Adventures in Philadelphia - Day 1

I left on a road trip from Maine to Philly Saturday morning. I got stuck in traffic and torrential rain but made it just in time for wine and cheese with old Hampshire friends, Corita and Ted.  While all of us agreed we first met while they were working at the "snack bar" aka bookstore, film store, snack store, and cigarette store - we are unsure when we actually became friends.  I hadn't seen them for a long time until we re-connected 3 or 4 years ago when they were in Maine for a wedding and stayed at my house.  Corita is getting her PhD and working at Temple University as Assistant Director for Communities for all Ages. Ted is a screen writer and also does freelance IT support and web development.

Leaving Maine into New Hampshire

Somewhere in Connecticut

Tapanzee Bridge

Ted, Corita, wine & cheese

After catching up, we dashed over to the art museum to see one of their friends in a dance performance that was part of the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival & Philly Fringe festival.  Although it was raining, the show went on, and what a show it was. The performance, Le Grand Continental was something like flash mob meets modern dance meets Girl Talk meets line dance. There were about 150 dancers / regular old people. Not to sound cliche, but I have no idea how they got such a mixture of age, size, race, etc. It really was every possible type of person you could imagine. At the end, we were all invited to join the dance party and I have to say - it was one of my most memorable experiences so far. One of my favorite parts of this project is seeing how cities and towns build community and this was amazing. Hats off to you, Philly. Job super well done.  I've got a bunch of stills but I highly recommend watching the videos - especially #2 where I follow the crowd around doing the electric slide (and Corita joins in).

Electric slide dance party with the audience

Dancers

Ted and Corita join the dance party

Dancers

Ted gets footage of Corita and I.  (thanks Ted!)

Gigantic apartment building across from the Museum

Audience eagerly awaiting the performers

a little rain wasn't going to stop this awesomeness

This was the first group we had in front of us, I was partial to the man in the orange shirt

corita and ted join the party

Their friend Yaffa joins us for dinner after the show

Pasta with tomatoes and sausage and delicious salad

cheers

post dinner chilling