Every
culture has its music and dance routines.
A number of societies have cultivated these into arts that go
beyond plain, traditional folklore.
Cultures that have developed the arts have achieved something
very special for their own populace and beyond.
Jon
Hawkes of the Victoria State Cultural Development Network in Australia
went as far as to say, “The
arts are an essential tool in preventing a nation’s slide into
dumbed-down mediocrity and preserving open-mindedness, tolerance and
responsiveness to the world of ideas.”
An
article by St. Andrews Bay, commenting on the performing arts, went
even further, saying they “are of universal benefit to human behavior
and to personal and national success. To
sustain a healthy economy a nation needs a healthy culture.
A successful nation needs a strong, positive sense of national
identity founded on a distinctive national culture encompassing the
performing arts.”
The
performing arts include music, theatre (including comedy), opera (a
cross between music and theatre) and dance.
Some critics would include circus, mime and puppetry.
Most writers would not include film or electronic media; and
the performing arts exclude the visual or plastic arts, crafts and
literature.
What,
apart from the pure enjoyment provided by talented performers, do the
performing arts offer? Hawkes
says, “there are many advantages for the child, our future citizens,
in participation:
-
Increased
self-confidence
-
A sense of independence and achievement
-
Enhanced life skills such as team-working
-
Improved literacy and numeracy
-
A first hand grasp of culture
-
A sense of identity
-
A sense of being an active member of society
A
report conducted in Norway--The Resonant Community fostering
Interracial Understanding through Music--provided evidence that the
performing arts is a powerful agent in the encouragement of
open-mindedness and tolerance towards cultural diversity.
A
recent study conducted by the Performing
Arts Research Coalition found that attendance at arts events is
not only high, but perceived by both attendees and non-attendees alike
to be of significant value to communities.
The contribution of the performing arts to the education and
development of children is the most highly regarded value.
What
do we have of the performing arts outside of the world's major cities?
How
many cities can afford a symphony orchestra? An opera or ballet
company? A professional theatre group?
Smaller
communities often import talent from other places. Many opera
singers go on regular road tours, though they need a good orchestra in
most cases before they will perform. That can be beyond the
means of all but other large cities.
Pop
singers who don't need large bands or small groups can manage to
travel most anywhere that can afford them. The same is true of
stand-up comics and small theatre groups.
Many
places have amateur theatre groups. These can offer as many as a
half dozen plays a year. Their quality, of course, depends on
the level of the local talent.
As
one commentator noted, “what the performing arts deal with best is
“the resolution of emotional tensions by meeting them head on in the
relationship of ideas or characters laid out on the stage.
Believability. . . is often demonstrated more convincingly on
stage than on a political platform.”
The
performing arts have a freedom which politics and public sector
political correctness don’t enjoy.
They can think the unthinkable and speak the unspeakable.
The arts provide for the free expression of ideas, untainted by
current social and political orthodoxies.
Once
we realize the importance of the performing arts and acknowledge their
usefulness, we have reason to learn more about them.
This is where the World Wide Web plays an important role.
Audiences in major centers for the performing arts will attend
plays, concerts, ballet or opera regularly and will know what’s
playing and what’s involved from their experience.
In
most places, we need the Internet, not only to better understand
entertainment like ballet and opera that we may miss, but also to keep
abreast of the developments taking place in all the performing arts.
Keep in mind that cinema and TV cannot have the same effect as
a live performance despite Dolby Surround Sound.
You’ll find useful sources of both information and
entertainment in the following areas:
Theatre
If
you’d like to know what’s going on in the live theatre world, the
Web has several useful sites. For
what’s on in London, visit the London
Theatre Guide where you’ll find the latest headlines and
reviews. If you’re planning
to travel to London, you can order tickets online.
The
Internet Broadway
Database (IBDB) is the official source of information about
what’s happening in the New York theatre.
IBDB provides records of productions from the beginnings of New
York theatre until today. Professor
Ken McCoy has compiled the most comprehensive
guide to American theatre.
If
you have a special interest in musicals, nothing beats John
Kenrick’s “Musicals
101." My two favorite Broadway theatre guides are CitySpin
for its brief synopses and nytheatre.com
for its excellent reviews.
Music
Though
musical experts disagree about what actually constitutes music, we
have all listened to our favorite singers, bands, orchestras or
players. Many places miss
live performances of a symphony orchestra, though they might have the
occasional small ensembles playing classical music.
A live concert by a large orchestra provides a much different
and much more enjoyable experience than a filmed performance.
Local
jazz performers, rock music, hotel bands and popular folk
performers often fill a need for musical entertainment.
For country music, rhythm and blues or symphonies, many people
resort to audio and videotapes or to collections of CD’s.
For those who can’t afford classical collections, the Duke
University Libraries has online broadcasts and free files for
download.
The
William
and Gayle Cook Music Library at the Indiana University School of
Music has a Worldwide Internet Music Resources website for those
interested in knowing more about individual musicians, musical groups
(both popular and classical), research and journals.
Opera
A
mix of both music and theatre, opera seems to need followers who
develop a taste for it. Performed
in languages unfamiliar to everyone, audiences who make the effort to
read the stories of the operas they plan to attend will enjoy them
more.
The
best current source of information about operas can be found at the OperaGlass
website of Stanford University. In
addition to plot synopses, the site includes libretti, source texts,
performance histories, discographies and background information.
Dance
Unfortunately,
people often depend on TV for much of the dance performances other
than local traditional folk dances.
Of course, dance, other than mime, also involves music.
I remember, as a youth, enjoying a great feeling for many
different cultures by participating in folk dances from many places.
Except
in large cities, people often miss the superb form and artistry of
live ballet performances. Those
who want to know more about what’s going on with ballet, visit ballet.co,
the site “about all things ballet and dance in the world & the
UK in great depth.”
Yiannis
Tsiounis of Northeastern University has compiled an interesting History
of Ballet. If
you’re seeking to learn more about the ballets themselves, you’ll
find a useful guide at Artslynx
International Dance Resources.
As
Jon Hawkes has said, “the arts are the creative imagination at work
(and play). Its
techniques involve improvisation, intuition, spontaneity, lateral
thought, imagination, co-operation, serendipity, trust, inclusion,
openness, risk-taking, provocation, surprise, concentration,
unorthodoxy, deconstruction, innovation, fortitude and an ability and
willingness to delve beneath the surface, beyond the present, above
the practical and around the fixed."
That’s
saying a lot about the value of the performing arts.
A great deal can be learned about this broad collection of
skills and techniques simply through participation in and enjoyment of
live theatre, dance and musical performances.
Hopefully, one day more people will be able to enjoy opera and
ballet.
Those
of us who enjoy them know that the performing arts are more than song
and dance.
