Did you know that the oldest musical instrument ever found dates back to between 35,000 and 43,000 years ago?
That’s amazing, especially when you realize that the wheel was not invented until about 6,000 or so years ago, and the earliest known written language is only about 5,300 years old. It means that more than 30,000 years before humans figured out either of those things, someone had the bright idea to take a bone, hollow it out, put some holes in it, and blow through it in order to create music.
In the 6th century BC a Greek priest by the name of Thespis introduced the idea of spoken dialogue into the dancing and singing that made up drama at the time. Thespis, who took an active role in the performances, engaged in dialogue with the chorus, thus becoming the first actor (which is why actors are sometimes referred to as thespians).
Music (instrumental and sung), dance, and theatre all have long histories, and they in turn begat other methods of entertainment: clowns and comedians; jugglers and magicians; movies and television. They are all examples of the performing arts, and their existence and endurance speaks to a deep-rooted need — often unspoken, but there nonetheless — in all of us, to either be a performer or to watch others perform.
Which is why it was heartening to hear that some 700 people turned out in Kamloops in less than ideal weather on July 29 to express their support of a proposed performing arts centre there. Of course, every silver lining has a cloud, and it’s extremely disheartening to spend any amount of time on social media pages devoted to Kamloops and read some of the comments about what is being proposed.
That there are some deeply ignorant people out there is obvious. No, Kamloopsians, you have not already voted down a performing arts centre twice; in 2015 you voted (very narrowly) against borrowing up to $49 million to build one, which isn’t the same thing, and the second vote on the same borrowing question — scheduled for 2020 — was cancelled just before it was due to take place because of COVID.
Another popular — and just plain silly — argument against the centre is that because the vote on borrowing money for it failed (once), that’s it, the question is done and dusted, the people spoke, you had your chance. Just because something failed first time around doesn’t mean it’s dead for all eternity; the phrase isn’t “If at first you don’t succeed, too bad so sad, it's over.”
The “argument” (I use the word loosely) that sticks out the most, however, is the one made by the person who asked why Kamloops needed an “artsy fartsy” performing arts centre in the first place. The scorn inherent in “artsy fartsy” is perhaps what rankles most; the implicit suggestion that “performing arts” are only for the one per cent, or that it’s all women in tutus pretending to be swans, or people singing in German about magic flutes, or solemn blokes speaking in iambic pentameter rhyming couplets, as if that’s something normal people do.
The truth is, of course, that if you’re ever stopped to listen to a busker on a street corner, or streamed a piece of music, or laughed at a stand-up comedian’s routine, or watched a TV show or film, you’ve enjoyed the performing arts. It’s that simple, and that’s what the proposed performing arts centre in Kamloops is all about: for the people of that city, and for the countless others in the region around Kamloops, who enjoy watching or listening to other people perform, whatever that might look or sound like.
I’ve been privileged to be a part of more than a dozen theatre performances here in Ashcroft, and unless the people in the audience are simply being kind, hundreds of people love coming out to see what we do. It all goes back to that need we share as human beings to be a part of something magic. Here’s hoping that the people of Kamloops see it that way.
