15 February 2009
A cold, but sunny day found us on the mall in DC, visiting not one, but two museums. Truth be told, had I known that we’d be having beautiful blue skies and glittering sunshine instead of the overcast that was forecasted, I would have planned a hike, as we much prefer outdoor activities to museums.
We started off by visiting the “Pompeii and the Roman Villa” exhibit at the National Gallery of Art. No photography was allowed, so I don’t have much to show for our time at the NGA. The artifacts on display ranged from intricately-carved bronze and marble sculptures, to exquisite jewelry and paintings, to a remarkably-well preserved 1st century AD fresco from a triclinium (dining room; so named for the three couches on which diners reclined). Perhaps someday we will have the chance to see these artifacts in situ as we're roaming the ruins of Pompeii.
As demonstrated by this mural, the pre-Vezuvius villas of Pompeii were lavisly decorated.
Our second stop was at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. The lure for the visit was the opportunity to see the Peruvian Scissor Dancers performing at the "El Poder del Chocolate" — The Power of Chocolate — event. I’m not sure what I was expecting the Scissor Dance to be, but it certainly wasn’t “break-dancing circa 16th century!” The dance is a one-on-one competition between acrobatic dancers while playing a three-pound, scissors-like steel instrument in one hand. The dancer in the spotlight must keep a constant rhythm and finely-tuned ringing sound with the scissors in his right hand, while performing intricate footwork, escalating into acrobatics and balancing acts. Judging from the reaction of the audience, they accomplished this feat beautifully. It was an intriguing performance — we hope to see more demonstrations of traditional dancing when we visit Perú in April.
The Yawar Chicchi dancers perform the Peruvian Scissor Dance.
(What's not clear in the photo above is that the dancers are in fact continuing to play the scissors-like instrument even as they stand on their heads. Check out the snippet of video for sounds and sights from the Scissor Dance.)