I attended the performance of your group last night at the Hult Center in Eugene. A close friend of mine purchased tickets for my wife and I, and told us many wonderful things about you folks before we watched the show.

There are several reasons I'm writing you. First of all, I want to apologize for myself and on behalf of the audience for not giving all of you a much earned and well deserved standing ovation. This bothered me most of the night, and I thought about what kind of dynamics happen to prompt such a thing. It then occurred to be too that there were several places in the show where we missed an opportunity to applaud, followed by a momentary awkward silence, and I thought about why. I think I have something of an answer for you, but in order for it to have merit, I'll have to explain something first.

One of the audience members asked you, in essence, if you fashioned yourselves after the Cirque Du Soleil. Having witnessed a wide variety of Cirque shows and performances, I think that corolllary gives us our answer.

When I watch Cirque Du Soleil, I have to liken it to looking at a beautiful stained glass window. We get to see the surface, and the light shining through, and the experience is ultimately superficial. On the other hand, you folks have opened the window and invited us in, and it became a personal and personable experience.

The Cirque troupes, in various stages of their performances, provide the audience with visual and musical cues when the segment is over. Then like Pavlov's dogs, we applaud on cue. Your performances flow like water from one segment to the next, seamlessly, and without cue. We're a pretty unsophisticated tribe here in Eugene, so I'm hoping you'll forigive us that breach in courtesy. As I reflect back on the performance, I realize there were some subtle cues, but unfortunately, we weren't smart enough to pick up on it.

I will offer in our defense though, that individually and collectively (I now repeat what I said to you last night), you folks are the definition of languid elegance, and you embody the harmony of balance in movement. The performance was so enthralling, we were trapped 'in the moment' and didn't want to let it go. That is the truth.

As a final thought. If I were to win a $100 million dollar lottery today, and died tomorrow, anyone could spend the money but me. Because the only thing I or any of us can spend that's of any true value, is our time. We're only alloted precious little time in our lives, and we don't get a rebate. So, by that definition your troupe has made me wealthier than money ever could. If someone had offered me a thousand dollars not to go to your show, and I took it, I wouldn't be able to tell you where the money went a month from now. But by going, and spending time with you and the time you spared for and shared with us...I'll remember it the rest of my life!

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.
Blue skies, Greg Jones

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