Nightmare Before Christmas

I traveled with the Santarchy company from about noon to six. There was a breakfast earlier and a few other stops before I met them at the Fortune Teller Bar on Cherokee Street. My arthritis was bothering me enough that I left after I took yesterday's picture. The rolling party went on downtown and in Soulard until late into the night. I'm too old for that.

This picture was taken at Lucha in Grand Center, which describes itself as Mexican soul food. Except the owner is Sri Lankan. I eat there a lot during the Fringe Festival. This reveler was doing a Nightmare Before Christmas theme. I couldn't identify it but my granddaughter knew it instantly. 

Note the beverage in front of him.        

Santarchy!

I didn't know a thing about it. How? Since the early 90s, groups of people dress as Santa or an avatar and roam around a city from bar to bar, spreading good cheer and searching for merry spirits. Or fermented malt beverages. For hour after hour. It's called Santarchy or sometimes Santacon, and it is are now all over the world.

My Friend D. Lohr Barkley, who runs Artica, also finds time to organize St. Louis' Santarchy. He invited me along with them yesterday to document as much as I could. It's just nuts. One of Lohr's many talents is herding cats and he got (most) everybody to pose in front of the City Museum. I peeled off after this but the party continued late into the night. It's still going on as I write this.

Dances of India

To finish this series, an ensemble performance by the group we saw yesterday. The organization is Dances of India, which has promoted the art in St. Louis for 41 years. Every movement and gesture has a meaning. Hard to follow for someone who is not part of the culture but nonetheless beautiful.        

In The Wings

 The next group of performers at the art museum were from India or Indian families in St. Louis. If you thought the ballerinas were colorful, these young women took it up another notch. These young women were waiting for their turn, standing in front of a painting that is an allegory based on the Mississippi River.           

Gentlemen of Vision

There is an art form in the African American community here that, being another old white guy, I didn't know about. It's called step dancing, sort of a combination of military drill,  tap dancing and calisthenics. This group, Gentlemen of Vision, performed at the art museum last Sunday.

It sounds like a wonderful organization. It puts structure and discipline in young men's lives. They work very hard. Those who finish the program through high school have a nearly 100% acceptance rate in to college, technical school or the military. Good people doing good work.