Lonely nights with men in tights

So. How about that Swan Lake. The actual storyline is common knowledge, right? So what the hell was I thinking?!

There's a prince, who doesn't want to marry. There's his overbearing mother who feels it's time for him to settle down. I have a feeling her words went along the lines of "Oi, you're not getting any younger! And she gave up Judaism for you- she clearly loves you!" And then there's a princess. With a curse put on her by an evil sorcerer that turns her into an animal. One every bit as famous for vicious temper as they are for monogamy. And the curse can only be broken with a promise of an eternal love. Oh,and then the prince who was so reluctant to marry winds up proposing to the wrong girl.

Is the irony of all this lost on anyone else?

And as if this wasn't enough, all this was played out in front of my eyes by men in tights, every bulging muscle and member I'm deprived of potentially for the rest of my life prominently on display and very visible even from my category 3 seats. 

I think I might have had more than my recommended annual dose fix of high culture for one year. But all this opera and ballet has left me thinking about the world we live in. Those 2 are considered the highest, most evolved forms of our culture, one that takes great pride of being the beacon of civilization.

Opera revolves around people training for years to emit sounds so loud and high-pitched no-one, whose life doesn't depend on it (like,dolphins. And Celine Dion), really shouldn't- resulting in chronic problems with vocal chords, cysts,  surgeries and sick leaves. In ballet people strive to make their bodies do things they weren't created to do, with the cost of eating disorders, continuous injuries and early retirements plagued by broken joints. Basically the point in both is to suffer, but hide that suffering behind a face that stays on, no matter what.

If the highest echelons of our cultural evolution tell us to push the boundaries further and further away; making us do everything in our powers to avoid being the people we naturally are... is it then any surprise I'm such a mess? That the merest hint of that promise of eternal love is enough to make me jump through hoops and shout from the rooftops?