Is it okay to go to the ballet?

[goreyfan]

I’m wondering if it’s appropriate for Catholics to attend ballet performances. I love the ballet a great deal but read in a book on the Passion that Catholics should avoid the ballet and have also heard another priest say that, due to the rather revealing costumes of modern ballet performances, attending the ballet could possibly be a near occassion of sin.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

It is perfectly fine to attend the ballet. While it is true that there may be some people somewhere who would be sensitive to the costumes of the performers, that only means that those people should prudently stay away. The vast majority of people, who understand that most ballet costumes are within the bounds of modesty in correllation to the activity performed (i.e., dance), are not troubled by such costumes and should feel free to go. Of course, if you happen to attend a particular performance that troubles your sense of modesty or religious propriety, you could leave that particular performance but still feel free to attend other, unproblematic ballet performances.