Today’s post is apropos of nothing, really. But it shares a series of coincidental connections from last week.

I will start by saying that Chris and I went with a friend, D—, to go walking by a place called Green Lake last week. It’s a man-made lake here in Seattle, that boasts a nice, flat trail that circumnavigates the lake.

Green Lake panorama

We passed by a billboard at the remnants of the old Green Lake Aqua Theatre, which was an outdoor theatre used for performances. There are still some seating areas left, although there aren’t performances there anymore. But according to the billboard in the park, the Aqua Theatre boasted performances there for decades, everything from concerts to dances performances to musicals. Bert Parks played there once in the Music Man. Gloria Swanson also performed here.

And there was a mention of Robert Joffrey, who studied and then taught at the nearby Cornish School of Fine Arts; he, too, performed at the Aqua Theatre.

Joffrey mention at Green Lake

Oddly enough,  Chris and I had just a few days earlier been to an exhibit celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Cornish College of the Arts. I’d never heard of it before, but there it was, two mentions of it in the same week.

Now,  it had been a while since I’d run across anything about Joffrey or the Joffrey Ballet.  But I’d just that morning looked up some information about a ballet that I’d remembered going to back in the 1990s, a new ballet based on the music of Prince.  The ballet, called Billboards, had its premiere in Iowa City, where Chris and I were living at the time. We’d gone to see it at that time. Prince passed away last week, and I was reminded of the ballet based on his music.  So, when I’d looked it up before we left for Green Lake, I’d been reminded that the ballet had been performed by the Joffrey Ballet.

So there you have it. Three random things all connected to Robert Joffrey, all in one week, all of which I’d either never heard of or not thought of for years.

As I said, this is just a post about how odd coincidences happen … with things that might not seem related at the time.

In any event, here are a few more photos from our visit to Green Lake. Again, apropos of nothing, but it was a pleasant outing at a pretty lake.

Green Lake view from another side

Another Green Lake panorama – the Aqua Theatre is in the distance on the right

Green Lake trail view – looking toward the old Aqua Theatre