Darling, it’s your girl, the *au fait* expert on all things fluffy, twirly, and totally fabulous. Yes, that’s right, it’s me, back again, this time with a juicy tidbit from the world of ballet. 23rd August 1996, mark it down darlings! It was on this date, and yes, you read that right, 1996 - oh how the times they are a-changin! - that the world of ballet nearly came crashing down in a mountain of tulle and sequins! Let me tell you all about it, you won't believe it!
So, it's a Tuesday afternoon, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and everything is lovely... except for the fact that the world-renowned Bolshoi Ballet company is having a major 'tut-u-la-crisis.' I kid you not, the tutus, my darlings, the tutus - the entire stock, let me emphasize that, the entire stock of tutus for the entire company had... vanished! Gone! Poof!
Apparently, they'd all been 'borrowed.' Borrowed? From a professional dance company? You bet! A rival company? Possibly. No, dearie. A group of squirrels! Honestly, you couldn't make it up, darling!
It all started innocently enough. The company had just received a fresh delivery of brand new, oh-so-divine, exquisitely handcrafted tutus from a renowned Parisian atelier - every single one a masterpiece of netting and ribbons. They were to be used for the opening night of "Swan Lake," an occasion of no little importance, I can assure you.
Well, on that day, it turned out that these lovely little squirrels, with their fluffy tails and mischievous eyes, had a thing for haute couture. Seems that these squirrels thought a perfectly pristine tutu made an excellent lining for their cozy little nests! Imagine - little squirrels snuggling into a layer of 'fluffy-fluffy,' it was the stuff of nightmares, or was it, a rather amusing anecdote?
Anyway, when the Bolshoi dancers, those absolute superstars, discovered the *petit fiasco*, as it's called in French - and what is more Parisian than a squirrel heist, tell me? - there was a veritable *furore*. "Oh, it’s a scandal, an absolute scandal!" cried the director. "Where will they find replacements, darling, with only hours to go?" He cried, and yes, my darlings, even dance company directors cry - in fact, the Bolshoi ballet is filled with big dramatic personalities.
A team of very serious, very serious looking stage hands were dispatched on a mad dash to hunt down the missing tutus. As luck would have it, they spotted the squirrels with their prized booty nestled inside an abandoned tree, just behind the opera house. Now, how many squirrels can it take to make a ballerina's life miserable, well, you may well ask? Apparently, only a handful - and that was enough.
Let me tell you, darling, after some intense squirrel wrangling, with an added touch of gentle coaxing, a dash of encouragement, and an immense amount of 'shhh-ing' at the squirrely creatures, the missing tutus were miraculously retrieved - somewhat chewed up, to be sure - but salvaged, just in the nick of time!
On opening night, the "Swan Lake" performance went off without a hitch. The ballerina's pirouettes and leaps were exquisite - and, you'd be surprised, those tutu's held up just fine! I say, this is one of those things where everything that could go wrong did - what are the chances!?
To celebrate their narrow escape, the Bolshoi cast threw a celebratory party - an occasion which ended in an amusingly *uncontrollable* event - involving a tutu-filled Piñata and several (too) enthusiastic dancers. My darlings, it was all very good fun!
Anyway, the next time you're looking for your missing tutus - be it in your dressing room or, who knows, the back of your sock drawer? Think of those Bolshoi dancers, because, you never know, those mischievous squirrels might be paying you a visit!
This incident, as you can imagine, became quite a *fait divers* (meaning "unusual happenings" in French - see? my French vocabulary is extensive, I have a thing for anything and everything Parisian and fashionable!). The story even made headlines all over the world, showing that sometimes, a ballerina’s life is not as glamorous as it appears on stage.
This *tut-u-la* crisis served as a reminder, my darlings, that no matter how elaborate, elegant and refined the world of ballet may appear, nature has its way of reminding everyone that even the most precious of garments is subject to the unpredictable whims of a squirrelly mind - a reminder that a world of couture and dance, is in the end, subject to the vagaries of nature. Isn’t that wonderful?
Right then darlings, stay fabulous!