Kennedy Center Open House

For the second time, I attended the Kennedy Performing Arts Center Annual Open House! Amazing! So much fun and all for FREE. It's an all day event filled with every from of art occurring simultaneous around the majestic Kennedy Center overlooking the Potomac. This year's theme celebrated the survivors of Katrina with "Arts Along the Gulf Coast Highway."

We (Bekah, Ian, Jake, and myself) started out our adventure through the day with the crazy Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras "Indians." Some good ol' New Orleans funk with crazy men dressed up and dancing all around. Just some good fun music with lots of dancing. The crowd loved them, which makes any concert that much more interesting. One of my favorite things to watch is people just thoroughly enjoying themselves. There were older couples dancing with each other and people so into the music they forgot about the world around them. The joy they had during that concert showed so amazingly throughout each of their faces.

The Wild Magnolias are described as "the delights of New Orleans converge and compliment each other in the rich tradition of the Mardi Gras Indians. One of the most talented and renowned among the city's tribes is the Wild Magnolias. They are costumed in elaborate, handmade outfits that fancifully recall the dress of Native Americans, complete with feathers, ornate beadwork, and enormous headdresses. The origins of Mardi Gras Indians, which have parallels in the Caribbean (especially Trinidad), have their roots in African, Creole, Indian, and Spanish cultures and traditions. The Wild Magnolias' Big Chief Theodore Emile “Bo” Dollis was born in New Orleans. In 1970, the Wild Magnolias recorded a single entitled Handa Wanda. More than 30 years later, the song remains a local favorite and a perennial Mardi Gras classic."

The Archedream & One mask and musical dance theatre entered us into a whole other realm of theatre discussing the virtues of nature. With the theatre entirely black, the audience could only see the flourescent colors lit up by the black light. I enjoyed the unique form of theatre and watching how they portrayed fire, water, earth, wind, and animals through dance.

The end of the day was by far the best performance: The Blind Boys of Alabama! All three terraces of the concert hall filled for their performance, which created a energy-filled crowd ready to join in the music. The Boys "soul-stirring gospel" captivated every heart in the audience.

"The Blind Boys of Alabama have spread the spirit and energy of pure soul gospel music for more than 60 years, since the first version of the group formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939. Today, founding members Clarence Fountain, Jimmy Carter, and George Scott are joined by more recent arrivals Joey Williams, Ricky McKinnie, Bobby Butler, and Tracy Pierce. Their mission is to expand the audience for traditional soul-gospel singing while incorporating contemporary songs and innovative arrangements into their hallowed style."

P.S. I currently don't have a camera so I used photos I found on the internet to add some images to the blog. I'm working on a getting a camera, but these photos are not actually from yesterday's event. :)