Reflections and reminiscences from back at home.

I will now attempt to fill in some of the gaps, some of my experiences that I haven't yet documented. I hope I remember all or most of them, and hope I don't repeat myself too much. First, the performances. I attended two while I was there. First was a concert in a small venue in my neighborhood. I always try to look at ads in the metro and online for things happening during my stay. But this was just a small club close to my apartment that I happened to notice walking by. The poster on the door called the show for 7:30. I showed up about 7pm. I hoped that there would be tickets available at the door, as I had no credit cards to reserve online. There was another woman waiting, and we waited quite a while. A man soon joined us. I asked if they already had tickets, which they did. I don't think they opened the doors until after 8pm, which I don't think was normal because both the man and woman seemed frustrated. The venue, when they eventually let us in, was quite small. There was a stage, a few rows of seats, and an open floor. I sat on the top row, so I'd have a back to lean against. There were only four or five short rows, holding no more than twenty five or thirty people. The floor could have held quite a few more, but there were only about twenty people who stood there. So not more than fifty altogether. There was a first act was a singer with a guitar and a sweet voice. She sang completely in English. But spoke in French. The main act was also a French woman with a three piece band. She was very good. She also sang mostly in English. I messaged her afterwards to tell her I enjoyed her performance. Although the audience was small it was very enthusiastic, and didn't feel at all uncomfortable, at least to me. Next to me was a couple with the only child in the audience. He was about three, cherubic in looks with blond curls. He also must have had a severe case of ADHD or something similar. He was in constant movement and chanting or singing loudly nonestop. I felt both compassion for the parents and frustration with them for having brought him. They did leave early. I had read about a dance performance based on the music of Leonard Cohen, performed by the Montreal Ballet Company. The name of the performance was Dance Me. Online it looked as though the only tickets available were with limited visibility, or no visibility. It was at the Chatelet Theatre, another place I'd never been. Their site said the box office opened at 6:30, before each 8pm performance. I decided to show up at 6:30 and see what they had available, willing to settle for limited visibility. No visibility for a dance performance was puzzling. It worked out, and they actually had better seats. I ate at the cafe next door, which worked out perfectly. I was seated in the last orchestra row, fine especially since I hadn't been sure I'd get in at all. And it allowed me to stand when I couldn't see past the tall woman in front of me. Why do I always get the tallest person in the row? The first piece was wonderful. It featured the men in the company wearing black outfits and Cohen's iconic black hat. The performance was entirely his music, 18 songs I believe. The next few were also great. But after a while the choreography seemed to become repetitive. I was especially disappointed in their piece to the song Suzanne. To me, the lyrics describe a strong woman. And yet, the man of the dancing couple seemed to lead. I t bothered me. The performance ended with Hallaluyah. I was again disappointed because they did a solo singing rendition. The singer was a multi talented dancer in the company, and she had a beautiful voice. But I wanted the performance to end with a rousing dance. Nevertheless I was glad to have gone. The theatre is old and beautiful. And the performance had enough high moments to satisfy me. Interestingly, when I later googled reviews, I found a British reviewer from when they had performed there last year, who had some of the same criticisms that I did. It was rather gratifying to know that my feelings were echoed by a professional reviewer. I am glad I didn't read the review beforehand, or I might not have chosen to go. The audience gave the company long applause. I am still trying to figure out what a dance performance with no visibility would be like. I suppose you could go just to appreciate the music and the theatre itself. T