More Fringing at the Fringe

As a part of the Fringe Festival, some friends and I went to Balé de Rua, which means “street ballet” in Portuguese. It was an incredible production from Brazil with capoeira, samba, percussion, and hip hop. We were wide-eyed and mystified for the entire show. The dancers first came out in modern looking Brazilian suits dancing and doing fun tricks with their hats. Those samba moves sure looked fast. The setting reversed to the time when the tribes in Africa were untouched by European powers. Through dance and few props, they were able to portray the long and painful voyages below the decks of ships to Brazil. They were greatly mistreated as slaves, forced to row in horrible conditions. The performers portrayed beatings by spiting paint on one of the slaves. With pure body movements, they clearly portrayed a slave being beaten in shackles and even alluded to Christ on the cross. The sounds created by the percussionists were so strong that we were entirely enthralled in the action and the feats performed showed the dancers’ athleticism. It was amazing to see the narrative of distant Africans taken as slaves in the New World and how capoeira and samba grew out of the slave/mulato culture. At the end of the show, the performers came down into the aisles and danced with audience members. At that point, we were really regretting sitting on the tier above! Balé de Rua was truly a beautiful and exciting way to relate the experiences of many Brazilians.

On Saturday, we attended the Budapest Orchestra which was a very polished group of musicians. In this performance, they incorporated gypsy style music and even included an instrument that gypsies use. The soloist violinists were beyond impressive! One special guest was so amazing that he had the audience on the edge of their seats. He somehow made us laugh at certain points. I am still wondering how orchestral music can be comical and yet so stunning… I sat next to some very nice Scotsmen who gave me tips on restaurants in Rome that I am looking forward to trying out.

On Sunday morning, we attended worship at St. Giles Presbyterian Cathedral which was as aesthetically pleasing as music the night before. It was a beautiful building made out of primarily stone and designed with pointed arches and numerous stained glass windows.

It has been really funny to me that the Scottish accent is so had for us to understand. Whenever I talk with “Scotsmen” I find myself asking them to repeat what they said quite often. I was getting directions and told by a couple Scottish men to look for “Dick and Brody’s” as far as I could tell but it turned out to be “Deacon Brodie’s.” Prince’s Street is pronounced like “princess” and Rose Street sounds something like “roostry.” We also enjoy all the Scottish words we see and hear, not to mention the culinary delight that is the one and only haggis- sheep entrails! Yes, I tried it. What do you think I came to Europe for but to try all the regional cuisine? As the Scotts would say, we’ve been making sure to bin our litter and stand in the queue for the toilet. Apparently, making the peace-sign with your fingers is offensive here. It means something like “up yer kilt!” Thank goodness we didn’t encounter any problems when we ignorantly held up the peace-sign for a snapshot!

Edinburgh has been a sweet city to wander around and breathe in the art-saturated air. The architecture is gorgeous every where we turn and the cafes and pubs (“public houses”) are not lacking here. We are moving on to York, England for one night then to Stratford-on-Avon where we will see The Taming of the Shrew by some guy named Will. I hear he’s alright.