The Morton Arboretum offered the Asia Festival this evening in their facilities which will last until this Sunday. For a 3 hours opening evening, the staff managed to pack 4 activities! So I'll start with the Chinese Lion Dance.
A trio of musicians played music while the lion, handle by two man, danced and moved around and through the crowd. Minutes later they took a break to allow time for photographs, well in my case was time to sketch. Kids posed next to the head of the lion. I also included one of the man wearing the pants, which were the legs of the lion.
The next demonstration was Japanese taiko drumming. Here I sketch more, I was fascinated by the choreography, also I was impressed by a kid who was playing the drum masterfully, I would say he wasn't older than 12.
Two sumo wrestlers appeared on the stage right after the drums act, both wearing sumo robes with beautiful prints. One of them 500 lb, was from Egypt, over 6 feet tall. The other 250 lb from Japan, both renowned winners of important competitions in Japan and around the world. They removed their robes to show their belts or mawashi. They didn't wrestled, (that will happen this weekend) but demonstrated some sumo techniques and posed for the audience, that's when I sketched them.
Finally they released some Japanese lanterns in the Meadow Lake at night. It was a peaceful activity and on that note I finish my post tonight.
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