On The Road – ema – A Parade, A Wrinkle, And A Few Rooftop Babies

First, the parade route was too long. The staging area is on 15th St., between 5th and 6th Ave., then left on 6th Ave. to 8th St., left on 8th St., all the way down to Avenue A and Tompkins Square Park.

That’s a nice, leisurely walk for a regular person. It is not, however, a good parade route for people in elaborate costumes (20s), high heels and platform shoes, dancing their heart out on a humid day.

I would’ve shortened it to run just on 8th St. from maybe B’way to Ave. A.

Second, on the plus side, there were a lot of young kids in the various dance groups, which is encouraging. Children should grow up with dance and music in their lives.

On the minus side, some of the routines were not age appropriate. Not only were the poor kids twerking away, they were doing it while prone in the middle of the street (18s).

It took a lot of restrain on my part not to whip out the sanitizer bottle and start disinfecting them. What kind of adults put together choreography that involves exposure to NYC street microbes? 

Third, for a dance parade, you would expect the music to be flawless. Not so.

Each group had their music and carried their own speakers. This caused the outgoing group’s audio to blend in, and, many times, overpower the incoming group’s audio. Add to that the fact that some groups had technical difficulties, and no music at all (12s), and you  end up with dancers, who’d been preparing for weeks and weeks to perform in the parade, left without a sound track. That’s not fair to the dancers. 

There was a DJ booth in the performance area. He should’ve been the one playing the audio tracks for all the groups as they performed, making sure it was the right music, at the right time.

Last, we have the volunteers. Obviously, if you volunteer for this parade, you love to dance. But you’re also there to keep the parade moving, and avoid obstructing the view of the people filming it. Let’s just say that certain volunteers were not all that successful at accomplishing that.

This was the first time I’ve seen a hula dance (33s) in real life and I loved it. The ending, especially, super cute.

Most of the South American dance groups had very elaborate and colorful costumes (60s), and they really put on a show (21s) for us .

From the pineapple dancers (30s) to the boots with bells (30s) ones, I liked them all. 

Just to be clear, I also liked the swing dancers (18), the break dancers (34s), the Rio Carnival (30s), modern (35s) and belly (40s) dancers. 

When it comes to dancing in the streets, I don’t have a favorite. If you’re dancing, I’m watching and enjoying.

Dance Parade I (24:05 min)

Dance Parade II (20:06 min)

At the end of the parade is Tompkins Square Park, where different groups performed on several stages.

This is a Mexican dance group (40s) and they were very good. The stage was pretty small, but they danced flawlessly. Also, the skirts were quite something. They were an integral part of the dance but how much material did they use to make them, and how were they able to move so nimbly in them?

On another stage I saw a modern dance show by a group of young dancers (60s). I’m not very familiar with modern dance, but I really enjoyed their performance.

As I was leaving the parade, walking on 1st Ave. toward 14th St., I ran into Wrinkle, The Duck (Wrinkle’s channel).

She was also coming from watching the parade and was, understandably, a bit tired. Since she had been such a good girl, she had been promised a treat and was waiting for it, while taking a quick sleeve nap (3:20 min). Her favorite treat, in case you are wondering, is a cucumber.

Finally, we have a picture that’s not from the parade but it goes well with Wrinkle. I was filming on the terrace at Pier 57 when I turned a corner and there it was, a group of ROOFTOP BABIES (3:20 min)!

I’ve only seen baby geese on YouTube so the cuteness overload was sudden and severe. I had an urgent need to squee and pet the babies. Luckily for all involved, it turns out that I have enough self-control not to harass wild life. So I just stalked them from a respectful distance and delighted in their shenanigans. For example, once they reached a grassy area, all the babies lined up and started eating in unison, like a super cute lawn mower. Then, after just a few minutes, they all plopped down, and continued eating.

I was a bit concerned that the parents decided to start a family on a rooftop, an area that lacks a water source, but all the babies looked happy, healthy, and quite poofy. Maybe the grass areas confused the parents and made them think they were at street level? In any case, I think the Pier’s maintenance people provide them with water, so they should be fine until they learn how to fly.