went to see the dance crew, jabbawockeez, at the phoenix center at father dueñas high school last night. their performance was part of a benefit for the make-a-wish foundation on island, or something like that. i have been v. preoccupied this month, and not in the best of health so i really didn't understand what i was paying for when i bought the ticket, which btw, i did on the day the tickets were released, and the two shows were already half sold out. this is what i thought:

ooh. jabba. those pinoy guys on america's best dance crew.

on guam? really?

it would just be them, along with some local dance crew that would open. the local crew would be decided by an online poll sponsored by the local paper.

buying a VIP ticket for $35 ($10 more than general admission tickets) would mean i could sit in one of the *reserved* floor seats, towards the front.

show is at 8, doors open at 7.

sold out! i bought a ticket so i would be guaranteed a seat, maybe not the best one, but a seat all the same.

here's what went down:

got there at 7pm. line all the way down to the main road, ended up parking in the boonies (btw, if there are any department of ag guys reading this, i saw a coquí frog behind FD. or at least it looked like it.).

luckily, S was in the VIP line, holding a place for me.

we got in, and there weren't any VIP seats left, and most of the general admission floor seats were gone too.

200+ people did not get in, even though they paid for tickets as well.

show did not start until after 9pm. and there were actually three dance groups preceding jabbawockeez, not just the one that won the online poll.

jabbawockeez went on at somewhere around 10pm. and were done by 10:15. !!!


wha?? okay, i won't even talk about the fifteen minutes thing, because truthfully, i like this crew a lot--they seem really smart in more ways that one (c'mon, how many crews are named after a lewis carroll verse?), are incredibly athletic and artistic, and they have the braggadocio necessary to be a top crew, yet still seem genuinely humble. and they are represented by the mighty folk in the death star, frickin' CAA. i was happy enough for the fifteen minutes.

however, i need to say something about the ticket sales of this event. i am happy to support the make-a-wish foundation, they made $5 off of every ticket sold and the event sold out. i paid $10 extra per ticket for so-called VIP seating that did not exist. nowhere on the ticket does it say that those seats were on a first come, first served basis and did not guarantee me a seat at all. the organizers knew how many seats could be put on the floor, and they knew how many floor tickets could be sold. those numbers match. i am annoyed because that was ten (actually 40, as i bought four tickets) extra dollars pocketed by someone, and it wasn't the make-a-wish foundation.

actually? that numbers-should-match thing? should also work with number of general seat : tickets as well. there were 200 people who did not get in--many people walked away before they closed the doors so i'll bet in total there were much, much more than that. those that were turned away included many young children who had been waiting for this, and people who gave up $25 or more in a time when many don't have that much to spare. the organizers say that people had a window of opportunity to get their money back, from 10am to 1pm today, or they should show up early for tonight's performance to get priority seating. now here are two things to think about, organizers: some people have to work at that time, and can't get out to get their money back. if they have an unused ticket, why shouldn't they be able to get their money for a longer period of time? i understand you have to close your books on the matter, but 4 hours during work hours is not fair. also, what if no one wants to return the tickets and they show up early tonight? you will then have more than 400 displaced (and certainly displeased) ticket holders at the end of that line. there are only two shows. what are you going to do about those people then?