By Marley Muirhead 

On Point Communication

Last Thursday I was fancy and went to the ballet. It was the first time I had ever been in my life. It was also by chance. Caz, one of our copy mentors, kindly posted that she had two tickets to Matthew Bourne’s ‘The Red Shoes’ if anyone wanted to take them off her hands. I, to quote Caz, “snapped” them up. Normally I’m really hesitant about doing things in the evenings. I’m frightened of it almost. Somehow I have developed the instinct to fear anything that might make me too tired for the next day. Probably quite a helpful trait for a student at SCA to have. But I’ve been like that forever.  After a while you wonder what exactly your protecting all this time for? It’s like playing a video game and frantically collecting all the coins only to never actually spend them. So, as the gift of self-awareness permits, I make the effort to defy myself. In the latter part of the split second it took me to accept Caz’s tickets, I messaged my mum. She was free to go with me and we were going to make an evening of it. Pop to a restaurant beforehand. Maybe get a dessert. Have a proper catch up. 

My Ma and I know jack-all about ballet. My most intimate experience with it was a one-off dance lesson I had when I was about five. I was obsessed with Angelina Ballerina (if you know, you know) and so I was to be a ballerina when I grew up. However I duly recognised that one does not just magic into a ballerina, so I begged my parents for lessons. On the big day, I walked in to find eight girls with blonde buns, blue swimsuit thingies and the little ballet shoes. My mum had sent me with my curls tufting from my head, barefoot in rainbow leggings and a t-shirt that read “caring is fun”. That first lesson was my last. I have, though, always maintained a distant appreciation for the art.  

Now, well wow, I am just in awe. There is so much to be said about it. It was a lot more similar to the theatre, a more familiar territory, than I expected. There was all of the beauty and class without any of the pomposity I had wrongly preempted. The dancers had strength, craft, stamina I still do not yet know if humans were designed to be capable of. What struck me the most though was the clarity and impact of the story-telling. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to follow the performance. In actuality I found myself forgetting that they hadn’t spoken for the last two hours. To be able to communicate with equal measures of clarity and impact using your just body was inspiring. I mean, of course they had the aid of the costumes, make-up, the orchestra, the set. However I don’t think that nullifies the truth in my statement. I want my communication to be like that. In my career in advertising, in every form of writing I do. So I am very thankful for the adventure I had this week that was going to ballet. Here’s to the many more that I will have by not rushing home.