Riverdance (or, It's Not Your Living Room)

John & I went to see "Riverdance" at the end of January. We received the tickets as a gift last summer & I had been looking forward to the show for many months.

For those of you who haven't seen Riverdance, I'll provide a quick description. It's made up of several different types of dance, not just Irish. There's a woman who performs a few Flamenco numbers; some Russian folk dancers; a group of singers & a few Gregory Hines-type tap dancing guys in addition to the company of Irish dancers. A lot of the dancing reminded me of my days at the Fleming School of Dance where we learned dances from around the world in "National" class. I didn't see any polka-ing in Riverdance, but I'm pretty sure Marn & I could have kicked their asses at it.

I'm having an epiphany right now - I think Marn might be the best male dance partner I've ever had. I wonder if this has anything to do with why I'm so horrible at following any other male dance partners...namely, my own husband.

I digress.

Here, in no particular order, were some of the highlights of Riverdance for me:

1) any time the entire company of Irish dancers was on stage. It sounded AWESOME & I'd love to learn the choreography...it looks fun.
2) the number between the American tap dancers & the Irish male dancers. It made me wish Dado could see it live. He'd totally appreciate it.
3) going out on the town on a Friday night.

And here, in very particular order, was the huge lowlight for me:

The rude woman who sat next to me who didn't stop talking to her friend the whole friggin' time! If you're going to spend good money on tickets to a show, don't you want to pay attention to it even for 5 minutes?

People need to realize when they're in their own living rooms & when they're not. Becasue when you're in your living room watching TV, it's ok to discuss a show with your friend & be as loud as you want. Go ahead, cut up their outfits, laugh at inappropriate times, talk on the phone & make sarcastic comments. I'm all for that. I do it all the time myself. But when you're in a theater, movie or otherwise, you can't do that sh*t. You can't take phone calls (you shouldn't even have the thing on), you need to use your library voice & you have to respect the fact that there are people on stage, performing for an entire audience, not just for you.

It seems like a pretty basic concept but apparently it must be really hard for some to grasp. And they ruin it for those of us who know the rules & abide by them. (From my experience, these violators of common courtesy usually have horrible grammar as well, which just adds to the irritation factor for me.)

Perhaps we need to come up with some type of manual or primer for these socially-inept dumbasses. Here's a start:

1) If you're sitting in a large space with lots of rows of seats, it's not your living room. Shut up.
2) If there's a stage & people are on it, it's not your living room. Pay attention.

Actually, that should do it. Short, sweet & to the point.

Theatrically,
PortlandGirl

Happy Tuesday!

Just popping in to say a quick hello.

It was my intention to write much more than I have this year, but it's one of those priorities I'm still struggling with. It never seems to make it to the top of the list. Note to self: start doing your to do list from the bottom & work your way up!

Much to my mum's chagrin, this is not the post about seeing "Riverdance" a few weeks ago. I wanted to finish it today, but I've been on my butt in front of the computer for the last 2 1/2 hours doing data checking & my brain is now oatmeal. The Maple & Brown Sugar kind.

Mmmm....Maple & Brown Sugar.

Must go eat dinner. Will return to tell you about Riverdance some time this week. I PROMISE!

Hungrily,
PortlandGirl