Giselle

One of the things I love about home education is the opportunity to share experiences with my children that simply wouldn't be possible if they were in school. Yesterday we went to a schools' matinee performance of the ballet Giselle at the Royal Opera House in London. These schools' performances are heavily subsidised and always oversubscribed, so tickets are allocated by lot. A friend applied on behalf of four families, and hit lucky - not only did we get tickets, but they were for some of the best seats in the house, right in the centre of the stalls. Top seats at the Royal Opera House, one of the world's great theatres, would normally be way, way out of our league financially, so the opportunity to see a world class ballet company perform a classic ballet was an unexpected privilege. We paid the standard school student price of £6 (around $10) a ticket. The same seats for an evening matinee would have been £77. Each! Star was probably a little young to truly appreciate it, but Angel was entranced and is now declaring she can't wait to start pointe work. This despite warnings from slightly older friends who have already reached that stage that pointes mean blisters!