Putting the Art in Wal-Mart

Today was a lovely summer day — far too nice to be inside, hunched in front of a computer screen — so my partner Ann-Elise and our friends Ita and Malisa and I took off for day-long road trip. We rode the ferry to Plattsburgh, NY, where we watched excerpts from the 18th Century French ballet Copelia, arranged by London-based choreographer Julia Gleik, and performed by dancers from Norte Maar.

The short ballet was free. After all, it would have been difficult to charge admission in the Wal-Mart Supercenter parking lot. Congratulations to the folks at Norte Maar for dreaming up this enchanting populist display. It's really the only way I would have gone to the ballet.

Afterwards, we trekked to St. Albans to see a Revolutionary War re-enactment. Sadly, we missed the scrimmage with the "loyalist Tory scum," but we weren't too late to hear a few remarkably loud cannon blasts at Taylor Park in the center of town. To learn more about these re-enactors, visit their blog (!)