Audience

Canadian audiences bug me. Especially at music related events. We do a very good job of being reserved audiences. We sit in our seats & clap at the end of things and in all the right places in between. But that's about it.... Somewhere in my head I got the idea that humans weren't really meant to be audiences. We were meant to participate - that, even in a performance, that there is a transfer, a transaction, of energy between performers & audience.... that somehow the performer gives of themselves & pours out themselves like a sacrifice before the audience & the audience returns with their collective energy, the sum of a room full of hearts & minds being a part of, believing in this art, this beauty, this 'word made flesh'....and somewhere in there the artist is re-energized, filled again to be able to pour out more & more of themselves which in turn inspires an even greater flow from the audience & the cycle repeats in one breathtaking experience that leaves the whole room drained at the end of the night like they've just been through some huge emotional workout.....

...but yeah, we don't do that in Canada. We're too proper. Maybe for sporting events. maybe if we've had lots & lots of beer.... but not for 'cultured' events... We sit & watch & evaluate... but we don't participate. And church is like this too - one poor schmuck gets up to sing or preach or teach & the rest sit there to evaluate.... (and yeah, i know in saying this, I'm part of the problem more than part of the solution).

Maybe this is why Canada has 'needed' to embrace multiculturalism. Maybe it's 'cause we European imports need to learn some stuff from the other cultures. We need black folk to teach us about soul, about how to sing, how to be loud & unreserved. Maybe we need Hispanic people to teach us how to move, how to find rhythm & to recapture the beauty of the human body in motion. Maybe we need the French to teach us how to love, how to live wildly & experience the beauty & richness that life has to offer. Maybe we need the native peoples to teach us how to see - how to see the land around us & be a part of it instead of just parasites on it - about how to see the greater picture, to stop & be quiet for a while & recognize that we are part of a greater whole, that we are part of 'tribe' and 'family' more than just individuals.... and yeah, I'm sure there's something that us white-y anglo saxon protestant types can bring to the table, too... but I just can't think of what that would be right now.....