DCDanceBlog

i saw a note in the ny times today (not available online, unfortunately), about an annual arts festival in paris called nuit blanche (white night). It’s an all night festival where they put candles and bonfires in parks and show performances in unexpected places around town, among other things. this is what wikipedia had to say about it:

The festival lasts from sundown until sunrise on the first Saturday and Sunday in October and began in 2002. Taken off from a similar German festival that began in 1997 (see Long Night of Museums), a Nuit Blanche will typically have museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions offer free admission to all, with the downtown core of a city itself being turned into a de facto art gallery, providing space for art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art), themed social gatherings, and other activities. The festival has spread to many other cities internationally.

i love the idea of an all night event…but this is something that’s been going on for a few years so it obviously already has a lot of public interest. starting something like that from scratch would certainly be tough, esp in a somewhat provincial town like this one.

i’ve been thinking of organizing a contact improv marathon, though, and the idea of doing one that goes all night long is very tantalizing. Recently a dutch guy who lives in Barcelona came to our contact jam and talked about the all night jams going on there. We all loved the idea, but I’m dubious whether even contact regulars, to say nothing of dc dancers who like contact but aren’t die-hards, would stay for those wee hours. Maybe just 12 daytime hours—noon to midnight, something like that—would be more successful, if less exciting.

thoughts?