Year 5 Trip to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

What a fabulous day we had!  We were so lucky to have the opportunity to go to the Royal Opera House, in Covent Garden, London, to see the incredible ballet "Romeo and Juliet", performed by the Royal Ballet.  This really was a "once in a lifetime" experience we will never forget.

The children were incredible - a real credit to the school - and made a long trip most enjoyable.  They have been working on Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare in Literacy.  In music lessons they have been introduced to the ballet composed by Prokofiev and choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan, learning about -

• the use of mime and body language
• the signature tunes of characters
• the rehearsal of the dancers
• the work of the armourer, who is responsible for all the weapons!

Here are some of the comments from the children after enjoying the performance:

"I liked the sword fighting, as they used real swords"

"I enjoyed the end ... Romeo really loved Juliet, and killed himself for Juliet ......  I found it really romantic"

"when you watch it, you see how flexible the dancers are"

"I wasn't expecting how Mercutio died, because I though he would just die straight away, but Tybalt stabbed him in the side, and after a while he pointed at Romeo and Tybalt, then died"

"My favourite character was Tybalt, because he had a lot of expression, and I liked the way he presented this towards the audience"

"I really liked when I came up the stairs into the theatre for the first time, because it was amazing!  I like how it was all gold and posh!!"

"I liked seeing the fast dancing, and hearing the violins"

"I was surprised that all the dancers were really good and spectacular"