a social exchange :: reference

Perhaps it is the personal interaction with the meaning of a narrative, in film or other experience, which is the pre-eminent concern today. The fixed scene and action of the theatre is discarded for the reactive improvisation of street performance. The emphasis like jazz is on unique event, not bounded by a closed form but constructed around a recognized format. The spectacle includes the spectators who define it by their presence and active interpretation…
The ritual in its present sense exists not in the activities of fire-eaters and jugglers, nor even in their interaction with promenading tourists, but in the ability of the crowd to witness itself in its individual and collective patterns. What it sees is an unstructured performance set within limits, a picturesque disorder which challenges curiosity but not security, and never disgusts.