Performances, a market full of booths and a variety of food offerings filled the Overture Center this weekend for the International Festival. Many of the performers, chefs and creators call the Dane County area home.
Upon entering the Overture Center, an International Festival attendee would notice tables spread around the entry room, colorful woven bags, bracelets, rings and flyers adorning each table. The next thing one might notice is the large amount of children present. This event was truly multigenerational, as well as multicultural.
Of the over 40 cultures represented at the festival, The Badger Herald attended four performances on Saturday. The first was a Spanish guitar performance. The duo consisted of Gabor Szarvas, a guitar teacher originally from Hungary who has been teaching Spanish guitar since 2002, and his student, Daniel Bocsi, who had been learning from Szarvas for ten years.
As they played, the interpersonal relationship was evident through shared looks and connection to the music. It was as though there was a conversation between themselves and their instruments as much as it was between each other. Especially in their last song, it was clear that it is a real joy for them to perform for the audience through their instruments.
The next performance was a demonstration of Japanese taiko. The Beni Daiko group started around ten years ago, and have steadily been adding members. The founder said it was always her goal to create a community based group as opposed to a performance group, so the songs are arranged in a way that anyone can join.
That mindset has created a vibrant multigenerational and multiracial group, united through their appreciation for the taiko art form. The performance needing no microphones to pick up each stroke of their sticks, as the powerful and beautiful drums easily resonates through the body.
The flamenco group that played next was a smaller company. The group consisted of four dancers and a cajón player to accompany their dances. They requested that the audience cheer and call out encouragement during their performance. There is an attitude and an allure to how they dance, and each twirl of their skirts mesmerizes you even further. Unlike the rest of the performances, these dancers were engaged with the audience as well as with their art, making eye-contact as they dared you to take your eyes off of them for even one second.
Finally, an Irish-Canadian group which had two performers, the elder of which has been performing in the Overture’s International Festival since the late 1980s, took to the Rotunda Stage. Their music was rhythmic and infectious, and it attracted viewers of all ages, whether it be the children jumping up and down and dancing in the aisles and in front of the stage, the audience members clapping along, or the older couple in the corner twirling each other around and smiling.
Overall, this festival brought together people across demographics and generations to learn more about the cultures that make up our community.
