Last Saturday I took Meredith to downtown Akron, to go to the wonderful Civic Theater. The Civic opened in 1929, and has been fully restored – the interior has elaborate statues and carvings and bright colors, and the ceiling is even painted to be like the evening sky in the Mediterranean, with lights as stars and with clouds that actually move across the sky. I am very fond of this theater, and I am glad it was rescued  in the 1960s.

On this particular night, the Civic was hosting its first “Festival of Nations” to showcase the cultures that have gone into making up Akron over the last 150 years or so. For a wonderfully affordable $10 ticket, eight different groups performed for 15 minutes each. The seating for the event was general admission, so Mer and I chose seats in the front row of the balcony (in spite of my fear of heights). Since so many of the groups were dancing groups, we decided we wanted to see a wide sweep of the stage. We ended up sitting next to a group of about 8 black girls who made up a praise dance team for their church. They had come out to see other forms of dance, and were very enthusiastic all thought the evening. It was very encouraging that young people would take a Saturday evening to come and watch different cultural dances.

The theater lobby was packed – some groups had brought food to sell, and many groups were offering demonstrations. It was pretty zooey. According to the MC of the evening, the Civic had thought they might get 200-300 people, and they ended up with 2000. It was a good crowd (but still did not fill the theater).

So, the evening consisted of:

The Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble – Not surprisingly, this group played Chinese music, and played it really well. That was to be a joy all evening long – all of the groups that performed were all local talent, and they all did really well. The fun of this group was the unusual instruments they played. My favorite (and the one I spent most of the time watching) was a Chinese lute called a pipa. The woman playing it was amazing, and although it turns out that the instrument only has four strings, it sure seemed as if there were a lot more – she was getting a lot of sound out of it. The group also had a Chinese flute, a mouth organ (that was fun), a “moon” (moon-shaped) guitar, a zither, and several percussion instruments. They played four different songs in their 15 minutes of Akron fame.

Dance Israeli! Dance Company – This group was a lot of fun. The group focuses on traditional Israeli dance steps, but has updated the dances to more contemporary Israeli music. They did six dances in all, and my favorite was the Yakalelo, which was an Israeli hip-hop dance. That was great to see.

El Corazon de Mexico – The group biography indicates that El Corazon dances over 100 dances, but on this evening they were limited to 5. They opened with a marvelous dance that still retained much of the Spanish flavor – the women had large flowing dresses where they moved the hem constantly with their hands, and the men were dressed in formal black suits. Mer and I both agreed that the constant motion of the dresses was mesmerizing. The last four dances were more distinctly Mexican, with the dance members dressed in cowboy outfits. They did a nice job, and ended with the national dance of Mexico, Jarabe Tapatio, for which I knew the music from Bugs Bunny cartoons (think of Bugs fighting the bull in the bull-fighting cartoon). The music made me smile, and the dance was great.

Shri Kalaa Mandir – This group specializes in Indian (from India) dance, and was made up of four women. It was fascinating. The dance is very precise, with feet usually at 45 degrees away from the front, and with a lot of bending from the knees. I have no idea how their knees held up to that stress. They did three dances, including a lovely dance that started with the dancers in the dark, but carrying small lights; the dance began and ended with the audience only able to see the lights moving on stage, and hearing the bells the women wore around their ankles.

Michael Searching Bear – Michael’s music is heavily influenced by Native American rhythms, and the program stressed his flute-playing skills. He brought a band with him, and, in a funny twist (given the program), Michael pretty much stayed playing a drum kit, which included a huge drum with the drum surface facing up. Michael played the drums magnificently, and he did come out to play two short flute pieces to start songs.

Serpente Negra Capoeira – This group performed an art I had never heard of before. It is based on dances that African slaves in Brazil did, and it is a dance mixed with martial arts. It is kind of like a faster version of tai chi, set to chanting and drumming, and with two people dancing/fighting. It was interesting. My only complaint is that the group did just one 15-minute-long session, and after about 10 minutes the moves started to get repetitive. The group was very fluid – it seemed as if any member could jump in at any time and “tag” someone out, and then pick up the dance/fight.

Csardas Dance Company – A Hungarian dance troupe, this group was made up of a lot of very young people. They had traditional Hungarian costumes, which were very colorful (especially the women’s dresses). They did four dances, and the one that stood out to me was a bottle dance performed by four young women. It was nerve- wracking! They really did dance with bottles on their heads, and the dance was not short – it was probably five minutes long. There were some times during the dance where they took the bottles off from their heads (and carried them or put them on the floor to dance around them), but half or more of the time was spent with the bottles on their heads. It was great.

O’Hare School of Irish Dance – It seemed appropriate to end the evening with an Irish dance group, since it is March. The O’Hare school is well known in Northeast Ohio, and its students have done well in dance competitions nationally and in Ireland. On this evening, the group was made up of over 40 girls, ages 6 to 20. The more advanced dancers (about 20 or 25 of them) were wearing the colorful formal Irish dance dresses, and the beginner dancers wore t-shirts with shamrocks on them. They danced 5 dances in all, 2 of which were hard-shoe dances (the ones that Riverdance made famous).

So, for $10 each, Mer and I got to see 8 nations over 2 hours’ time. Not a bad return. The Civic did say they were planning on doing the Festival again next year, and I hope we can be there.