The Ballet Dancer who met the Belly Dancer

The Ballet Dancer who met the Belly Dancer ©

By Michael Casey

Now they say that Truth is stranger than Fiction, so the Tale I’m about to relate is 100% true, especially the unbelievable bits. There was once a girl I was chasing, and she introduced me to Ballet. I had got a buy one get one free offer from the Hippodrome here in Birmingham, it was actually on the anniversary of my mother’s death. So was my mother pulling strings from beyond the grave?

Anyway we went to the ballet, and so when I went on holiday to Barcelona in the Spring I noticed a sign saying Russian Ballet and it was £10 which is cheap for ballet even back then. The night before the ballet was due to be on I was in a bar in Las Ramblas, I noticed a girl with really pretty chestnut hair, so obviously I spoke to her. She turned around and had a strong American accent, and a broken nose to match. She said she was a student.

I staggered home to my hotel in Pallell Ley, I had managed to relearn my Spanish by doing 15 mins of study every day for 3 months prior to my trip to Barcelona. It was 25 years since the exam and I’d never been to Spain. I was really pleased with how my Spanish worked. Now I was going to go to Russian Ballet in Barcelona. The next day I got to the theatre early and we had a selection from the Nutcracker. Two days ago I took my 2 daughters to see it here at the Hippodrome, the Birmingham Royal Ballet now has its home in Birmingham.

The Russian Ballet had 2 giant speakers but no orchestra, but it did have great dancers. As I watched I noticed a girl with great hair and as she danced closer and turned I could see she had a broken nose, it was the girl I had met in the bar the night before. I told my friend the story when I got back to Birmingham, we both laughed. There was a giant ballet set for the Arena off Broad St so we decided to go there. Yes who came dancing across the acres of stage, only the Russian with the broken nose. I laughed, my friend was overwhelmed by the men in tights, I’ll say no more than that.

My friend stayed a friend, but years later my second daughter reminds me of her, the same mannerisms, 12 going on 80. Now later that year I met my future wife, and yes you’ve guessed it, she was a ballet dancer. Well only in a photo that her mum had back in the flat in Shanghai. However my wife had a friend who WAS a ballerina in the Birmingham Royal Ballet. Yes Really. I was in fact positively vetted by Lai, we met in a straight pub in the gay quarter, the Queens Tavern up the side of the Hippodrome. Lai was wearing a bomber jacket, as if she had landed her plane on the roof of the Hippodrome. In Chinese Lai questioned my wife about me and my prospects. In the end it was the fact that I was a Christian that swung it for me.

Now I am married to a Shanghai girl, who looks 20 years younger than she is, I look as old as Santa Claus, with a quadruple heart bypass and painful arthritis, and we have 2 very clever and pretty daughters. It’s God’s sense of humour, ugly dads have beautiful daughters, and let’s not forget what my mother once told me, Love will Conquer All.

So now my girls have discovered the Birmingham Royal Ballet, at least Subway around the corner from it IS cheap, I was there 2 days ago before and after The Nutcracker, and I can say the two lads running it are very nice, as is the food. So dine at Subway before and after the ballet. You may bump into us at Beauty and The Beast and at Subway.

Ballet is very graceful, and yes I am more like a belly dancer myself. As I watched the Nutcracker I shed a gentle tear in the dark as I looked at my 2 daughters beside me, last Christmas could have been my last Christmas but for the Grace of God. As we all know Ballet Dancing is God’s Belly Dancing.