“Why are you stingy with yourselves? Why are you holding back? What are you saving for – for another time? There are no other times. There is only now. Right now.” – George Balanchine

Once upon a time there was/is a lovely, historic, picturesque and quite sophisticated community in Eastern North Carolina that consistently “punches above its weight” in the realm of culture.

Every year this town hosts the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra – twice, the New York Theatre Ballet travels to perform and there are events such as Mozart festivals sponsored by the choral society, piano concertos in the living rooms of fine homes, dances around works by Brahms at the Episcopal church hall and Bach organ recitals in the Presbyterian sanctuary.

People say that “Tarboro is the crossroads of Western Civilization” and it doesn’t just sound good it rings true.

Do we take it for granted?

But attendance is not always so great, and in 2025 even the summer symphony on the Town Common failed to draw much more than a couple of hundred people.

Are we starting to take it all for granted? Have we forgotten that the best way to say “thank you” to any kind of an artist is by showing up?

What if these events all went away? What if the good people who make art and culture happen looked around at the empty seats and said, “Why bother anymore?”

Good crowd for the ballet!

So I was very pleased Thursday evening to see a decent crowd show up for the New York Theatre Ballet performance at the Edgecombe Community College auditorium.

Personally, I have never been able to dance, and my taste as a spectator leans more toward the kind of production numbers featured in Grease or Rent – in much the same way as I would rather listen to James Taylor than Plácido Domingo.

But the best is always when it is live! Rock or country or opera or orchestra, being in the presence of real artistry is always a joy!

So – and here is what makes great art so compelling – the ballet performances Thursday evening were so good I was drawn in anyway. The storytelling and whimsy of the Carnival of the Animals, the lyrical beauty of Little Improvisations, and the compelling physical representation of Julius Eastman’s dramatic piano score in All the Flowers are Behind Us.

Live art, just like standing in front of Monet’s Water Lilies in London’s National Gallery, is – quite simply – good for the soul.

Maybe I can say this another way: experiences such as the North Carolina Symphony, the Mozart Festival, Bach organ recitals, listening to an evening of opera, wandering through an Impressionist art gallery, or attending Thursday’s performance by the New York Theatre Ballet… are like eating your vegetables.

The arts are not only good for us as individuals, they enrich us as a community.

Like I said, the attendance numbers this year were definitely encouraging. But, still, the place should have been packed out.

Art: Use it or loose it – DEREK