Okay, so I was tasked with finding the best performing arts events worldwide. Sounds simple, right? Wrong! Where do you even start?
First things first, I hit up Google. I typed in variations of “best performing arts events,” “top theater festivals,” and “must-see dance performances.” I spent a good hour just sifting through lists and articles. Some were helpful, some were clearly just ads in disguise.
Next, I figured I needed to narrow things down. I love theatre, so I started focusing on that. I looked for reputable theatre festivals. Edinburgh Fringe Festival was an obvious one, but I wanted to dig deeper. I started searching for smaller, more niche festivals. That’s when things got interesting.
I started making a spreadsheet. Yeah, I know, super exciting. But seriously, it helped. I listed potential events, locations, dates (if I could find them), and a brief description. I also added a column for “why this is interesting.” That’s where I jotted down anything that caught my eye, like a unique theme, a famous director, or a groundbreaking production.
Then came the hard part: verifying the information. So many of these websites were outdated! I had to cross-reference dates and venues with official festival websites or news articles. This took forever. I felt like a detective, piecing together clues from the internet.
After that, I started to look into dance and music events. For dance, I focused on companies known for innovation and pushing boundaries. Names like Batsheva Dance Company and Nederlands Dans Theater kept popping up. I looked for their tour schedules to see where they’d be performing.
For music, I decided to focus on classical and opera. I’m not a huge opera buff, but I appreciate the spectacle. I looked at the schedules of major opera houses like the Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan. Talk about expensive tickets!
Finally, I went back to my spreadsheet and started ranking the events based on a few factors: artistic merit, uniqueness, accessibility (how easy is it to get there and get tickets), and overall “wow” factor. It was totally subjective, but hey, it’s my list!
In the end, I had a pretty solid list of diverse and exciting performing arts events. It took a lot of digging and cross-referencing, but it was worth it. Now, I just need to win the lottery so I can actually attend them all!
- Edinburgh Fringe Festival: A classic for a reason.
- Avignon Festival: A huge theatre festival in France.
- Nederlands Dans Theater performances: Always innovative and visually stunning.
- Metropolitan Opera: For a grand, traditional opera experience.
