Last Saturday night, the artists, students, staff and volunteers of Festival Ballet Providence hung up our pointe shoes and tights and pulled on our sneakers and jeans.  We swapped ballet for jazz(/line dancing?) and wowed the crowd at downtown Providence’s Firstworks Arts Festival with a spontaneous flash mob.  That’s right, a big group of us learned a dance in secret (choreographed by the roommie and I), quietly blended into the crowd, then- when the music started up – one by one we began dancing until all of us were swaying and jumping and turning all together!  It definitely surprised the crowd and, if I may say so myself, it was quite a hit.

Also wowing the crowd that night were the San Francisco-based Bandaloop aerialist dancers, who defied gravity as they floated away and toward the window-filled face of a super tall building, restrained only by a thin chord and harness.  Incredible stuff.  Truly better seen then described…

All around, it was a successful night for the arts in Providence, with waterfire, food trucks, and a cultural celebration that made me proud to say I’m a Rhode Islander.