Performance in the Park

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As a perfect follow up to my previous post about the autumn season:

Today, there was a lovely performance held in the same park! Since I walked through it everyday on my way to work, in the past several days I had noticed the beginnings of people setting up some sort of stage in the middle of the park. To my delight, I realized that starting Wednesday October 21 there would be some kind of a performance for the next few days.

As a result Ryan and I met up in my area of the city to partake in the audience viewing. We were not disappointed as one of the very first performances of the afternoon this Friday was a bunch of ahjummas and ahjussis playing all sorts of traditional korean drums. Their beat was so catchy that the two of us couldn't help but bop our head along, ESPECIALLY while we were watching one man bang away at his drum enthusiastically while smiling and encouraging the audience to clap their hands to the beat!

The second performance featured only ahjummas on stage in their brightly coloured clothing playing a kind of traditional korean drum as well as singing along.

Performance three was a group of ahjummas in beautiful white traditional costumes singing what seemed like some kind of story to the audience. It was amazing to hear the strength of their vocal cords as they took turns singing solo while a lonely ahjumma stood to the side beating her drum.

The second last performance of the afternoon presented us with an assembly of classical/acoustical guitar players on stage. They performed various songs including a soothing classical piece that apparently lulled Ryan to sleep.

The last performance was probably most eye-catching of all the performances. The chatter amidst the audience consisting mainly of retired ahjummas and ahjussis began to buzz as a group of flamboyantly-coloured korean ladies fluttered on stage in.......bellydance costume!! Yes...we are talking mid-30s to late 40s ahjummas "shaking their belly like a bowl full of jelly" (as Chandler put it) and the audience totally loved it! Ryan and I mainly loved it because their first song was ABBA - Money Money Money. Its funny cuz, well, the song fits.

All in all, quite the lovely day for a quaint performance in the park. The weather was warm and inviting with the occasional cool breeze rushing through the area. The leaves were an astoundingly beautiful array of fall colours....probably one of the most exquisite displays of autumn I have seen in a long time.

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