Art for All

Without getting into a deep conversation about the complicated debates over the purpose of performance and "high art" vs. "low art," etc., I invite you to the experience I had yesterday afternoon watching a short performance inspired by the Disney classic, The Lion King, in Orlando, Florida.  I certainly was not in Manhattan anymore...

As someone inundated with much that the NYC performance world has to offer, it's easy to forget the larger picture.  It is easy to get caught up in what's "good" and "bad," the strengths and weaknesses of a performance, the creative output of a piece.  But, dance performance is part of a larger umbrella - the realm of performance where the familiar and unfamiliar, old and young are welcomed; a place where solidarity lives.  It is no surprise that even looking back through our country's history, it is during some of the most difficult times (WWI and WWII, for one example) that entertainment, recreational hobbies and performance skyrocketed in attendance and popularity.  The distraction, the cause for laughter - whatever you want to credit it to - created this mutual appreciation among diverse audiences.

As I sat squished between HUNDREDS of strangers, most children donning their mickey ears and face paint, yesterday afternoon, I could not help but be swallowed in by the energy of the space.  The colorful costumes, acrobatics and sing-along Lion King classic tunes were enjoyable, sure, but it was the fact that this whole audience, so diverse, so many different ages and, I'm sure performance backgrounds or lack thereof, was sharing in this fun experience together. 

It is not about quantity of art outweighing the quality of art, rather it's realizing there are different sorts of appreciation that certain performances are rightly due.  Maybe the little eyes in the audience were seeing a performance with dance in it for the first time, maybe the older eyes in the audience were being re-introduced to its magic.  I certainly was reminded of the fact that dance, or performance in general, is uniting - even if only for those forty-five minutes in a tucked away stage in the corner of Disney's Animal Kingdom.  Hopefully it will inspire someone to start taking dance classes, or encourage someone else to see another performance again soon.  It only takes one impressionable experience to spark an interest and open the door for all the rest that is out there in this realm of performance.

The Festival of the Lion King presented at Walt Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park.  5.21.2011