I totally forgot about some of the coolest experiences I had in San Jose...performances at the National Theatre!

The National Theatre was built in the late 1800's and is modeled after the theatre of Europe. It is considered the finest historical buildings in the capital and is filled with intricate embellishments, statues, art, and chandeliers.

Every tuesday the theatre has a short performance at 12:00 PM for only $1. This is to encourage everyone to get some cultural exposure. It takes place during the lunch hour and is extremely cheap, so there is no excuse not to attend. It is a great arts program in Costa Rica, and I think the rest of the world should follow CR's lead and install this program all over.

My first performance was a Spanish Flamenco performance. On stage were 5 chairs on a platform. The musicians walked out and played a passionate Spanish song with guitar, drums, and singing. It was breath-taking. After that, a beautiful woman came out and did a traditional flamenco dance. Her arm movements were so graceful yet precise. Following the female solo was a male solo. This man had the most energy and passion I have ever seen on stage. Most of his moves were fairly simple, yet he was mesmerizing. The entire crowd gave them a standing ovation. It was wonderful.

My second performance was a contemporary improv dance performed by a traveling troup. Earlier in the month I had gone to Promenade, the local big dance studio. I watched a rehearsal one day and was fascinated with the dance style. It incorporated a lot of touch-response, similiar to that used in Suzuki movement training for theatre, as well as vocals. This class had a lot of interesting ground work and each combination was done with partners. The partners took turns completing the combination, which was usual a series of leaps, turns and complex ground moves, but the partner "waiting" was always connected and a part of the other dancer's moves. All the dancers were extremely talented.

Going back to my trip to the national theatre, how surprised and delighted was I to see these same dancers on stage! They did a large group piece (probably about 50 people on stage) that was primarily touch-response movement. I thought it was incredibly interesting, but a lot of the audience got up and left halfway through. A couple friends of mine were in the audience and said it was just too over their heads. I think they would have done a little better if they had had a few synchronized snippets throughout in order to appease the masses.

The group was especially cool because they were from all over the world! Spain, Norway, USA, Peru, Africa...everywhere! The director mentioned it was more an exploration of movement, which seemed entirely appropriate.