Seattle arts scene kicks off a new season<\/a>, here is everything you should and should not do, according to our readers. Responses have been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\nDO: Keep good hygiene in mind<\/h3>\n
Seattle\u2019s performing arts are meant to dazzle the senses. Exactly which senses they should dazzle remains unclear to some patrons, according to some readers. Nearly a dozen responses listed olfactory offenses as their primary pet peeve.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis should be a no-brainer, but do launder your clothes and bathe before attending a performance,\u201d said Bellevue resident Debra Borchert. \u201cThose fleece jackets are great at wicking away moisture, but they trap odors. \u2026 If you can afford $125 tickets, you can afford to clean your clothes and yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
One night at Pacific Northwest Ballet proved to be quite the ordeal for Seattle resident Bjorn Bjorklund. \u201cA couple came in and sat in front of me. They had obviously been to a garlic palace of an Italian restaurant but the woman had on a bottle of Chanel No. 5 to top it off. The combination was enough to make everyone around want to move,\u201d he recalled.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T: Overdo the perfume or cologne\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Even supposedly pleasant scents like perfume and cologne can quickly turn unpleasant when used in excess \u2014 or can trigger serious reactions, readers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don’t wear perfume or cologne,\u201d said Carol Zander, of Seattle. \u201cWith assigned seats, there’s no way to escape when one is allergic or sensitive.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have no idea how people are affected,\u201d added Denise Mohr, of Des Moines, who suffers from scent-induced headaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy biggest irritant at an art event is people (men or women) who come to an event reeking of cologne or perfume,\u201d Des Moines resident Judie Tice said. \u201cThey may not realize how overpowering it can be. I don’t wear mine anywhere where there are close quarters. I am happy to see businesses that ask their employees to refrain from using scents at their workplace.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
DO: Know when to clap at the appropriate times<\/h3>\n
One set of rules unique to classical music performances is when to applaud. Symphonies or concertos typically have three or four self-contained movements, like chapters of a book. It is common courtesy to hold applause until the end of the entire piece, rather than at the end of each movement, readers said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI cringe when, at the Seattle Symphony, people applaud before the end of the entire performance,\u201d vented Bellevue resident Norma Line. \u201cDuring pauses between the movements is not a time to applaud.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t apply to jazz performances, where you should clap after a soloist finishes playing, Seattleite Jon Lellelid said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Seattleite Bob Hollowell, who was raised by musicians and taught when to applaud and cheer during music performances, acknowledged those \u201cconcert hall traditions\u201d can stifle true, human emotions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTo me, those are the same emotions one feels at a jazz performance,\u201d Hollowell said. \u201cPersonally, I have a certain degree of self-restraint. But I cannot fault those in the concert hall audience, truly moved, incapable of \u2018sitting on their hands.\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a tip from Cheryl Hanson, of Renton: If you\u2019re unsure of when to clap during concerts, take your cue from the crowd and wait until more people start applauding.<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T: Crinkle those candy wrappers<\/h3>\n
Each performance venue has its own house rules on if food and drink are permitted inside. If you can bring candy or snacks (or need a lozenge to keep coughs at bay), readers kindly ask that you unwrap them at appropriate times to avoid creating a distraction.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cNoisy wrappers on cough drops and candies and the noise of fumbling in one\u2019s purse for said items\u201d is a social blunder, Seattleite Tamara Anderson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you must unwrap a lozenge, do so before the event starts,\u201d Seattleite Jon Lellelid said. Or, wait until people are clapping to cover the noise, suggested Alice Hays, of Woodinville.<\/p>\n
DO: Keep your phones down<\/h3>\n
Phones, phones, phones. Many readers lamented the pesky handheld devices, from screens lighting up darkened theaters to obscuring neighbors\u2019 views while filming.<\/p>\n
Wendy Henderson, of Issaquah, and Linda Harris, of Seattle, both urged fellow arts patrons to refrain from checking their phones, specifically so the bright screens do not distract others during the performance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can surely wait until the intermission to answer or make that call that only you consider urgent,\u201d Harris said. \u201cThis applies to the children that may be attending with you. I don\u2019t care if you or they are bored, you can learn a lot by practicing patience and consideration of others.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cMy No. 1 pet peeve for live events are people who hold their phones above shoulder level to record the performance, often obscuring the views of those behind them,\u201d said Ken Graff, of Seattle.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DON\u2019T: Stand more than necessary<\/h3>\n
Jana Buss, of Burien, said she could write a book about her experiences with rude concertgoers. \u201cDon\u2019t get me started on the people who stand during concerts,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m in my 70s. I can\u2019t stand for hours on concrete. I wish the venues would have areas that are for \u2018sitting or standing only.\u2019 I had a girl tell me to \u2018(eff) off\u2019 when I asked her to please sit down so I could see.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When you need to pass by seat holders in your row, face the people while doing so, pleaded Linda Harris, of Seattle. \u201cWe don\u2019t like having your butt in our face or in our stomach. If you must leave during the performance, do it silently and yes, with butts facing the row in front.\u201d<\/p>\n
At concerts, \u201cif you want to stand or dance, go to an area that is designated for that purpose,\u201d said Olympia resident Tammy Joy Losey. \u201cWe all paid money for our seats. Some of us are not tall enough to see over you if we did try to stand in order to see past you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Snohomish resident Teresa Rugg, who has attended several outdoor concerts, specifically pointed out people who keep leaving their seats. \u201cLast year at a Lyle Lovett concert (at Chateau Ste. Michelle) \u2026 there was a constant stream of people coming and going from the area where one would think the biggest fans were seated and they wouldn\u2019t miss a second,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt bad for Lyle and His Large Band because it seemed like people were leaving all the time, but the cheap seats cheered him on! I hadn\u2019t been to a big outdoor concert for a while, so I thought I guess this is the new thing! Likely people drink too much and have bladders that must be relieved!<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the big scheme of where our country is these days, I am still incredibly grateful for any experience with any performance! We need art in our lives in any way we can get it! Even if it means tolerating people walking in and out of a performance,\u201d she continued.<\/p>\n
More unspoken rules of attending performing arts events<\/h3>\n
\u201cMy biggest pet peeve is patrons of musical or theater events who insist on talking throughout the entire performance, as if they and their conversational companions were sitting alone on a park bench somewhere. \u2026 I remember seeing Buddy Guy once, who stopped singing and playing his guitar and, while using words I can\u2019t reprint here, told an audience member to \u2018Shut \u2026 up because all these fine people came to listen to me, not you.\u2019 \u201d \u2014 Lee Libby, Lake Forest Park<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cDress for the theater. ‘Nutcracker’ kids always look wonderful but sometimes the parents look like they just came out of the barn.\u201d \u2014 Leslie Foley, Snohomish<\/em><\/p>\n\u201cI have had season tickets to Pacific Northwest Ballet for 40-plus years. Fortunately for PNB, the audience is getting younger but I’ve noticed a couple of things over the years. The bar for a standing ovation is getting lower, especially if it’s a younger\/newer choreographer. Also, more audience members treat the ballet like a sporting event \u2014 hooting and hollering during a performance. Even though \u2018everything is beautiful at the ballet,\u2019 a little more decorum would be appreciated.\u201d \u2014 Kathie Roon, Tulalip<\/em><\/p>\nAgree or disagree with these readers\u2019 do\u2019s and don\u2019ts? Leave a comment below.<\/span>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yakimaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Everyone\u2019s a critic, at least when it comes to the unspoken rules of attending performing arts events in Seattle. We recently asked readers to share proper etiquette for attending theater shows, concerts, dance performances, comedy sets and other events \u2014 and more than 80 of you responded. In addition to more obvious rules like turning […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2048199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[21741],"class_list":["post-2048198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Performing-arts-etiquette-Dos-and-donts-according-to-readers.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2048198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2048199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2048198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2048198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2048198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}