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The Ballet

The Ballet

Date: Mar 09 2004

Intro

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2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

Hello!
Experiencing art is an important part of life. There are many different kinds of art, including drawing, painting, sculpture, dance, music and many others. Ballet is one of the most beautiful and most celebrated forms of art in the world. It has been performed by dancers for hundreds of years, going back to the times of Louis XIV in France.
The ballet is an important part of many people’s lives. Going to watch the ballet is an exciting and inspiring thing to do. Seeing the dancers, who must practice for many years to achieve greatness, is quite a treat.
Ali is planning to go to the ballet to celebrate her birthday. Listen to her tell Miguel about her plans.

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Miguel

Miguel

Ali

Ali

Miguel:  Ali, how old are you gonna be tomorrow?

Ali:  I’ll be 23 tomorrow.

Miguel:  So whatta you gonna do to celebrate?

Ali:  Well tomorrow night we’re having dinner with my family and then on Saturday night we’re going to the ballet.

Miguel:  Oh really? I went to the ballet last weekend.

Ali:  Oh really? Did you like it?

Miguel:  Yeah. It was super good. And I’ve been to the ballet before, a few times, and I actually fell asleep. So, this, this is the one that will keep you awake.

Ali:  It sounds like it. What was it like? Were the costumes nice?

Miguel:  You know, it wasn’t so much about costumes this time. It was more just beautiful dancing. You know the best thing about it is there are three different stories and they’re all short and sweet. And so you don’t really have time to get bored.

Ali:  There was one by Balanchine[/def], right? “60.” Did you like that one?

Miguel:  Yeah, I liked that one, but I think that the best was definitely the last, which is the “Firebird.” So you have something to look forward to.

Ali:  Oh good. I can’t wait.

 

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Discussion

It sounds like Miguel really enjoyed the ballet. He doesn’t seem like a huge ballet fan, because it seems like he gets kind of bored with it, but this particular ballet was entertaining for him.
I like the idea of ballet and I’ve seen lots of beautiful photographs of ballet dancers, but for some reason I’m not a huge fan either. I think one of the reasons is that it’s often very expensive. The tickets can be $40 to $100, or even more depending on what city you’re in. To pay that much money, I’d really have to love something.
Have a great week!
Beth

 

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