Last night I went with a group of people from InterNations to see a beautiful production of Swan Lake, performed by the National Ballet of Russia at the Teatro Grand Rex. Earlier this year, we saw the ballet on the big outdoor screen beside the Teatro Colon, that one being the classic version choreographed by Rudolph Nureyev. I have to say I like last night’s version better, as it had more life and a lyrical quality I didn’t see in the other one. Of course, to be fair, a live performance is almost always better than a filmed version, even on a huge screen such as that one.

Argentines love culture, and there’s a great deal of it to be had in Buenos Aires, absolutely free — although that wasn’t the case last night. I must say I’ve never seen an audience’s appreciation of ballet expressed with the “hooting and hollering” I heard last night! They clapped, they cheered, sometimes even sort of screaming as they would at a rock star! It was altogether a very Buenos Aires sort of event, and of course we loved it.