Comments on: So You Say You Want to be a Major League City …

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:47:25 +0000

Interesting…in my 1st post the quote marks are ok, in the second, they have converted to slashes

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:45:49 +0000

Doug: Really enjoyed your \6 handed\ post in the \Coffee Talk Time Again: MAPS 3\ thread.

By: Larry

Larry — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 03:21:12 +0000

Doug: at least on my computer what you asked for already exists, within the site. Typos are underlined in red and while not an exact preview (with line breaks) you can review it before you hit “submit”. Then there is always the option of composing your response in a word processing program, cleaning everything up there and copy/paste it in. Or are you talking about something else?

By: Damon

Damon — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 21:22:24 +0000

Having worked for one of the major performing arts organizations in Oklahoma City, I believe the arts are an important piece of our city’s overall identity. Ballet is not my favorite performing art, but I understand that it adds value to our community and so I want it there. However, I also believe that if arts agencies want to grow their audiences, then they have to be willing to please both the serious art lovers and the casual arts patrons. This is why you see the Philharmonic offer a Pops and a Classics series. Some want all the Beethoven you can give them. But the majority of the populous will enjoy music from the movies. The Philharmonic gets this and so programs accordingly. There’s something for everyone. Some arts supporters have an elitist attitude that turns most others off. It’s that attitude of “If you don’t get this or don’t appreciate it, then you just aren’t cultured enough.” Mind you, most arts patrons I know are not that way. But they do exist. In my former organization, some would have preferred to have 200 people show up for a concert at the Civic Center for a performance of King David as opposed to 2,000 for an evening of Broadway musicals, simply to preserve the “classical art”. It’s a business and must be marketed as such. Give the aficionados what they want some of the time and the “sports guys” what they want some of the time.

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:17:18 +0000

By the way, what ever came of the “vote on the best riverwalk” article. Any results from that?

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 22:04:34 +0000

I would guess with the “dwindling audiences the past several years”, during OKC’s “downtown renaissance” an the self proclaimed “big/major league city” status propaganda, that the two free 15 min. performances outdoors would be like moving towards a “world class” status. Way to go OKC, but don’t think it will draw Whole Foods interest. How hilarious and CLASSIC!

By: Mack

Mack — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:08:38 +0000

Wow! With the amazing outpouring of support for ballet, I’m surprised they have to resort to free street performances. Was anyone able to make it today?

Chad, I’m not saying they are not tremendous athletes. I’m just not a fan of ballet for the same reason I don’t follow soccer or marathon races… It’s BORRRING! I’m with you guys in that people should have the opportunity to see it if it strikes their fancy. However, I would just as soon not be called a “small-minded yokel” or have someone say that I have a “hick mentality” just because I happen to disagree with the general concensus of other posters.

By: Casey Cornett

Casey Cornett — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 19:26:27 +0000

Jessica – You don’t want to see these white legs in a tutu.

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:36:47 +0000

I don’t think I’ve officially been to a ballet, either, but I have been to Civic Center, Stage Center, Jewel Box, and Lyric Theatre productions and I see an OKC Ballet performance in my immediate future. Here in about an hour, as a matter of fact. I don’t go all the time, but when I want to go, I want there to BE a performance for me to go to. I want to live where there are diverse people that write, dance, play instruments, etc.

Wouldn’t it be fun if all of OKC celebrated OKC Ballet Day by wearing tutus and slippers to work? I love it!

By: Chad Reynolds

Chad Reynolds — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:21:30 +0000

I have been to several ballet performances and I bet any ballerina, male or female (my father–in-law calls male ballerinas “ballerinos”), could out-jump, out-run, out-leap, out-whatever most other athletes. If you like sports, you really ought to be thrilled by ballet. It is the most physically demanding art form there is, period. You don’t see poets breaking a sweat, do you? Or painters? No. Being a ballerina requires strength, agility, flexibility, absolute discipline, and ambition–you could say the same of any professional athlete trying to make it in the big leagues. The physical demands of ballet make it exhilarating to watch, because the ballerinas make something so hard look so easy. And it means that certain stories are perfectly suited to ballet. My high school girlfriend stayed as Buffy in an OKC Ballet performance of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” in the mid 1990s, and let me tell you, that was awesome. Low-brow and high-brow all at the same time, vampires doing pirouettes and my Buffy flying through the air with a wooden stake. It was incredible.