Place des Arts is a major performing arts center in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and Canada's largest cultural and artistic complex.
It has six venues, and I have been to two of them a few times, to watch shows and performances.
I have been on stage TWICE at one of the venues mentioned below.
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier plays host to the most remarkable shows with nearly 3,000 seats. It is Place des Arts’ biggest venue and welcomes prestigious productions by Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal the Opéra de Montréal since 1963 and 1980.
It has been chosen to host McGill University's Fall Convocation Ceremony. In November 2006, I was honored to walk on the stage and pick up my Master of Library and Information Studies degree from the Principal's hand.
The whole stage time lasted...maybe 10-15 seconds but the whole ceremony lasted a few hours. My two young children were among the audience. It wasn't fun for them sitting for hours and I am sure they were very proud of me.
Théâtre Maisonneuve is a modern version of the Italian-style theatre. It has a large and highly versatile multifunctional stage, an orchestra pit with space for 45 musicians, and all the projection equipment you need for galas and film premieres.
The past Sunday, Jan. 21, I entered the backstage around noon. I got home close to 11 pm.
We performed on the stage three times including two rehearsals and each time, the dance lasted about 1 minute 25 seconds.
We stayed at the backstage most of the time. It did feel like a very long day 😫😫😫
Last time, we could watch other performances when we did not perform 🫡🫡🫡
We were not allowed to watch others this time, just the one before us and the one after us.
It is the same dance as we did a week before but it was cut short 😲😲😲
But we wore a new outfit so at least that was refreshing 😊😊😊
When I watched the video I noticed that I wasn't in sync with others ☹️☹️☹️
But it was an honor, an excellent experience to perform on the BIG stage 👍👍👍
Indeed, an honor!
I am proud of all of us who spent hours practicing for the big moment.
The efforts did pay off.
Here is the video taken at the rehearsal.
Happy viewing!
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