Last night I attended a recital for a local dance company at Crampton Auditorium on Howard University's campus. Last weekend, I manned the door at the children's recital at St. Mark's. A few weeks ago I went to Dance Place to see a performance by the Washington Reflections Dance Theatre. The contrast among the three performances could not have been more stark. It all had to do with the conduct of the audience.
At Dance Place, I arrived and bought a ticket for the show at the box office. Everyone in the lobby was calm, patient and generally friendly. Because it was a Tuesday night, I'm sure that most of the attendees were either art critics, friends of the company members or artistic director, members of Dance Place, dancers themselves, or just curious people who enjoy seeing dance performances at a reasonable price, but each was serious about dance. I was seated near a small group of women who chattered incessantly prior to the performance, but once the lights went out, they shut up and remained quiet until the end. There was no getting up to go to the bathroom, no cell phones, and only a little cheering from the audience--at the end of the evening.
In contrast, last weekend at St. Mark's children's recital, some parents arrived well past the stated beginning of the recital (which was 12 noon) and still expected to be seated. I stood sentry at the door to keep it closed, so that meant that I didn't see much of the performances. As St. Marks does not really have a backstage, we had to create one by blocking access to the parish hall and the dance studio so that the girls could prepare without the constant in-and-out/back-and-forth parade of parents. This meant a constant struggle with the grandparents who wanted to see their little ballerinas, brothers who wanted to tease little sisters, mothers who wanted to take photos, and the daddies who wanted to present flowers. Apparently no one considered that it might be best to do all of this prior to the recital or wait until it ended. (To be fair, most of the parents did conduct themselves properly and were respectful and courteous.)
Then there was last night's recital for the Expressions Dance Company. I went to see my aunt perform, and I thought she did a great job. As for the other performances, well...aside from a dancers' critique on the uninspired and predictable choreography, I've seen worse. However, it was the conduct of the audience that made this experience so completely unenjoyable that I left with a headache. The audience was so unruly that it there was total and utter chaos during the entire performance. By intermission, I was ready to leave because: (a) I had seen enough and did not expect much more variety in the performances; (b) I figured that we had missed my aunt's performance anyway; (c) I still had my Saturday crossword puzzle to do; and (d) if I wanted to hear all that cheering and screaming, I would have gone to a ball game and not to a dance recital!
These three experiences have left me with one some pretty damning impressions: DO PEOPLE EVEN KNOW HOW TO CONDUCT THEMSELVES IN PUBLIC ANYMORE? If you take the time to get dressed and pay for admission, wouldn't you prefer to enjoy what is on stage rather than what is happening in the audience? There is a time and a place for everthing: cheering, screaming, constant standing, leaving and retuning, dancing in the aisles, etc., should be reserved for the appropriate events, such as a ball game, an outdoor music festival, or Mardi Gras.
I have now added Crampton Auditorium to the list of places I refuse to go for any type of event. This list gets longer the older I get, which is sad because soon I'll be stuck in my house watching PBS or cable for cultural enrichment. A few weeks ago, I proclaimed that I don't do Constitution Hall anymore because of the audiences it attracts. To think Marian Anderson was refused the right to sing there in the 30s...I wonder if she would even think it was worth it today.
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