What I saw last night. The International Body Music Festival Concert at Damrosch Park Bandshell. These shows at Lincoln Center Out of Doors are like the plate of child at an all you can eat buffet. Filled with cake, potato chips, bread and no meat. Body music seems a vague concept to me (wouldn’t gas count?). 
The show opened as usual out on the plaza this time with a Chinese Lion Dance. Unless you are willing to fight your way through the crowd all you can see are flashes of yellow feathers above the heads of people. Not sure how this qualifies as body music. Perhaps if I had gotten closer I would have understood.
Through the drizzle the show started with Inuit throat singers. 
My only experience of this is as an answer to a crossword clue so it held some interest. Two women in an embrace share a microphone and create tones almost into each other mouth. It sounded like Bjork singing into an electric fan. Actually kind of good and turned out to be the best thing on the program.
Next was the Slammin All-Body Band. 
They sang some light jazz a cappella with a human beat box. Tepid at best. Some dancers joined them for some of the tunes but they looked like they should be dancing in a soap commercial. A cappella = body music, at least for this act.
Next a guy from California performed traditional African-American Hambone. Was OK but hard to see or hear outside. Probably much better seen in a club.
Finally “Barbatuques” a group of about a dozen from Brazil. 
They did a lot of circle dancing while singing in Portuguese. It seemed a bit “up with people” and failed to move me. I hate when the audience is instructed to rhythmically clap by section. I watch everyone who joins in and secretly enlist them in my cult. The rain finally put an end to all the self-congratulatory encores and I donned my Ipod and moved my body home.
Elements: rain, cold
Titles: (performers since there was no titles) Celina Kalluk and Lucie Idlout, SLAMMIN All-Body Band, Derique McGee, Barbatuques
Well no luck at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, it rained again this time hard. This show was also meant to include Lucinda Childs but the rain and common sense canceled that. 
The Brian Brooks piece was a world premier so I guess he felt compelled to go on. The dancers fell on the slick surface on multiple occasions and the rain knocked down the long strands emanating from the stage over the audience to a level where the dancers had to duck to avoid contact. It would be unfair to say whether I like the show or not suffice to say I hope every dancer escaped uninjured.
