Holy Church of England, Rome and Juliet Are Dead!

... I sincerely hope that the title of this blog did not ruin any endings for you. But yeah. The star-crossed lovers do meet an untimely death, due to the stupidity of love, and the ignorance of the priest and Juliet's nurse.  Hah, I read too much Shakespeare maybe.

Buy yesterday was a really fantastic day.  Caitlin and I woke up reaallyyy early for a weekend, and put on our Sunday best.  We took the Jubilee line to the Westminster tube stop, and proceeded to Westminster Abbey for their Sunday Matin worship service.  We were a bit intimidated walking into the Abbey, with it's fantastically high ceilings and dead people in the floor and impressive windows.  Not to mention, the Royal Wedding that everyone is nutso crazy about these days took place like, exactly where we were supposed to sit.  It was really very cool. 

I thought that the service would be quite similar to the Catholic Mass that I have grown up attending.  But it really was not very comparable.  There were obviously very strict traditions taking place, and a great deal of ceremony and ornamentation.  However, the two services cannot be compared. The matin began when a choir of men came into the worship area, and took their seats in pew like seats.  The seats were divided into two sections, facing each other.  The seats that we were sitting were the same way.  The choir was made up of only males, and young boys sang the soprano portions of the music.  They wore long red robes with white lace collars, that were so itchy looking, they actually itched me.  The choir itself sang most of the service; entire sections of the Bible were put to fantastic music, accompanied by the most ginormous organ I have ever seen. The reverend said about a ten minute sermon, and then the service was over.  It was definitely worth waking up for.

Yesterday afternoon, five of the seven sisters went to the O2 Arena to watch the Royal Ballet perform Romeo and Juliet.  It was quite an experience.  Yes, the ballet was in an arena comparable to St. Louis' own Scottrade Center.  We sat directly in front of the stage, but in the very top section as far away from the stage as possible.  They had huge screens though, that showed a close up of what was happening on stage.  At first I was upset that they even had these screens. I wanted to see a ballet, not a ballet on a screen.  But later I was thankful, because even though as a dancer I was watching technique and movement, as a human being I was watching facial expressions and artistry.  

It was really awe inspiring to see the emotional commitment that the dancers put into the performance.  One of my biggest pet peeves is a dancer who is a beautiful technician, and can facilitate their bodies to execute the movements perfectly, but looks completely devoid of feeling.  I find this a lot in ballet.  But, the dancers of the Royal Ballet greatly impressed me; I felt that for the two hours they were on stage, they were truly the characters they were portraying.  Juliet was especially beautiful, and had fantastic movement qualities as well as character. 

 The photographs are of the poster for Romeo and Juliet, the outside of the O2 arena, and the inside with the set in front. It kind of looks like a rock concert, ya?

Also, I curled Caitlin's pretty long blonde hair for the occasion. Here is my creation, I'm quite proud of it. Isn't she pretty!