artsy mcarts

hi peeps. so not long ago a friend told me that civilizations fail when the arts are taken away (something along those lines...im paraphrasing ish...hope he wont mind). and that really made me stop and think. i had never ever thought of the arts in that way before. this is gonna sound ridiculous and whatever, but i always say exactly what i think on this blog....so here goes. this "friend" (ok fine, it was the guy i was dating who is a high school theater teacher) sort of legitimized the performing arts for me. sounds weird probably to any of you who know me, since i have been involved in choirs since elementary school and spent a lot of early morning hours in trouveres rehearsals and have been to gazillions of live concerts and whatnot. i love the performing arts. absolutely. love love dance shows, live performances, symphony, etc etc. always loved them. but i never truly thought of them as something that really changes society or civilization or history. like i said, i know this is ridiculously ignorant. but its where i was. they were something fun and enjoyable....a luxury. but i work in a healthcare field. i have a math and science mind. it never seemed like an essential. but spending some time with this guy, his high school kids in their rehearsals, seeing their productions...completely changed my mindset and thoughts on this. the arts are for real. they are life changing, for both performer and observer. i dont know that it is because of this epiphany that i took in a lot more performing arts this holiday season (there just happened to be a lot of great opportunities that i was able to take advantage of, and like i said, i always have enjoyed watching these things) but i did. i saw a concert of a whole bunch of talented mormon musicians that just get together to remake the hymns/christmas music in beautiful and new ways and they were fantastic to watch just because you could see they had no other motivation than their passion for music and wanting others to appreciate the beauty found therein. i went to the christmas carol service at the catholic cathedral here and it was absolutely exquisite. i have never been to an actual catholic service before (actually i take that back, i think my friend and i walked in on a service at notre dame once...) but the choir was fantastic. combo of children and adults and i absolutely loved it. i loved the latin, loved the harmonies, the clear as a bell childrens voice solos with no vibrato. such a distinct sound from motab and other choral performances and it was marvelous. i then lucked into some tickets to the sunday morning motab concert with nathan gunn and jane seymour which was of course fantastic. never heard the story of good king wenceslas before, but always loved the song. it was very special and i love that i will never thoughtlessly sing that song again. and then this last week i was able to finally go see "the nutcracker" for the first time ever. of course i have always loved the music but just never made an effort to find and attend a performance. i had gone to the ballet west performance of "dracula" back in october and absolutely fell in love with ballet. so i was totally stoked to see more and something so iconic and traditional. and they did not dissapoint. fabulous performance, although different from what i was expecting (i didnt even know the story AT ALL. so this mouse king thing was weird) but i truly enjoyed every moment. so there you go kids. i love performing arts. they are essential. and yes i have a much greater appreciation for theater in particular, although i still dont have a desire to attend any and all plays, indiscriminately (i am still pickier about those productions....i can get easily annoyed with community theater. but that is a whole other blog topic), but we will just say my mind has certainly been opened. and that is a happy thing in life so i am glad for that.