Month: August 2022

Helen Adourian, July 2022

Going to the “Anoush” opera, composed by Armen Tigranyan, was an experience. The opera was about a young woman named Anoosh who falls in love with young man named Saro, but her mother learns this and does not let her see him. However once what was supposed to be a friendly and traditional wrestle with Anoush’s brother, Mossy (Anoush’s brother), and Saro, Saro throws Mossy to the ground. This is considered dishonorable for the man with his back on the ground. Mossy, claims that he will find Saro and kill him. And this is exactly what he does. Anoosh, learning this, you guessed it, kills herself. After learning that her love, Saro, is killed, she throws herself off of the cliff. Dramatic…

This left me in……………..deep sleep. Again, just like during the “Carmen” opera the week before. But hey! It’s not my fault the seats are so comfortable at Yerevan Theater of Opera and Ballet! 

I thought that this was an interesting opera. The reason is because the story was similar to Romeo and Juliet, by Shakespeare. I  believe that Shakespeare had a big influence on people around the world, making many opera writers create storylines similar to his plays. However this does annoy me. This is because I think people should try to create something completely their own. 

I also thought that the actors in the opera were terrible. The actors were following the lines but not showing any emotion. This got the audience unimpressed. Or at least it got me unimpressed, but definitely not the one person in the audience screaming and clapping and probably waving a foam finger with that. 

I did think that the costumes were great. The dresses were very traditional, and Armenian. It showed how Armenian the opera was. And no, not every Armenian family is like that. Or are they…:)

While I am not a professional at reviewing operas, I am a professional at criticizing. My Mom says that this makes me a critic.  I thought the old women with jet black dyed wigs on their heads were very funny. I believe that I would do the same things trying to be young again, but it showed. I have sympathy for them.

Adios, au revoir, Arrivederci, Sayōnara, Adeus, Annyeong, tschuss, in short, goodbye.

Helen 🙂

Helen Adourian, July 2022

The Masquerade ballet, written by Aram Khachaturian, is about a man, who was just playing a card game, and he won. Later, the man gets invited to a ball, in which his wife loses her bracelet. After he finds out that she lost her bracelet, he gets so mad that he poisons her, which leads to her death. Afterwards, his “Friend” tells him that another woman stole it from her. The husband slowly goes insane. 

I thought that the plot was typical for a ballet. The music was impressive. However, the dancing was unsatisfactory. At one point, when the man was carrying the woman offstage, they bumped into a wall. The audience was trying not to laugh, and while they were holding it in, I was not…

Something that I did like was how the lights expressed the feelings of people. This made it easy to understand what they were feeling, and it made the audience understand why they were feeling this way.However the lights were also very dim and I could barely see the dancers.

While I am not a fashion expert, I didn’t know that the dresses were too long for ballet dancers! The reason this is was because one of the dancers almost tripped on her skirt! 

At the end when the wife was dying, it took her about an hour to die. This got me impatient. This sounds wrong but I just wanted her to die already!!! I find it unbelievable that she was dancing while being poisoned. I think that she should say something and then die.

However, having the  information about Khachaturian, I think that because he was born in 1903 he had experienced some tough things, to make his life even harder. He died in 1978, but at least he died happy, and everyone was happy enough to come to his funeral so that is a big improvement.

Overall, I do NOTTTT recommend this ballet over Carmen. Farewell for now!

—Helen:)

Helen Adourian, July 2022

Stray dogs can bite and bark but they mean more than biting and barking. Stray dogs have a tough life. They live on the street where cars often go by. It is easy for them to get thrown under one and die. For example, the other day, there was a stray dog limping. My grandma claimed that this dog was trapped under a car, and injured his/her leg. So many dogs have died from accidents like this one.

The other day I met a dog named Bjna. She was small and round and loved beef and chicken meat. This dog was hungry. So I fed her. She ate it like she hadn’t eaten in a year. We thought that she would run away, and so she did. She ran out the gate like, well, a wild dog.

I think that everyone should have a dog. It keeps the owner healthy, teaches them to be more organized, and gets their mood boosted up to the highest planet in the highest universe.

These are stray dogs in Armenia. I don’t see no waggin’ tails in this picture. I just see sad eyes, and rumbling tummies so please, adopt a dog today. That sounded like an advertisement but it wasn’t.

-Helen:)

PS. here are some more pictures: