Among my favorite aspects of living in a major city is the ability, when I’ve got nothing better to do on a Friday night, to go out and take advantage of one of a plethora of cultural offerings. Last night, I decided to check out a performance of mostly Afro-Brazilian rhythm and dance as part of Dance DC Festival, a free performance series sponsored primarily by the DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities (something I am glad to have my tax dollars support).
The performance, held at the Atlas Performing Arts Center — the restored theater at the heart of the booming H Street Northeast corridor — spanned from ballroom dancing, to something akin to belly dancing (done by a woman while balancing a bottle of water on her head), to a performance of capoeira (which I never knew existed before last night), a martial art of African origin brought to Brazil by slaves and fused with music to become a dance of sorts. DC actually has a capoeira club, something you won’t find in my old hometown of Greensboro, NC.
Having been energized by the performance — which concluded with a 15-member, all female drum corps — I felt like walking the one-and-a-half miles back to my house in Bloomingdale. As I turned to cross H Street at 14th St. NE, I heard a man ask me if this was the way to U Street. He said he wanted to walk to 14th and U. I told him my destination was right on his way, so we walked together. His name was Ian. He was a tall, thin thirty-something visitor from Tucson, Arizona. When I told him that I work for the National Association of Railroad Passengers, he said that sounds like a dream job, and we proceeded to share our frustrations with the ill effects of car-dependent culture. When we got to my house, I gave him my business card and a bottle of water, and he said he would be sure to get involved in passenger train advocacy.
These are the kinds of serendipitous encounters that people who drive everywhere rarely experience. If you take time to walk, or even to ride the train or bus, you’re sure to meet interesting people and gain a real-world education.
DC Citizen 