I’ve lived in Jacksonville my whole life—a soon to be 23 years. That’s a pretty long time to get used to a place. The way it works and the way it very much doesn’t work. Travel is a blessing. You must always get outside the little box you call home to experience exactly what else is out there…the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful for that matter. So when my beloved job takes me places, I gladly accept the invitation. Now don’t get me wrong about Jacksonville. I do love this place. It has been the setting of grand memories and almost every notable stride made to advance myself in life. But it simply does not have everything. It simply does not understand everything. We as a community have a lot of work to do. Let’s start here.

A recent trip to New York brought out the magnifier glass on my world back home. The city is incredible and if you have never been, you must make a point to go. I haven’t been everywhere, as that I’m almost sure is impossible, but I’m pretty sure there is no place just like it. I’ve been to L.A., Chicago and even Tokyo and still I was nearly floored. The heart that beats in the Big Apple is just like the one that beats in you, never stopping, always alive and in motion, thriving and growing. Jacksonville sleeps. It sometimes oversleeps, like me. New York holds treasures that Jacksonville can’t even dream of. All that sleeping is not doing too much good.

Let’s discuss one example in particular. My usual Jacksonville Sunday nights usually involve a Lean Cuisine, watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition, always crying at the end (I don’t know how they do it every darn week) and maybe if I’m feeling feisty, a late night trip to Starbucks on SR210, the only one open late enough (open 24 hours people!). My New York Sunday night blew my hometown weekend finales straight out of the St. Johns. Following a half-price Broadway show, thanks to TKTS, and a scrumptious nibble at Juniors, we gussied ourselves up for our evening. Kendall and Toni took in a night with Rockapella, an a cappella music group well known for singing many a commercial jingle, and Mary Claire and I went to see a contemporary ballet performance that was a part of the conference showcases. We had seen advertisements for Cedar Lake all over town and were lucky to even get the comped tickets.

MC sat across the room a few rows back. I was front row. The edge of the stage was a few feet away from me. The space was incredible. It was located off of this crazy street that I dubbed the Atlantic Boulevard of New York, away from the lights and sounds of Times Square which was where the hotel was. Okay, so it several blocks down, but that’s what I’m telling people.

The seats were set up like artistic bleachers. It had plain black wings, a plain black backdrop and the rather large stage area was blanketed with smooth black marley. It did not have intricate detailing like our theatre. There was no concession stand. No curtain. No frills at all. It was a straight forward performance space, but there was a purpose to this clean canvas. The actual space was not meant to woo you. What was about to happen was all your eyes could look at anyway. The theater went black and then the light came up the corp of 15 dancers in a straight line at the edge of the stage. Thus ensued one of the most incredible performances my eyes have been privileged to witness. But you will never see it.

Their bodies were like Greek gods, their dynamic movements expertly executed, their faces never wavering from any which emotion that fueled the dance. The choreography was raw, bold and engaging. It took chances. They were like dance machines, and you will never really know why. For lack of a much better word, it was incredible. And I’m so sorry to say that you will never get to share in my new-found passion for this company. You will never see them.

At least not in Jacksonville.

Let’s be honest. If it doesn’t involve sports, isn’t related to NASCAR or Hannah Montana or doesn’t rhyme with lonster stuck ally, the good majority of Jacksonvillians (Villites? Vill-steins? Whatever) won’t get it or won’t really care to get it. They definitely don’t get dance. It’s like a foreign language of a country with no tourist attraction. Nobody wants to go there, which is quite a thing since our city has close to 400 dance studios. So there are people that take dance here. They know what it is. But for some reason they don’t really want to climb out of their bubbles and see everything that dance can really be. It’s not just pink tutus and swans ladies and gentleman.

We recently brought a Russian dance troupe to our stage. The performance was jaw-dropping. Guess how many jaws dropped? Only around 100 or so. It was heartbreaking. But every one of that 100 was a better person walking out the door than they were walking in. They grew two hours more culturally. Their minds were just that much more knowledgeable about the world and about themselves. And all from what? Just getting off the couch and experiencing their city.

Everyone complains that there’s never anything to do in Jacksonville. I do it myself. Let’s reference my aforementioned Sunday evenings. The problem is there is no fire underneath most of us. There is no real yearning for culture. You don’t hear, “God if I don’t see a Irish jam band concert soon, I’ll just die!” We have to start getting excited about things we don’t know about yet. Interesting thought, huh? How do you get excited about something you don’t know about yet?

You trust us and come to our shows.

No seriously.

BUT all you really need to do is take some chances. Get out there. Ohad Naharin, the guest choreographer for the Cedar Lake performance we saw, did with his work and look where it got him—a phenomenal sold out show in New York. Some things may be awful, but now you know not to go again. The fantastic upside is you might stumble onto a gem, like we did. One that takes your breath away and you can’t stop talking about it, although it’s not really so much talking as it is just saying “Oh. My. God.” over and over again.

Take the Nike approach.

Jacksonville has so much to offer. There is a vast goody bag of activities and events going on all the time that are so under attended. Dance, folk music, art showings and theater is all over the River City. We have to open our eyes…and yes, even our wallets…to it, but it will be worth it. Promise promise.

***Note: To all of those readings this shaking their heads and thinking, “Well maybe if I knew about these things I would go, so maybe you should do a better job at advertising,” I have to say open a Folio, a Times-Union, an Entertaining U. Listen to the radio. Talk to your cool friends. It’s all out there for the taking in. You have to want to know about it. It’s very difficult to feed a closed mouth.

***Note #2: If this angers you, good. It was supposed to. Prove me wrong. You can start by coming to Cherryholmes, a family bluegrass that will knock your socks off, tomorrow at 8 pm :)

Take a look at www.cedarlakedance.com. They've got a cool video and lots of other info on the company.