Theatre

Small towns provide little opportunity to see theatre performances. There is not a permanent theatre building in our town and so when theatre companies come to give a performance here they act on the stage of our cultural house. I like going to the theatre, the opera or to the ballet no matter what is on the programme because I like the atmosphere of the theatre. People usually come dressed up, they take off their coats in the cloakroom and there they can also hire opera glasses from the cloakroom attendant. Then an attendant shows us to our seat. It is rather difficult to get tickets to the stalls, and from the pit you cannot see so well, that is why I prefer to sit in the boxes (but they are quite expensive), or in the dress circle. Students often buy cheaper tickets to the upper circle or balcony or stand in the gods.

When we have sat down we usually read the programme to see the cast, that is who stars in the play or opera and who plays the supporting roles. We want to to know a synopsis of the opera, who designed the stage scenery and costumes and who rehearsed the performance and when the premiere was. Then the musicians come in and begin to tune their instruments and soon the conductor appears and the orchestra starts to play an overture. The lights go out. The curtain goes up and the performance begins. Between two acts we can walk in the foyer, buy some refreshments and share opinions of the performance with our friends. When the opera is over, the audience bursts into applause. The opera singers are called out and sometimes there are many curtain calls. Musicians at concerts often have to give encores.

Dancing

When I was younger I attended dance classes at the dance school in our town. I am fond of dancing and I was a member of a dancing group five years ago. I learned both standard dances, such as polka, Viennese waltz, waltz, foxtrot or tango and Latin American ones such as the jive, rumba, cha cha and some disco and modern dances. Now I have no time for the dancing club, only I go occasionally to a disco in the youth club.

Music

We come into contact with music all our lives. When we are little, we listen to lullabies sung by our mother and soon we try to sing some songs ourselves. When we reach school age many of us take some music lessons at a music school. If we have musical talent, in a few years we can learn to play a musical instrument fairly well. A lot of children start playing the piano or a wind instrument, such as the recorder, the pipe, the flute, the clarinet, the oboe or the bassoon or they blow a trumpet, play the accordion or a string instrument (the violin, the viola or the violoncello). From time to time they show their skill at playing the instrument at a concert which is held for their parents.

They often play to the piano accompaniment of their teacher. Later, under the influence of recorded pop music broadcast by the radio and TV their affection and taste may change. Teenagers often start to play the guitar, the banjo, the bass, the drums or the keyboard and many of them dream of founding a band and giving concerts to large audience. At the age of 16 or 17 many young people also take dancing lessons and develop a liking for dance music.
Large towns offer a better opportunity to enjoy performances of both serious and pop music. They often invite renowned symphonic orchestras with outstanding conductors and hold music festivals, such as the Edinburg Festival of Music and the Arts or the Bratislava Music Festival. These orchestras usually have in their repertoire music by noted composers of all styles and periods. We can also listen to church, organ and chamber music, operas, operettas and musicals. Stars of pop, jazz and rock music usually give their concerts in large concert halls or sports stadiums. Festivals of country music and brass band music are sometimes held and at Christmas time carols are often heard. If there is a choir, people go to listen to its performance.

When I´m sad or bored I turn on my Cdplayer and listen. I have lot of Cdies at home. Music is my life, I listen to it when I go to school, when I skate and when I travel, I always wear headphones over my ears.

Fine arts

In our everyday life we also meet with works of the fine arts, either architecture, sculptures or painting. When we see both secular and eccelesiastical buildings, such as castles, chateaux, palaces, country mansions, thatched cottages, half-timbered houses, gables and facades of the houses, churches, cathedrals, chapels, monasteries or cemeteries, we must admire the art of architecture of the old builder-masters, masons and wood carvers and their feeling for beauty. In museums and art galeries, which display sculptures and paintings, we look with pleasure at statues and sculptural groups cut in sandstone, granite, marble, carved in wood or moulded in clay, plaster or bronze, or have a high regard for paintings (landscapes, life size portraits, still lifes, sketches, miniatures) painted in oil and in watercolours, drawings, graphic art (prints), engravings, etchings or woodcuts. Even people who are fond of the fine arts meet examples of them when they look at book illustrations or cartoons and photographs in their favourite magazine.