Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Folk Dance Enthusiasm

On Sunday Mom and I went to this event called a "International Folk Dance Festival" at my school, Sac State. It was a gorgeous sunny but windy day and it was fun to show mom where I park, where I walk, the Student Union (where the festival was held) and all around campus. After watching the dancers, we walked down to the English Department (a very humble little building surrounded by drooping blooms of camellias bushes) and then we spent quite some time roaming around the library. We ended up walking out of there with about ten books on Hawthorne for my project and one Ardyth Kennelly book for mom.

Anyway the dancers were so awesome. There were Irish and Scottish folk dancers who kicked and twirled, Bedouin bellydancers swirling silk scarves, traditional Mexican dancers in elaborate costumes, guys in suits and sombreros and boots, girls in gorgeous colorful long layered skirts, and best of all, this Serbian group with beetle-shaped bustles and a robust fellow hitting a big drum with a wooden stick and calling out whoops of excitement to frenzy the group of dancers.

Part of the dance was modeled after a Serbian wedding ceremony: getting the bride ready and then she sings for everyone. Here is a little video clip:


2 comments:

mattbeatty said...

This sounds so awesome! Thanks for posting about it. BYU's just about to have its annual Fiesta, which sounds similar--a multicultural dance festival, though it's limited to Latin American cultures. It's Saturday night. Amy and I might go.

What's your Hawthorne project?

heather said...

you guys should definitely go! mom is all into making this a yearly tradition and getting everyone in the family to come next year, so if you guys are back in cali... (makes me want to sing that song, i'm going back to cali)

anyway i am still deciding what exactly i want to write about on hawthorne, i was thinking women and gender issues using the character zenobia from blithedale romance but i am not entirely sure. i might want to do melville too, and he hardly ever includes women in his work, which is significant in itself. have you read these guys much? any thoughts?