As I stepped up to the Lincoln Center Fountain for the International Body Music Festival, the first signs of performance art I witnessed were similar to what you may see in the streets of China town in New York or San Francisco. A group of five danced around with a big lion, clanging cymbals, and waving bright orange pieces of fabric. This “Lion Dance” wasn’t anything new or original; nothing I hadn’t seen before. The group moved from near the fountain over to the outdoor stage where we were to set our attention for the main attraction.
For the first approximately 17 minutes of the concert itself, two women, seemingly very close (turns out they were cousins), stood in the middle of the stage, holding each other, and sharing one microphone. They were “throat singing”, which they described to us (the audience) as “competing with their voices.” They completed six sets of their throat singing, which was a little too much. More interesting than the performance itself was observing the reactions of the people watching it. [click to continue….]
{ 1 comment }
