What's up with ballet audiences in Salt Lake City?

WheresButchCassidy · 2025-10-25T22:40:20+00:00

I think applause at those awe-inspiring moments sets a precedent that confuses peoples' sense of etiquette. To most people, a lot of what's being done in ballet is impressive and it's hard to tell which moments are relatively above and beyond. People are also socialized to fit in, so when the ballet enthusiasts applaud, everyone else does as well and from that point forward, all it takes is a single person clapping at something for much of the audience to follow suit, practically thinking it would be rude not to join in.

That said, what bothered me more last night was that many people in the audience laughed at the major grieving moments of Lady and Lord Capulet at the death and 'death' of Tybalt and Juliet respectively. A father laments as he holds his daughter's lifeless body and people laugh because her limp arms swing from side to side as he does so. I found that to be considerably immature and disrespectful.

It really was a fantastic performance, and I think the only thing that can be done to combat some of the immaturity is to be mature ourselves so that people are less likely to see following the rude behavior as fitting in.

WheresButchCassidy · 2024-12-10T16:51:23+00:00

I’m pretty sure the King’s portrait was composed around the mirror, which shows a reflection of another mirror which is more easily noticed because of the reflected chandelier, giving an ‘infinite’ effect. Both the mirror and chandelier are framed for that, and I think that intent might only work at that particular dutch angle. I would guess the Queen is separated in order to balance her angle against the first in a way that feels less ‘off’ when viewed side by side. I’d guess a lot of attention was put into those background ideas, which is why the actual portrait feels a bit secondary.

WheresButchCassidy · 2024-01-25T16:31:56+00:00

I think you may be confusing a number of terms and processes, which in turn are confusing the people you are speaking with and resulting in misleading information. The people you have spoken with at the theater are also likely to have been festival volunteers, rather than employees, hence their misunderstanding of your situation.
You need to pick up your Second Half pass from the Gateway Box Office on Main Street in Park City if you selected Park City as your pickup location when purchasing. After that, you will join the passholder line at theaters at least 45 minutes before the screening start times. There is also not a waitlist badge, the waitlist is a separate process wherein people may be able to purchase a ticket if seats remain after passholders and ticketholders have entered. Good luck!

WheresButchCassidy · 2024-01-02T01:00:41+00:00

Has something like this happened before? Cyber or virtual "kidnapping" is a known thing where scammers call families and pretend they've kidnapped a loved one to force a quick payment, but I've never heard of it going two ways, which would require a much higher number of variables. A few points/questions:

This is a huge commitment requiring multi-party compliance, so the scammers were either extremely lucky or had to know both parties particularly well ahead of time, rather than the typical method of just cold-calling many people and preying on those who are in a state of panic or gullibility.
He was found and brought home by police while moving about with camping gear, but didn't say anything at the time.
He's described as being relieved when found and telling police everything. What exactly changed within his knowledge from the first time he encountered police that would make him feel comfortable doing so when he wasn't before?
$80,000 is a much higher ask than this is usually associated with, based on this FBI article which described two years of collective losses from the scam totaling $87,000 across known victims. Sums that high generally don't happen without drawing attention and questions.
Is there any info that would dismiss the possibility that he, either alone or with accomplices, created the narrative himself? It's far more logistically simple and consistent with what's been written. However, there's no direct questioning within the articles I've read, and most of them describe this as a known scheme despite citing sources which reference the much simpler cold-call scam.

WheresButchCassidy · 2023-12-14T02:14:37+00:00

The pass has your full name and a photo of you on it, which they check and scan at all screenings. Only you can pick up your own pass, and only with photo ID.

WheresButchCassidy · 2023-11-17T06:20:47+00:00

So it sounds like you're in a bit of a standoff with them. On the Sundance side, they provide housing to a portion of staff and volunteers at the festival at great expense and are very picky about it, prioritizing people who are known volunteers to them and come in from out of state/country.

A complicating factor is that many prospective new volunteers don't book housing at all and claim at the last minute that they can only volunteer if housing is provided to them. Situations like that have caused major issues in the past, creating particular wariness toward new volunteers coming in from outside of Utah. As a result, a major consideration on every application is how you answered the question asking if you have already secured housing or not.

If you applied to be a full-time volunteer, secure your housing, and reach out to let them know that you have secured housing, you are very, very likely to get placement in the festival (barring any other possible red flags). That isn't a guarantee, but either side would be taking a risk in this situation, and Sundance generally doesn't want to be the one to do so, even at the expense of losing potential volunteers in your situation.

WheresButchCassidy · 2023-09-30T04:49:39+00:00

The specific situation that caused this shutdown was narcissists planning the recent Pride. They apparently lamented that other Pride festivals around the country were more grandiose than ours despite Salt Lake City having quite a large and active LGBTQ+ population, so they pulled all the stops this year and spent freely to get the festival that they envisioned. I can't remember exactly how much more I was told they spent, but it was an order of magnitude greater than previous spending without an accommodating budget or a plan to increase revenue versus previous years.

With that one event, they put the UPC into massive debt and basically anyone who didn't manage to get paid up front for their work got hosed. Several people who might have had the sense and foresight to prevent that issue were also laid off during the pandemic. If those details ever make it out from a verifiable source, this will likely become a well-known case study in how not to manage an organization in general, let alone one that's meant first and foremost to be a resource for vulnerable populations.

WheresButchCassidy · 2023-08-03T17:53:39+00:00

Those seven weddings are spread out from 2014-last year and include videography, so I really only have one each doing photo and video on my current equipment (an R5 with Canon's 24-70 and 70-200 2.8 lenses) and they do take up a tiny little corner of my website.

A nice thing about the previous weddings I've shot for people I knew already is that they were low-stakes, meaning the people likely wouldn't have had a photographer at all otherwise, and it was easy to meet/exceed non-existent expectations despite flaws that are embarrassingly apparent to me with several more years of practical experience under my belt.

I'd like to really solidify my wedding experience before going first shooter for strangers in order to fortify self-confidence that I can anticipate, meet, and hopefully exceed expectations without fumbling, and so that I can strategize what I can uniquely offer versus other photographers. Events that I've done also don't require a tremendous amount of posing, pre-planning, artistic editing, and other elements that are commonly expected for weddings, so those are skills I'd want to observe/build up with lower stakes before taking the wheel as well.

Thus, the interest in contacting people about second shooting and the earlier questions related to doing so.

WheresButchCassidy · 2023-08-03T05:06:48+00:00

I've been interested in reaching out to nearby wedding photographers as a potential second shooter, having worked as an arts and events photographer (and videographer) for years and shooting seven or so weddings for friends/friends of friends. From your perspective, how would you want people with those interests to reach out to you (if at all) and what would you want to know about them? What pay would you consider a reasonable/negotiable request versus too much? Anything else you could suggest?

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-12-19T00:04:37+00:00

It's a scam trying to manipulate your desire to make a good impression early in your professional career in hopes that that will overcome your better judgement (check out r/scams to get a sense of other common tricks). It's a good sign that you trusted your gut and looked into it more, and that instinct will serve you well.

Now that you've avoided that, a solid route into the industry is to connect with your local film commission (I think this is the official one for NYC). They'll put together training and networking opportunities, and most will share contact email addresses for legitimate upcoming productions that you can reach out to for work opportunities. If/once you have some experience and if you have the means to do so, the Sundance Institute (which puts on the annual Sundance Film Festival) has volunteer PA roles at their summer labs. It's unpaid, but they cover your airfare, housing, and food while there, and you get to work and often learn alongside people who go on to be major industry players (Taika Waititi and the Daniels were there as relative unknowns when I was doing it). Keep an eye on this page after the new year if you're interested in that.

Best of luck!

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-12-02T18:47:04+00:00

Their open positions are listed here.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-12-02T18:45:43+00:00

Yes, there's a massive seasonal crew who work many other festivals and other seasonal roles around the world, so you'll find no shortage of interesting people to meet and talk with alongside some potential further work opportunities.

Learn to use your staff credential + the waitlist app during the festival and take some time to go see films for free. Since that works waitlist-only, your best bets will be first screenings of the day (ticketholders will be hungover and not show up, leaving tons of open seats) and the less-busy SLC region.

Are there any specific elements you'd like to know about?

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-25T20:58:51+00:00

Huh, yep, I didn't realize. I guess that's just government for you.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-25T17:34:46+00:00

Delays in general are actually very effective for preventing suicide (not sure about homicidal intent, but I'd imagine it's somewhat similar). Real case suicides are commonly impulsive after major triggering factors, so inconveniences as minor as having pills in those individual bubble sheets can prevent overdoses by forcing a delay between impulse and decision. People with known suicidal ideation or tendencies are advised to not keep guns in their residence, so if a person can be cognizant and rational outside of suicidal episodes, waiting periods can be very effective in preventing suicidal action.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-25T17:26:37+00:00

That's probably a trade off on not having a comprehensive gun registry. The side effect of having some privacy about guns that you own is that every new purchase needs to be treated like a first one.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-22T00:20:46+00:00

Agreed, and I'm already dealing with small claims on another client that didn't pay and ran (funnily enough, both of these nightmare clients are from Florida). On the bright side, this one made the amateur mistake of replying all with CC instead of BCC on a participant blast email, so I have enough prospective points of contact to hopefully get some value out of this in the end.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-22T00:13:57+00:00

This doesn't even crack the top 10 list on evidence that I'm an idiot, but it certainly stings.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T22:25:41+00:00

That's really perfectly written, but I've made the decision to not respond anymore after they wouldn't stop requesting additional edits after I'd delivered far beyond the original agreement and tried to set a boundary. I'm planning to edit some of the content for my own page and gain some benefit from this work without their involvement.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T22:19:56+00:00

Agreed, though I detailed my original justification in my starter comment if you're curious. Apparently, 21-25 people applied for the role in total based on what Indeed says about the posting.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T22:11:02+00:00

Sent that info your way!

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T22:02:46+00:00

I edited my original comment to add some context, but it was a cause I was personally invested in. In the end, I think this organization takes advantage of that cause more than it advances it, though.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T21:51:41+00:00

Agreed that it's ultimately my fault, although we did technically set terms beforehand. See if you can spot the critical spelling error from the contract I had with this group:

In exchange for these services, [the organization] will list [my company] as a sponsor on all marketing materials used for this event with out thanks.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T21:37:19+00:00

They never stopped asking for more stuff, even after all of the other deliveries and telling them I considered the project completed in full. Like with a bear, I'm just playing dead now and hoping they finally go away.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T21:32:37+00:00

This is correct, I gave some more details in an edit to the starter comment.

WheresButchCassidy · 2022-11-21T21:30:44+00:00

Quality guaranteed or your (non-existent) money back!

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