In an effort to ease the burden of Christmas shopping, I thought I would make life easy on myself and get everyone tickets to a show. Add appropriate number to the shopping cart, and I’m done within minutes. Make sure that the show date is far enough out that everyone can attend and all should be well, right? Right. That part went well. What comes next…

You’ll find a couple reviews of Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca on this site. Their performance is, for lack of a better term, fantastic. I try to see them every time they are in New York. I don’t know the first thing about flamenco technique, styling, or rules, but each and every time I watch the troupe perform, I am impressed.

The first time I saw them, at The New Victory Theater, there were people that were familiar with flamenco in the audience. How do I know? They were the ones shouting out to the troupe. Calls of “Ole!”, “Como?” and other exclamations rang out throughout the evening. This particular performance could not have been more different.

The Kingsborough Community College Performance Arts Center is a nice venue. It can hold a good crowd, but is not an incredibly cavernous space. The stage itself is very large, so I’m sure that bigger dance companies really enjoy booking there. The house was nearly full, and I was not surprised to see plenty of people with gray hair in the audience. (Sorry, but it is just a fact. When I go to dance or classical performances, there are very few people that are not either in or near retirement. I’ll leave you to speculate on the reasons.) I don’t have a problem with their collective age. I have a problem with the fact that this was, by far, THE MOST OBNOXIOUS AUDIENCE I have ever been in.

Holy crap! What a collection of jerks! The woman next to my girlfriend had her cell phone ring three times. Not three rings, three separate occasions! A woman sitting across the isle had a coughing fit. A coughing fit is perfectly understandable, but should it take you three minutes of rustling through what must have been the noisiest plastic bag ever created to get a swig of water? People in front of me started a loud conversation. It’s one thing to whisper a word or two, it’s another thing to begin talking. It’s another thing to talk so loud that people around you can hear what you are saying. It is yet another thing to do it when you are sitting IN THE SECOND ROW! I would not have blamed a dancer for beaning them in the head with a shoe. UNREAL!

Add to all of the above, the crowd was dead. They didn’t know when to clap after solos. They applauded, but it seemed like it was just out of habit. I started to clap louder after solos, just to get a few other people in the right frame of mind. Again, I am no flamenco expert, but I’ve seen enough jazz to know when to clap after a solo.

Sadly, I think the troupe noticed the audience problems as well. After a few numbers, you could tell that their attention went inward. They were not playing to the crowd as much as playing to themselves. This is not to say that their performance was lacking or that they were not appreciative of the audience. However, you could sense that they had to feed off one another’s energy instead of feeding off the crowd.

I am firmly of the belief that the performer must entertain the audience. The crowd is not obligated to participate. They are not required to join in the show. They paid their money, they have the right to sit back and be entertained. Nevertheless, standing on the stage and playing to a lifeless crowd is rough.

I wonder how many people there had season passes of some kind and just show up the performances. There is definitely a big difference between those who seek out a performance and those who just happen to be there every Friday.

Additional Links:
Review of Noche Flamenca at the Lucille Lortel
Review of Noche Flamenca at The New Victory Theater