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  • 2022 Festival,

    Day Eight: Top Ten Photos

    July 1, 2022 | Annabella Hoge, Elisa Hough | Comments

    Today may have felt like 100 degrees, but that didn’t stop visitors, participants, and staff from enjoying the Folklife Festival. The morning began with a performance of conservation songs from Belize, and visitors learned how to make bison meatballs and Filipino chicken adobo with an Emirati twist at Festival Foodways.

    In the afternoon, the falconers hosted an audio-described meet-and-greet for visitors who are Deaf and hard of hearing. Missed out on this program? There are more audio-described tours this weekend. Visitors delved into language and identity through a lesson in Northern Plains language and a conversation on the multilingual nature of the UAE. The evening closed with a vibrant and percussive performance from Sunny Jain and REBOLU that had hearts thumping and feet stomping on the National Mall under a rainbow and the setting sun.

    A man stands over a wooden table with raw meat and other ingredients before him while he speaks into a microphone. Behind him, a woman stands holding a glass bowl of ingredients. The U.S. Capitol Building is in the background.
    Chef Hattem Mattar led a demonstration on “third culture” barbecue in the UAE in Folklife Studio, sharing with the audience how he took his training from an apprenticeship in Central Texas to Dubai.
    Photo by Joshua Davis, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A man and a woman hold a black and white drawing of two individuals in front of a large building, while posing and smiling.
    Emirati artist Abdulla Lutfi drew the UAE Embassy in his iconic cartooning style. Find more of his artwork for sale in the Marketplace!
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Three kids lean over a table covered with sea shells, starfish, sand dollars and other items from the ocean, with others standing in the background. Two of the children are holding the items up and examining them.
    Kids communed with seashells, sea stars, and other creatures from the deep at the Earth Optimism × Folklife tents.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman in traditional Kenyan dress ties a small bracelet to the wrist of another woman who’s back is partially to the camera. The two women are smiling and looking down at the bracelet.
    Kenyan participant Simaloi Saitoti helped visitors tie their beaded bracelets during the Maasai bead workshop in the People-Powered Science tent.
    Photo by Sonya Pencheva, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A cluster of white pearls and a gold dish rest on a red pillow, on a red tablecloth. In the background, the table is cluttered with other items, including a pair of glasses, and a pair of folded hands just out of frame.
    Visitors got a closer look at the pearls revered by our Fijiri singers over in the UAE.
    Photo by Ronald Villasante, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A variety of multicolored letter blocks used for print pressing lay face-up in two wooden trays.
    With artists from the UAE, visitors used woodblock letters to press words and phrases on pieces on paper.
    Photo by Joshua Davis, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Three individuals are seated in chairs at an outdoor presentation. They each are holding their hands up, their left hand closed in a fist and the right hand with four fingers held up and the thumb down. The person in the middle is holding a microphone with their fist.
    In a special language lesson, visitors learned to count in a Northern Plains tribal language.
    Photo by Stanley Turk, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    A woman smiles and stands over a stove, stirring a sauce in a pan that is reflected in a mirror above her. Also reflected in the mirror are other ingredients and cooking utensils.
    Chef Cheryl Longknife Morales taught a crowd at Festival Foodways how to make bison meatballs with elderberry sauce.
    Photo by Joshua Davis, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Two people performing on stage: a man singing, holding arms up in the air, and a woman playing saxophone.
    Ben Parag’s thrilling vocals and saxophonist Alison Shearer’s smooth melodies drifted over the Mall as Sunny Jain’s Wild Wild East kicked off the evening concert.
    Photo by Pruitt Allen, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
    Four people on stage performing. In focus is a woman smiling, shaking a silver cylindrical percussion instrument.
    REBOLU got us dancing in the grass to merengue rhythms and more.
    Photo by Pruitt Allen, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

    Join us Saturday, July 2, for NASA Day as part of Earth Optimism × Folklife and more exciting workshops and sessions with the UAE—as long as the weather holds! Visit the People-Powered Science tent throughout the day for NASA-related hands-on activities or try your hand at Arabic calligraphy. Drop in at Festival Foodways to learn about sustainable seafood, the unlikely links between oysters and NASA, and Bedouin cooking from the sea. Listen to two panel discussions featuring NASA programs and conservation efforts. Stop by the Folklife Studio for the last EO x Folklife Studio session about sustainable food production, and stick around for a viewing from the Mother Tongue Film Festival.

    After a day that is out of this world, join us for a multimedia, multicultural performance, A View from the Streets: Urban Culture from the UAE at 6:30 p.m. on the Ralph Rinzler Stage.

    We do expect some thunderstorms in the district on Saturday, so be sure to check the online schedule for potential cancelations and our Twitter feed for possible closures. Come prepared with your ponchos, curious minds, and (waterproof) dancing shoes!

    Annabella Hoge is the 2022 Folklife Festival media intern, and Elisa Hough is the editor at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. Together they are Team Top Ten.

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