fantastic.  Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are great as always, Benedict Cumberbatch is brilliant (no surprises there), and Leonard Nimoy even returns to make another cameo. I actually thought the story of the second movie was better than the plot of the 2009 film! I may very likely end up seeing it a second time.

~Spock in a still from the movie, photo from imdb~