The world redeemed...

or rather, what a wonderful weekend I have had.

On Friday, our little family enjoyed the Indian summer in the square near the school, as they were setting up a sjamanistic festival with sand sculptures, etc. while the children had fun in a teepee and jumped around on the stage.

On Saturday, we dropped by the aforementioned sjamanistic festival, and then headed off to our new canteen: "I Famosi", where Italian food is served the right way. And then we saw the best dance performance that we have seen this century.
I add another clip and a recommendation: if you can catch anything by Akram Khan this year, then do!



The Chinese male dancer was absolutely exceptional. They received a standing ovation and as far as I can judge, they merited every second of it.

On Sunday, the beloved and I roamed the city after we awoke from our "Cointreaupolitan" stupour and had a delicious but healthy breakfast, followed by some cabinet hunting. We did eventually find a 1930s radio cabinet for our living room, with inlaid wood.

On Sunday evening, as I whiled away the time waiting for SO to return home who is watching one of Belgium's oldest and most prestigious banks being carved up, I came across this:



I would like to make it known that I take back everything I said last week about Nigella Lawson. Thank you, Daily Mail, for being the cherry on top of a wonderful three days.

Life can be beautiful. Insert consented sigh.

Everything's beautiful at the ballet...

Ah, it has been such a long time since we have been to the ballet. This year, we have finally taken a subscription again and will be at least catching a few performances here and there.

Saturday's offering:

After the more intimate duets with Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (zero degrees) and Sylvie Guillem (Sacred Monsters), Akram Khan again joins forces with long-time collaborator and multi award-winning composer Nitin Sawhney, and has brought together a new company of eight dancers. A collaboration with China’s classical ballet flagship company, the National Ballet of China, the dancers come from different cultures, traditions and dance backgrounds: Chinese, Korean, Indian, South-African and Spanish. As such they resemble a present day version of the tale of Babel. Being a community that wants to create together a utopian project but speaking both with their bodies and tongues different languages.

They meet in one of this globalised world’s transit zones and try to communicate, to share ‘the things they carry with them’: their experiences, their memories of their original homes, the dreams and aspirations that made them move. They are carriers. They are bahok.

Here's a clip:



I'll let you know if we liked it .