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As soon as I awoke, I could smell the smoke and see the flames! Luckily, it was just special effects and set pieces for the Northern Ballet’s production of Jane Eyre at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. I suppose the wine at our pre-theatre dinner could have been blamed for my nodding off but, honestly, I have history as 
And though you may be tempted to comfort me saying, “It’s alright, you were in no real danger”, let me explain. Alessandra had planned this evening for weeks, both the dinner and the ballet, so if I’d been caught taking a kip during arguably the most dramatic scene of the whole production, mortal injury could have ensued (they say a rib broken by, say, an elbow can puncture a lung and cause it to collapse).
Luckily, I recovered just in time to avoid detection and join in the raucous applause as the dancers and orchestra took their bows. It was (as far as I could tell) a wonderful production but, being ballet, the performers never spoke and so had to convey even the most subtle emotions through dance. This got me to wondering what it would be like having to dance one’s way through life with all its vicissitudes using only movement (and an orchestra in the background) to express such a vast spectrum of emotion. But, alas, that was a musing for another day as I was off to bed!
