Saturday, June 21, 2008

Tiny Break

The Quiet Husband chairs the board of the local Ten Thousand Villages, which is planning a benefit for next fall. He recently learned that one of his colleagues at work, a young woman from India, participates as a dancer in a local arts organization which offers all kinds of programming, lessons, workkshps, and camps for kids, all geared toward the goal of bringng people together and combatting racism across international borders. So off we went last night to watch her group dance, since it looks like it will be performing at the fall benefit - what a fun evening in the small storefront rooms that serve as the organization's headquarters, rehearsal and presentations space, and art gallery!

Another young woman from India playing the
veena, an ancient lute-like instrument. A gentle young man from Mexico, dreds down to his waist, playing folk music on a guitar and other Mexican stringed instruments. A gentleman singing Italian opera. And then ~
WOW! The drummers (from West Africa and Israel) and the dancers, performing dances from Guinea and India ~ unbelievable energy and joy pouring forth from the tiny dance space into the warm city night. Children leaping to join in. A Turkish woman from the audience, offering belly dancing (yes, definitely sensual!), followed a performance by one of her male companions on a Turkish stringed instrument, with one of the African drummers and the Israeli drummer joining in for a multicultural jam session.

This afternoon the Lovely Daughter, having once again morphed into the Lovely Camp Counselor, called from North Carolina. One of the co-counselors in her cabin is from Australia; the other is from Charlotte, but her parents live in Saudi Arabia and she's just returned from a Habitat semester in Jordan. The Lovely Daughter, as you know, has herself just returned from Prague.

The world is spinning around me. I'm looking forward to the time when I can put the books aside and get back out there!

5 comments:

Lori said...

Wish I could've seen those dancers with you. Sounds very cool.

Sarah S-D said...

sounds like a GREAT night.

btw... i think my parishioners are at your hospital now. i don't know if you ever got the e-mail i sent. but if you have a moment to check in drop me a note, k?

so glad you got a tiny break though.

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine you ever putting the books aside. OK maybe the ones written in Greek.

It sounds like a delightful evening. I buy Ten Thousand Villages stuff frequently at a store called "One World Goods"

Jan said...

This sounds lovely. So glad you found the time to post. I loved the way you said your daughter "morphed" into a camp counselor--guess that's what my daughter has done, too.

Stratoz said...

glad your break time proved to be very cool. Hang in there, though the world will probably still be spinning when you don't have books to read.