Culture Vulture in Nyack

Bring your children if you have them; it's never too early to expose them to other cultures. They have early afternoon shows. I enjoyed the group from the Ukraine, especially the male dancers. They exhibited such enthusiasm and verve with their footwork and extraordinary balance. The Taiwanese dancers were very versatile and surprisingly good. We were able to see the females as prim and gracious, and conversely, as martial arts experts incorporated into dance. Momentous!

Quick Tips:

There are a number of excellent restaurants on Main Street and Broadway as well. You can certainly go to one of them if you are in between shows.

Best Way To Get Around:

It''s another one of those hotels where weddings are happening, and this weekend was no exception. Coffee/Tea available in room but not adequately supplied. Don''t drink the water! It is foul! I was surprised that the hotel did not provide bottled water considering how distasteful tap water was.

Another good feature about the room is that they separate bathroom/shower from vanity and sink area. Hereagain, there is no ventilation in the shower area. Cable TV, workstation with IT capabilities. A cozy loveseat with table by the balcony, great for reading the New York Times (which they provide).

You''ll have a great breakfast at Allie''s, a standard at all the Marriotts. This one is particularly sunny, as it lies smack in the center of the Atrium.

They offer both an indoor and outdoor pool that looked great but Chuck and I simply had no time to avail ourselves of any of the amenities. Tight schedule.

Store owners along the two streets that run perpendicular to one another, so that you have it in the form of an "L", brought out the best of their stocks. I was delighted in that I grabbed a one of a kind sample embroidered white jacket for $15.00 - There was a lot of fine and expensive jewelry, jazz specialties on tape, bamboo plants which are all the rage now, antiques, Balinese crafts, Ghanian crafts and clothing, African dolls, garden supplies, flowers (real and fabric), watches, sunglasses, wooden plaques, a Haitian artist was painting plein air with about 20 of his pieces surrounding his easel. There was enough variety in the foods that you could have anything you liked. We went for the Thai, which was delicious, and quite reasonable and included Pad Thai, Rice, chicken satay with peanut sauce, spring rolls and iced cold lemonade. All that for $9.00.

The weather was made to order that Sunday, but we could have used just a bit more of a breeze. The festival also made us aware of certain shops that we had missed during our first visit to the area.

It appeared, on the whole, that the caliber of merchandise was a notch above most festivals we had attended in the past.

What is most striking is the diversity of the dancers in the group; there were two Hindu girls who were simply amazing, and never, ever stopped smiling. Actually, the majority of them had a smile that never quit. One of the dancers had a look of pain on her face, and I can certainly understand why. A grueling 2 hours of almost non-stop foot and legwork would do me in.

They have performed at Disney World, San Diego's Seaworld and at the White House.

It is fascinating to see how Tasha (the choreographer) has incorporated country and contemporary music to the group's repertoire. Many first place awards went home with the cloggers as a result of regional and national competitions. All the girls were having a great time dancing, and at the end of the show, came and met with the audience, shook hands and talked a bit.

Mamadou M'baye created this ensemble back in 1970 in Dakar. It was a great honor to be able to see them, as they are highly regarded amongst their peers and admirers in their home land.

They reportedly have appeared in other African countries, Europe, Canada and the U.S. If you speak French, you're in. I was able to get the marimba player to pose for me.

Many have said that much of today's afro-american rhythms borrow from the Senegalese style of music.

In addition to delighting the audience with their music, tribal cries, facsimiles of a horse and a bull, they went into some incredible acrobatics.

The group had its misfortunes, apparently as they are all students and encountered problems getting visas to come to the U.S. Ergo, only 3 female dancers were able to make it, and the group leader went into a very long tirade about this problem, and spent way too much time in apologies. Had he said less, we might have noticed less.

One of the reasons this group exists is to perpetuate the rich cultural Costa Rican heritage through dance and music, and to help youngsters stay away from drugs.

Of its 35 people, we may have seen 12 or 13 of them. In their endeavor to be as authentic as they can possibly be, the group does rely on researchers and folk artists to enable them to carry out their mission of cultural tradition. The most enjoyable part of the presentation for me was the peasant/farm field dance, and the dance where the women manipulate their flowing skirts so that as they are spinning, all you can see is a circle of brilliant color going round and round.

It's a great way for young people to stay sober!

They claim to have 360 dancers, but we got to see perhaps no more than twenty. The male dancers appear to provide most of the excitement in the dance, which is always in the form of a circle, with a male or female leader who sports a handkerchief on his/her free hand. The women take small quick steps which don't appear to be terribly complicated, as they make their way around the circle. In fact, they seem intent on economizing as much energy as necessary. Occasionally, the men will jump up and slap their heels, or bend their knees to break up the monotony of the dance. Their costumes were marvelous in that the colors were brilliant and had wonderful detail, especially on their vests.

The leaders of this particular troupe were a young married couple with 3 young children. One could spot their pride in their art form through their movements and demeanor with the other members. They were always smiling, shouting, and encouraging the others to do the same. At the end of their presentation, the young woman had a word of advice for all of us, and it was "DANCE!" It was not really the highlight of the presentations, at least not in my view.

It was one of two groups where they had a presenter that gave an explanation of what was to come as well as the meaning of each dance.

This group was formed in 1991 to further the survival of indigenous art forms. The females are very gracious and delicate, but can also appear ruthless in their accelerated Tai Chi dance.

They had one particular dance which was exquisite as they sought to portray delicate butterflies. It was superb!

The violinist, an older woman, was also the narrator who gave us a bit of background with each of their selection. Although accented, her English was excellent. She seemed also quite the maestra with her instrument. They were the most entertaining of all the countries represented, and they sensed it from the participation of the audience. Each group, by the way, was awarded a plaque of appreciation by Worldfest Founder and President, Hema Aggarwal.