The Concert (or The Perils of Everybody) is said to be the funniest ballet ever made. It is a spoof of a classical music concert choreographed in 1956 by Jerome Robbins, New York City Ballet’s ballet master.

The show unfolds during a Frédéric Chopin piano recital, where the music draws its audience away from their insulated private thoughts as imaginary characters come to life on stage. The movement set to Waltz in E Minor is nicknamed the “Mistake Waltz”, a catalogue of apparently unintentional screw-ups that only works if the dancers are talented enough to pull it off. Here is one recital by the Pacific Northwest Ballet in 2018:

Robbins wrote: “One of the pleasures of attending a concert is the freedom to lose oneself in listening to the music. Quite often, unconsciously, mental pictures and images form, and the patterns and paths of these reveries are influenced by the music itself, or its program notes, or by the personal dreams, problems, and fantasies of the listener. Chopin’s music in particular has been subject to fanciful ‘program’ names, such as the Butterfly Etude, the Minute Waltz, the Raindrop Prelude, etc.”

Take care of yourselves today everyone, and make sure if you do make any mistakes, you do them on purpose.