A gift from South Korea

While the Australian Government purportedly lavished government officials with Prados (like we need more big-arse four-wheel drives on the road), the government of South Korea offered something entirely impractical but utterly inspirational – a ballet.

The Ewha Ballet Ensemble from the Dance Department of Ewha Womans  [sic] University performed two shows of almost two hours each.  Eighteen elfin dancers donned elegant costumes and, despite the heat, gave Timor-Leste’s school children and more Malae than organisers anticipated an artistic treat.

Timor-Leste is a predominantly Catholic country and so the program followed a definitely religious theme.  They started with the story of The Prodigal Son.  I quote from the program:  “This piece portrays how God forgives the greatest sins upon repentance just as a loving father receives back the son who returns in humility and repentance.”  The students loved it.

An interpretation of Amazing Grace followed by one of Spring in which “young women smiling gaily come forth to greet spring.  They walk on tiptoe in the warm sunlight, fluttering as though on wings, a flower basket tucked beneath one arm.”  Next came Pas de Quatre, “a plotless ballet in full Romantic style, the piece was created at a time when the ballerina was supreme and it brought together the four greatest ballerinas of the day.”  As beautiful as these were, the Timorese apparently preferred the story-based items with many students voting with their feet.

As I looked around the crowd though, there were two young men whose faces glowed with pure delight and perhaps wonder at the gracefulness of the woman that plied and minced across the dusty floor.  They held their phones aloft, recording every moment on the video cameras within.

The last item on the program was the story of Job.  Again the Timorese enjoyed having a plot – and probably one they know well.  As an encore performance the dancers interpreted Handle’s Messiah.  Though the dancing was finished, the dancers changed and returned for photographers with anyone and everyone who wished to join them . . . a number of grinning Timorese boys did.