Ok, I went to see the SF Ballet (Gisele). People would applaud whenever a dancer (or the ensemble/troupe?) did something impressive. Is this wrong? My normally overly polite neighbor about had a fit when I asked him about it. I guess he feels it is the hight of tackiness. Yes? No?
I went to the ballet for the first time last year. Everyone applauded throughout the performance, but the only kind of formal live performance I had been to before was the symphony, where as we all know it’s the height of ineptitude to applaud between the movements. So I too was pretty horrified. My friends told me that’s what is done, so I started to as well. It was, however, the Nutcracker in December which is pretty family-oriented, so maybe it’s different in bigger venues and with more adult audiences, and that’s what your neighbour has experienced?
There will always be people who applaud during a ballet, and there will always be people going “Shhhhhh!”