I don't have a contact in Latvia, so this one could well be very tricky, I've really no idea about how to approach this one, so let's just see what happens. By chance, on my first night I run into a Canadian guy I had met in Estonia, and he tells me that there's a ballet school opposite the hostel he's staying in, things are looking up. So the next day he comes to meet me and shows me where it is, this could be a perfect place to meet just the right contact.
It appears the school leases a room in the building, so I ask the lady at the reception to the building if it's possible to go up and visit the ballet school. Unfortunately she doesn't understand a word I'm saying, so a little mime is needed to explain where I want to go. She looks at me and says "Ah, ballet" which I'm pretty sure is exactly what I said. She writes some figures on a piece of paper and hands it to me with a satisfied look on her face. I can only assume they are times of the classes, so I decide to return at the next time written on the paper.
Next stop is the National Theatre, the venue in which I am supposed to hold my performance. At the moment they are showing a play so I'm a little disheartened, as it's unlikely there are any dancers around. I step inside and ask the ticket office about the possibility of me performing a ballet. Her expressions changes from dead-pan to horror, confusion and then derision, not a good sign!
Her English is basic, and my Latvian is none existent, so we reach an impasse which she breaks by asking "you want ticket for show?" I decide a different tact is needed, back to the ballet school. I arrive a one of the three times the lady wrote on the card, and try the door to the class but it's obvious no one's home. Not sure what to do, so I start trying to think of a plan B.
The guy who sent this in gave me a get-out clause in case something like this happens. I can, if I must, perform the ballet outside the theatre. This is something I'm not too keen on as It's on a major road through the city, a bit like Leicester square, not really the place for impromtu ballet performances. Unfortunately as my second visit to the theatre is just as useless as the first I decide that with time constraints this is what I'll have to do.
Apologises to ballet lovers, culture vultures and those easily shocked. But I must try at least to perform a ballet, and with no idea how to do this I decide on an Contempary-Abstract style familiar with people who've drunk a little too much, enjoy. I have mixed the video with footage of a real dancer, can you tell which is real and which is me?
