Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Go ahead, geek out.

Though this video’s been around since last April, it caused such a sensation when I put in on Facebook yesterday that I’m putting it here, too.



I’ve been trying to figure out why this video makes me so happy, and I’ve decided it’s the same thing that’s always astounded me about theater or indeed any kind of live performance. And that’s how human it is. While there are many creatures on the planet that perform for one another – crows and dolphins, for example – there’s something quintessentially human about organizing it into a big production, and especially about the need to present that effort to someone else, that makes me proud of humanity.

Many years, I remember a trip my friend and colleague Marc Robinson took to what was then called Czechoslovakia. This was decades ago – a world away from now, and unauthorized performances were still illegal. Marc recalls being accosted by a theater artist who led him through the city via a circuitous route, ending up in an apartment where the man offered a clandestine, one-man command performance of a piece he’d written himself, all at terrible risk. So that someone could bear witness to what he’d created.

Some of us, probably most of us, are hard-wired for performance. Don’t you feel it’s endearing that we want to do that for each other? I don’t know who the performers in the Antwerp train station were or how they conceived of a flash mob rendition of “Do Re Mi.” But I bet most of the people who happened to be there that day felt somehow singled out for joy.

8 comments:

Scott Walters said...

You are right -- one powerful motivation for theatre is to share, to ask for witnesses. I wonder if this impulse gets screwed up when we start trying to turn it into a business...

Anonymous said...

Super! Don't miss the annual Sound of Music sing along at Cinema 21. Incredible fun. Think it's in the spring.

-Win

Jenny Wren said...

Street performances often really hit me emotionally — and this one was no exception. Oh, the humanity. I love it!

Jenn Hunter said...

I received the book on Improv Everywhere for Christmas this year. Learning about all of their missions have made my day!

Here is my favorite...

http://improveverywhere.com/2005/03/19/look-up-more/

Stephen said...

I posted it last April on my blog, & you are correct. For reasons I can't explain, watching it makes giddy with happiness...& who doesn't need that?

christa said...

My guess is that you'd REALLY love this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ds8ryWd5aFw

C A Wohlmut said...

I laughed, I cried, I gave thanks.

Mead said...

Christa, thank you for sharing this. You’re right, I love this wholeheartedly. Have you shared this with your friends over at Portland Opera? Imagine this happening at a farmers’ market. Or Pioneer Square. Or the Forecourt.

A couple of observations: first, how awesome to see people singing along with the artists -- can you imagine that happening in the U.S.?

And also: I was really moved early on in the first aria when the camera captured a young male spectator wiping away tears. Not to mention all the people that were verklempte at the end!

I mentioned previously how inspiring it is that we as humans want to perform for each other. But seeing this video, I see too that it’s that gift of performance, of bringing people something unexpected, that is also so overwhelming emotionally. All those people in the market that day must have thought, consciously or unconsciously: I just happened to be here today, and this special mitzvah was bestowed upon me.

It’s that unexpected sense of the marvelous occurring spontaneously, amid the most quotidian of acts (buying lettuce), that makes my heart leap.