Roll With It

One of the rooms at the Artist Salon had two men doing something between freestyle and break dancing, a big-voiced singer performing a range from opera to jazz standards, and Michael Hagmeier, a didgeridoo virtuoso who blew me away at last year's Fringe. 

The three artistic units were, um, loosely coordinated, with Hagmeier providing the foundation for all. The dancers were all fluid, hard to capture in the dim light and simply beautiful.

           

Twist And Shout - And A French Blog Fan!

There was a 5 km run before the St. Paddy's parade. At the end, the crowd got together in Kiener Plaza, had a few mid-morning brewskis and milled around. There was a band. Some in attendance decided to show their stuff. I think one of them had actually participated in the race.

Later, I was elbowing my way down Market Street toward the staging area. A woman with a charming French accent stopped me. (All French accents are charming. And Irish, too. But not German. Definitely not.) "Eeks-kyuze me," she said. "Are you Bob Crowe?" Mais oui! It turns out Simone is now living in St. Louis with her husband Jay and their daughter, Lynne. (I hope I got the names right.) She reads STL DPB and enjoyed my photos from France last year. Je ai été enchanté.                        

Se Habla Español

A first shot from the St. Louis Hispanic Festival going on this weekend. These are Panamanian dancers who performed a number called the rooster and the hen. Cluck.

Spanish is one of my better languages that I am bad at. Finally learned to roll my Rs. More to come.        

At the Festival of Nations

.
Seen at our Festival of Nations in Tower Grove Park this weekend, as a group of Indian dancers prepared to take the stage. The lovely performers appear to include a young Lakshmi, goddess of beauty and grace, and a beatific bodhisattva, as near to enlightenment as one can get is St. Louis, Missouri. But how did Molly McGuire, there in the background, find her way into this troupe?

Electronics and jet planes have created a world unknowable to our ancestors. Here I am on Monday morning, in my office, looking out the window at the Arch. By Friday I'll be in India, if only for one night. Most of us now realize that there are no fairies and that Harry Potter is just an entertaining fiction, but this planet has become more magical that we could have ever imagined.

TOMORROW: CDP monthly theme day, BIG.

Portrait of an Irish Dancer

.
All of the Irish dancers at the Festival of Nations wore these wacky super-curly wigs. The announcer said it had to do with some tradition but I couldn’t understand all the details. If anyone knows the reason, please leave a comment. Anyway, the women looked really strange close up. I decided to add an extra layer of strangeness.

WHAT’S WET: us. Our stuff. It is a rainforest, you know.

TOMORROW: maybe I’ll have Internet service and post something from out here. Maybe silence. (ShadowyOne…?) Don’t know yet.

Irish Dancer

.
One of the groups of ethnic dancers at the Festival of nations was Irish. This is the kind of kick-your-legs ramrod-spine dancing popularized by that show Lord of the Dance or Lord of the Rings or Lord of the Flies or whatever it was. In this style, the legs flail every which way while the rest of the body from the hips up remains as motionless as possible and the face is drained of expression. It’s like making love in a straightjacket, like aerobics for people with completely fused spines. I don’t get it, even though I am of Irish heritage. In fact, I don’t believe that real traditional dancers in Ireland do this stuff. I think a constipated choreographer looking for a big stage hit made it up.

WHAT’S MAKING ME GO AAHHH… : the Pacific Ocean is on one side of us and the temperate rainforest on the other. I think it’s heaven, but then I’m Strangetastes.

TOMORROW: one of the friends of today’s dancer, with some Photoshopical interpretation.

St. Louis International Festival - More African Dancers

.
A final picture of the West African dance and drum performers at the Festival of Nations. It captures some of the energy and joy of their act.

WHAT'S ON THE WEDNESDAY MORNING AGENDA: driving from here to here by this route. At last.

TOMORROW: The Festival of Nations entertainment turns to Ireland. The Thursday Arch Series is on vacation with me.

Earth Day Dancers

Two pictures from the Earth Day celebrations in Forest Park. My husband and I were there earlier in the day than Strangetastes, when there was a little more going on, but (I thought) these dancers were by far the coolest thing to see. There's a split opinion between Strangetastes and me; he prefers the fire-breather, while I prefer the leaning dancer... so I posted both.

TOMORROW: Your civic duty