To stand or not to stand?

[dirac]

In the last few months I've attended a couple of performances that received standing ovations at the end of the evening. I didn't think they rated standing Os, but almost everyone else did. They weren't bad performances, mind -- just not all THAT great. My question is: if a performance you think was fine but not necessarily worthy of an ovation gets one, do you stand up as well, or do you remain seated? On the first occasion, I stood up in order to see the dancers take their calls; on the second, I thought, the hell with it, if I can't see the calls sitting I'll leave (I was three seats from the aisle.) I excused myself politely but got a very dirty look from a lady as I crept past her. I didn't want to be rude, but I don't see the point of springing up like a marionette just to be with the crowd. Do others feel this way, or am I attaching too much significance to standing up?

[djb]

I don't stand just because everyone else does.

[Alexandra]

I've been in situations where I've stood where I didn't want to because:

1. Otherwise I would have looked as though I was on strike because everyone around me was standing.

Or

2. I couldn't see the stage unless I stood.

3. It seemed mean not to. Okay, so I'm a wimp.

[carbro]

I generally like to watch the dancers take their calls, so whether or not I'm expressing uncontainable enthusiasm for the performance, I tend to stand. However when it comes to people shouting "Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!" for mediocre dancing, I tend not to applaud, even politely.

[BW]

I'm with Alexandra on her three reasons - however, I'm with carbo on the not even clapping unless I thought it was worth clapping for....but, then again, I have "wimped" out and very lightly put my hands together once or twice, just to be polite.

[dirac]

I forgot to mention the bravos. There were those, too.

[BW]

Definitely not a one.

[Farrell Fan]

I start out remaining seated, but after a few seconds I tire of looking at the phalanx of backsides in the row in front of me and get curious about what's happening on stage. So I get up but don't necessarily applaud.

[Funny Face]

Is this in New York? I've often associated the standing ovation issue to be one, sometimes, of geography. As in, with some locales, the people don't really know enough to discern what is good from great and they're excited and want to be polite, but in New York, you get inundated with great stuff, so I would anticipate a different level of sophistication. That doesn't mean that all other big cities would follow suit. I've seen some puzzling behavior (taste, dress, demeanor, etc.) in cities almost as big.

I've lived in a city for the past dozen or so years that's as big as the northern one I hail from, and the folks up there are much more savvy about ballet, as well as with comportment at the theater. Down here, unless their children are in Nutcracker, forget the standing O.

Now here's a twist. Any of you ever RECEIVE a standing O and know you didn't deserve it? Now there's a dilemma.

[Helene]

In Seattle people will stand for just about anything music related, as if we should be honored by artists who are willing to visit our little frontier town. When the Symphony was still in the Opera House, limited to a Monday/Tuesday schedule, a lot of top-notch performers wouldn't come, because that would mean committing to two weeks from their schedule instead of one in order to rehearse with the orchestra, so it was a bit more understandable.

People will stand for visiting dance companies, but not so much for Pacific Northwest Ballet, although it does happen occasionally. What happens more than not is that Francia Russell, the co-artistic director, will get a standing ovation, like she did at after the Balanchine Celebration Centenary program, and the soloist musicians -- usually violin or piano -- will get the biggest ovations of the night.

[Helene]

And standing has its own consequences:

Daniele Gatti, on Tour with Royal Philharmonic, Upbraids Florida Audience Following Concert (Tim Page)

(I don't see the article on The Washington Post website [yet], but you can view this on andante.com without having to register.)

[Nanatchka]

There's some sort of ratcheting down going on in the theater. Standing ovations are now customary on opening nights (the gala crowd being full of supporters) and for Broadway shows in general. They are, perhaps as a consequence, more common everywhere. (I think if people bother to pay a lot for tickets and go out, they like to think they have seen something fabulous.) You can do what you want. With all the racket, the people on stage won't know, unless you are in a highly visible location. ( I have heard a critic say she never, in her long career, applauded. Because Walter Terry didn't, as I recall.) When I am a guest of the house, I politely if quietly go along with whatever happy carrying on is happening in the audience. When I am on my own steam, I do as I please. Often enough, in either case, that's leaping to my own feet to acknowledge the entrance onto the stage of someone of greatness. In sum: if Merce Cunningham or Paul Taylor is standing, I am not sitting.