Cities, like cats, will reveal themselves at night. ~ Rupert Brooke
Friday night we attended Ballet Arizona's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was very good. Roman Zavarov was great as Puck. Astrit Zejnati performed the role of Oberon wonderfully, though rather odd to see him as a blond. Paola Hartley played Helena very well. You could almost hear the character lines through the dancing.
During Act II, Bottom pantomimes stabbing on the wrong side and quickly realizes he messed up and turns around to redo it. Very amusing! At the end, with the little fairies gathered round, you can almost hear Puck saying "If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumber'd here while these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream ...".
Saturday Leah and I went downtown to The Happening. We visited several of the buildings on the Loft & Home Tour. We both love the urban living concept, though the homes are incredibly expensive. Downtown Phoenix has so much going on ... much more than most Phoenicians realize. Our favorite by far was the Summit at Copper Square. Virtually across the street from Chase Field, the U.S. Airways arena, three blocks from Symphony Hall, the Herberger, the Convention Center ... the list goes on and on. Most importantly only about 10 minutes via public transportation from work! The amenities are incredible. I love the energy of living downtown with so much to see, do and partake of right outside your front door.
After the loft tour, the Street Expo started. Lots of arty stuff, face painting, stilt walkers, dancers, fire, a magic show, and many exhibits and lots of performances ... everyone rather doing their own little thing. We saw an dance exhibition by Axe Capoeria. Very athletic cross between martial arts and break dancing. We both really enjoyed a rather stunning performance by Fuscio Taiko of Japanese-style drumming. Huge drums.
At 7:30, though, the real fun started. The Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts (PAPA) marched through the streets for an hour. Grupo Liberdade led the parade with their music and it was so much fun. There were people of all sorts, dressed up and not, and we were all part of the parade in one fashion or another. I was rather taken with the lady dressed up as a jellyfish and Leah was rather offended by the pregnant lady dressed as Mary. Rather interesting juxtaposition as we marched past the Basilica. I, of course, found it all incredibly amusing. The winner of the costume cavalcade definitely goes to the fairly obese man in a paisley-print loin cloth, with a golden Christmas tinsel garland in his hair, a glowing plug socket face mask, his electricity-ball scepter, and a light-up belt buckle. Oh, and he'd been waxed and rubbed down with gold shimmer paint. A treat!
We had lunch at The Nile Cafe. I thought it was very good. We split the artichoke Hummus and the Falafel. David, the owner, was a cutie and so very nice. The pricing wasn't outrageous, there was a nice selection and more than enough food for the two of us.
During Act II, Bottom pantomimes stabbing on the wrong side and quickly realizes he messed up and turns around to redo it. Very amusing! At the end, with the little fairies gathered round, you can almost hear Puck saying "If we shadows have offended, think but this, and all is mended, that you have but slumber'd here while these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, no more yielding but a dream ...".
Saturday Leah and I went downtown to The Happening. We visited several of the buildings on the Loft & Home Tour. We both love the urban living concept, though the homes are incredibly expensive. Downtown Phoenix has so much going on ... much more than most Phoenicians realize. Our favorite by far was the Summit at Copper Square. Virtually across the street from Chase Field, the U.S. Airways arena, three blocks from Symphony Hall, the Herberger, the Convention Center ... the list goes on and on. Most importantly only about 10 minutes via public transportation from work! The amenities are incredible. I love the energy of living downtown with so much to see, do and partake of right outside your front door.
After the loft tour, the Street Expo started. Lots of arty stuff, face painting, stilt walkers, dancers, fire, a magic show, and many exhibits and lots of performances ... everyone rather doing their own little thing. We saw an dance exhibition by Axe Capoeria. Very athletic cross between martial arts and break dancing. We both really enjoyed a rather stunning performance by Fuscio Taiko of Japanese-style drumming. Huge drums.
At 7:30, though, the real fun started. The Phoenix Annual Parade of the Arts (PAPA) marched through the streets for an hour. Grupo Liberdade led the parade with their music and it was so much fun. There were people of all sorts, dressed up and not, and we were all part of the parade in one fashion or another. I was rather taken with the lady dressed up as a jellyfish and Leah was rather offended by the pregnant lady dressed as Mary. Rather interesting juxtaposition as we marched past the Basilica. I, of course, found it all incredibly amusing. The winner of the costume cavalcade definitely goes to the fairly obese man in a paisley-print loin cloth, with a golden Christmas tinsel garland in his hair, a glowing plug socket face mask, his electricity-ball scepter, and a light-up belt buckle. Oh, and he'd been waxed and rubbed down with gold shimmer paint. A treat!
We had lunch at The Nile Cafe. I thought it was very good. We split the artichoke Hummus and the Falafel. David, the owner, was a cutie and so very nice. The pricing wasn't outrageous, there was a nice selection and more than enough food for the two of us.