A universal language that we all speak is music, and we can use our bodies in many different ways to create it.  After nearly three hours at the International Body Music Festival Concert, presented as a part of Lincoln Center Out of Doors, all of the performers deliver a mind-blowing, collaborative encore which feels like it will last through the night.  Although by this point most of the audience members have already dispersed, the performers aren’t frazzled.  In fact, they make a rather admirable choice and raise their energy even more.

I knew that I was in for something special when the festival started off on a high note in Josie Robertson Plaza with the Lion Dance. I was immediately overcome with a flow of color and sound when these performers claimed their twenty minutes of fame.  I was fully enticed as an audience member throughout the entire Chinese dance. The piece starts with a single man and a dragon which slowly grows as more people join in until there’s finally a procession of over twenty people. The performers, aided by the drum and their creative yet traditional Chinese costumes, make the performance all the more exciting.

Upon watching this performance, I had the opportunity to be exposed to some new types of Music.

The Canadian cousins Celina Kalluk and Lucie Idlout perform the ancient art of throat-singing.  Although perhaps a little too intimate to be shared with an audience, their songs left me blown away at not only the capabilities of the human vocal chords, but also the way two people can musically play off of one another. The two cousin’s stand pressed up against each other with the microphone between them.  One lets out a croak and they’re off; responding to each other as they sway back and forth.

The members of the jazz-based SLAMMIN All-Body Band and the Brazilian Circle Orchestra Barbatuques however, not only play off of each other, but also the audience.  These engaging performers get the audience involved as they clap, sing and dance their way through their entire repertoire of songs.  Their first half hour on stage proved just how slammin-good they were but after that, it seemed to drag on, making the audience lose focus.  However, Derique McGee the traditional African American hambone performer gives us a short and sweet excerpt of his talents. McGee possesses many qualities: talent, passion, charisma, everything that you could want in a successful performer.

The International Body Music Festival Concert: “The Americas” was filled with fun, exciting, ethnically diverse talent from China, to Northern Canada, to the United States, and down to Brazil.  This was a performance unlike most, and can be enjoyed by tourists, and native New Yorker’s alike.