I was broadly aware that by taking a step behind the curtains this year and generally being there in the sleepier, pre-crowd hours, that I’d experience a very different Folklife than usual. I remember thinking about that when I stood in front of this window. There’s a special melancholy to the liminal time before showtime, anticipating the crash after you wrap.
They were recording content for their social media, so I didn’t stop to ask, but does anyone know what this dance is called and where it’s from?
At this point, I was actively seeking out the fringe – the edges where the mega-event rubbed up against the real.