Week 6, part two, classical Indian dance at the Kennedy Centre and Georgetown waterfront

The outline of Georgetown University, founded 1789. It's the oldest Jesuit and Catholic university in the United States. 

 Throughout my time in D.C I've returned to the Georgetown waterfront. I've seen it from all angles now, from a kayak in the middle of the Potomac river, walking over the bridge from Rosslyn, walking down from Georgetown itself, and as a passenger in cars driving towards Virginia. I think I can honestly say that it's one of my favourite parts of the city.

The Kennedy Center

Unknown to many, the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts gives free performances everyday on its Millennium Stage (6pm Eastern Time), and these performances are then broadcast live over the internet. The idea, similar to that of the Shakespeare Folger library, is that the arts should be accessible to everyone. By their own admission; "these performances of music, theater, and dance feature emerging and established artists from the Washington area. across the nation, and around the world".

 

We were able to watch a performance by the Kalanidhi Dance company. The company is based in D.C, but draws heavily from classical Indian dance, namely the Kuchipudi style (an ancient type of dance focusing on "fleeting emotions, fluidity and religious devotions") . I've never seen Indian dance before aside from films, in which dances sequences were usually Slumdog millionaire style, and performed at the end of a film. In reality you notice the detail and complexity, every finger and toe of every dancer seems to have its own routine, combined with all the other body parts to give an impression of continuous motion. This is then multiplied up as every dancer seeks to be in sync with the others, or working to temporarily define their own solo role within a sequence.

 

Luckily as well as purely expressive dance, there was a narrative to accompany the routines, outlined beforehand. This helped to explain a lot of the context to someone as ignorant as me concerning Hinduism. I can now say that I know several scenes from the life of Lord Krishna, especially his defeat of Kaliya (a giant poisonous river snake) and the dancer portraying the snake was incredible!)  

 

View towards Rosslyn, northern Virginia

So there you have it, where else can you; watch Indian classical dance, watch the sun set over the cityscape, and walk through an entire hall of flags (see http://www.kennedy-center.org/about/virtual_tour/hall_of_nations.html for a virtual tour) on a casual wednesday evening?

Week 2, part five

Visiting Arlington National Cemetery was a strange experience. We don’t have any cemeteries so vast in England. The atmosphere was a mixture of sobriety and pomp. The graves of the Kennedys are simple, with plain wooden crosses and plaques, but somehow they are all the more powerful that way. J.F Kennedy’s eternal flame (a constantly burning torch in his memory) is surrounded by some of his most famous quotes. The tomb of the Unknown Soldier is accompanied by a guard of honour, which march along an elevated white marble strip, armed and in uniform, and change position frequently, in a ceremony which everyone is required to stand for. I read on a sign, which I had to check twice, that over 2,000 men are buried in a mass civil war grave. All of this takes place in a setting of hills, streams and greenery, offset by Grecian style monuments. The view from the cemetery overlooks the entirety of D.C, because of the low-rise style of the District of Columbia’s buildings. The Pentagon is also visible on the right hand side, and is the next Metro stop on that line.

Panoramic view of D.C from the house of General Lee, preserved at the cemetry

 More darkly, Arlington National Cemetery is also a story of revenge. The cemetery was established on the family estate of General Robert E. Lee, leader of the Confederate forces during the American Civil War. This was so that even if the Confederate defeated the Union, General Lee would never be able to return home without being confronted daily by the graves of those who had died during the conflict, and the guilt that that would bring.

Looking back towards the Lincoln Memorial

 

Perhaps it is because the cemetery looks over the Washington monument, the Capitol building, the Lincoln memorial, but the place really extrudes an aura of being in the middle of history, rather than belonging firmly in the past. Even today hundreds flock to walk the well-trodden paths of the cemetery, to watch the guard changing and bells chiming over the hills. I couldn’t help but think that, on September the 11^th 2001, the plane which was driven into the Pentagon would have been visible to anyone standing towards the summit of the cemetery, by the graves of the Kennedys for example.

View of the Jefferson Memorial from the cemetry