August 08, 2004
A Ballet Concert among Trees
I went to a Ballet Concert.
A free concert is being performed every Sunday in Stern Grove Park (Stern Grove Festival). You can see from Jazz to opera if you go there every week. The program of this week was ballet.
I have never gone to a Ballet concert because I have never wanted to. But cycling becomes more fun if I have a destination. Stern Grove Park was a good destination. When I arrived at the park, it was only five minutes before. But I could secure a place to sit in the forest. The place was a bit far from the stage, but it turned out to be a nice place. The smell of cedar trees was great. I experienced both ballet and forest bathing at a same time.
First, I was surprised by the quality. The performer was San Francisco ballet, a world class ballet company, according to the announcement. They spent two hours with three intermissions to show both traditional and contemporary ballet to us. The music by a full orchestra was dynamic.
But I was surprised the most by finding that the ballet was interesting to me. I confess that I do not like art. Especially, I tend to avoid people who talk about art to show off their status. They love to show that they “understand” Mahler. But I never felt a need to show that I “understand” Muir Woods Trail. The gap between us is too deep.
But the Stern Grove Park in San Francisco required no “understanding”. They allowed us to enjoy art in the way we want. Indeed, many people including me were lying on the ground or eating hamburger. Such an atmosphere made us enjoy art as it is.
In general, American people do not worship formality. They do not worship the “understanding” of status people either. They value their own feeling. They seem not hesitate to ask why if their feeling is different from the "understanjding" of status people. I believe this made America so lively. And I love such America very much.
Posted by hfuruichi at August 8, 2004 10:19 PM