Folklore porn

There is a bit of a lull in travel proceedings and so we can take some time to reflect on the III Encuentro Internacional de Folklore. This event was announced on posters in the centre of Lima, Peru, near to the main square decorated with dolourful cow sculpturies covered with bubble wrap. The poster promised a night of enjoyable and interesting folklore performances from all over the world. And, this is preeeeeeeetty much what it delivered.

We arrived just prior to the show´s commencement not certain that we would get a ticket, but it soon became clear that we had overestimated demand for attendance at this event. We seemed to be the only attendees not obviously related to the performers. Not having any children/uncles/cousins to farewell and say "Break a leg" (or "Macbeth") to we quickly took our seats inside quite a nice theatre. The first performance was introduced by a baritone-voiced gentleman who had little to say other than "Señores y señoras, esta noche, presentamos..." (Ladies and gentlemen, tonight, we present...) and the names of the verious countries. unfortunately, he had been allotted about five minutes before each performance to get through this minor introduction, with the reult that "esta noche" was repeated so many times and with such gusto that Mel still dissolves into giggles whenever she hears it, four weeks later. Anyway, finally he wrestled the performers from "Polonia" on to the stage. They performed a lovely little series of vignettes with dancing and music based (presumably) on traditional forms of these disciplines in Poland. Mexico and Tahiti followed up with similarly (presumably) traditional performances reflecting their local cultures. The ladies seated in front of me seemed to be particularly entertained by the...ahem, packages occasionally visible through the small grass skirts worn by the young male members of the Tahiti troupe.

After Tahiti there was a short ceremony in Spanish that seemed to be honouring a French man who was the leader of the movement to bring this event to Lima, and he was very warmly greeted by many people whose roles weren´t totally clear aside from their performances as greeters. Our friend the announcer even managed to say "merci beaucoup" to him, drawing enthusiastic applause. I mention this episode specifically to highlight the warm and chaste manner in which everyone was behaving, just as one would expect at such an obviously family-oriented event (note this sentence for later). Then the announvers voice became even more animated and ragged because Peru was next. The crowd really went for it and the stars of Peruvian folklore roared onto the stage, dancing for a very long time in a way that obviously demanded a huge amount of ebergy, and finishing their first performance with the men striking each other with whips. After this a (how to say this?) portly woman came on with a band and impressively belted out several tunes of patriotic value. The crowd nearly raised the roof. The singer repeatedly shouted "(Unintelligible spanish...) PERU!" and this worked a treat. After this two beautiful young people took the stage, a girl in an elaborate white dress and a lad in a suit and vest looking like just the kind of guy you would want your daughter to be seeing. They performed a gorgeous dance with much quick stepping, twirling of a white handkerchief, and close holds pregnant with longing as their lips almost brushed. The crowd exhaled as one at the end of it and applauded wildly.

They departed and a larger group came on, dressed up as an Amazonian tribe with feathery head-dresses and long spears and grass skirts. I happened to notice as they came out that one of the females was dressed differently to the others, wearing a conventional billowy dress. Another held a bowl and knife. The crowd was into the new jungle beat and the performers soon formed a circle in the centre of the stage, arms and legs moving rapidly to the energetic music. In the excitement I initially failed to notice that the conventionally dressed girl had whipped off her dress leaving her naked but for some white underpants. Even the leery bloke in front of me lowered his camera to make sure he was seeing it right. She danced in the centre of the circle, attempting to escape but being blocked by the other dancers. Meanwhile, the bowl and knife girl sat at front of stage simulating cutting her arms and siphoning her blood into the bowl. We weren´t sure if this was expected by the crowd but judging from the undeniable mood change it seemed that most were at least a little taken aback.

A chief stepped forward and accepted the knife and bowl from the self-harming girl. The naked girl was in a trance by now and had stopped trying to escape from the circle, resigned to her fate. The circle parted and the chief apprached the girl, manouvered her to sit/lay down on the floor and then violently simulated stabbing her five or six times. The girl spasmed realistically and disturbingly as he did this before laying still. After she was "dead" the chief rejoined the dancing which went on for several more minutes while the girl lay with her legs splayed grotesquely apart with her crotch pointed right at little grandma Maria in row A, who had come down to see her granddaughter perform in the beautiful handkerchief dance. The bloke in front of me had long since put his camera away. Once the tribe left the stage the dead girl stood up (there was a tiny moment of doubt that she would), collected her dress, and walked off.

The show had to go on. "Esta noche....Paraguay. Paraguay!! PARAGUAY!!!". Apparently they don´t take the stage until they´ve been introduced thrice. But what could they do to top human sacrifice? Balance bottles on their heads of course. Looking back over the photos it seems that I was only moved to photograph this when the balancers got to five bottles each, sitting lengthways on top of each other on the performer´s head. Each continued until they both had ten bottles on their head, reinvigorating the shocked crowd and triggering much double-taking and counting and recounting of the bottles. A timely reminder that entertainment could be entertaining and clean at the same time. Belgium followed up with a repetitive flag waving (literal) routine, and then Brazil came on for an energetic performance involving clashing of knives (complete with sparks) but it was time to move on. "Mucha' gracias...........Polonia! Mexico! Tahiti! Paraguay! Belgica! Brazil! But most of all.......PERU!!!!!!!!" (Crowd noises etc.)