Expression, Don't I get to have one?

I have lived in the USA for many years now and I am still living in the beautiful city of Chicago. Like many other Indians who live here, we are no different from them in the way we live life or struggle in life. Life has been good and then there are times when we feel to return back to Indian. But thanks to regular Indian cultural programs which help us in maintaining our sanity and also acts as a stress reliever. But then I have realized that its becoming more of a stress initiator.

It began in 2002, when me and my wife went to watch a dance performance on the cold winter evening in December. A troupe from Mumbai was visiting various cities and Chicago was their first stop for the inaugural function. Unlike many other times the function began in time and things proceeded smoothly. I should have known there is more in store for me later, which would make the evening memorable. Me and my wife both regularly go out to enjoy events, ranging from movies to theater from time to time. I see it just as a stress reliever but my wife takes it to another level. She is a not just passionate about it but sometimes I feel its an obsession. She looks for substance, value in almost all the activities that we engage in. I can just go to an event come out of it feeling it a waste of time and not brood over it. But she might choose to follow it up with a discussion. Sometimes its healthy and sometimes its like hogging those whopper burgers with fried and coke and clogging your arteries.

Dance is a medium for expression. And this is a free country and everyone has he right to express it. Likewise I went to see this program, and with all due respect to the dancers and personally did not like some aspects of the performance. I made my opinion very obvious and clear with my bad mouth (now I feel that way) May be, I might have been a little insensitive to the hard work and dedication the dancers had put in to bring together the event. But I took extreme care not to be very loudly vocal about it, on the contrary I clapped my heart out, just to encourage the wonderful folks. On the ride back home, I just casually did the disastrous task of mentioning that one of the dancers had movements like a giraffe. And there on the road was smooth but not the ride back home. My wife was too offended by my comment, which I thought was in light humor (may be not to some, but thats me) and seemed to take it too personal. I certainly have high respect for the fact hat she is not just passionate about the cultural aspects of our Indian Heritage but also much more knowledgeable than me. But I strongly still feel that her reaction is unwarranted. There no need to take it so personally. She almost seemed to behave as if she has an authority over the dance. Dance is a medium just alike any other art form. And now everyone likes a painting, similarly the dance can be perceived by many in their own way. I believe just as those hardworking dancers have a right to express their opinions, I believe myself to be a hardworking person not just in as creative field, but that should not devoid me of my rights to express.

Thoughts?