Ole at the Clark
An Evening of Dance, Tapas, and Sangria
By: Charles Giuliano - Feb 21, 2009
To dispel the winter gloom Astrid and I have vowed never to miss one of the Clark After Dark events. We have been fighting month long bouts of the flu but last night felt well enough to brush the snow off the windsheield for the frosty drive to Williamstown.
As usual there was an enthusiastic turnout for an evening of tapas, sangria, and eclectic dance. Some of the guests went all out to come attired as coloroful senors and senoritas. There were pleanty of colorful shawls and flouncy layered dresses. Here and there an ersatz matador was spotted.
There was a craft table set up for guests to make their own sets of castanets or create paper flowers. Do it yourself is always a welcome aspect of Clark After Dark events.
There were dance demonstrations by a Berkshire based group Small Planet Dancers led by Josephine Sarrelli including Lynne Hartwell, Ann Hurley, Ellen Jordan, Amy Keaton, and Jeff Lander. Their dance combined a number of sources from Flamnenco to Irish Step Dancing and Argentine Tango. In the auditorium Sarnelli spoke of the gypsy origins of Flamenco and led the audience in dance movements.
The special exhibition galleries were open so we toured the Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition.
As usual there was an abundance of finger food including shots of gaspacho. Astrid thought that the fried calamari compared favorably to that served by Red Sauce in North Adams.
The dance theme of the evening entailed more demonstration than participation. The dance floor was largely vacant expect for a few brave souls who tried a gypsy fling. Accordingly folks just wandered about from the food to the bar. So the evening seemed to break up early compared to the Mod Party last year when a wild and crazy, mostlly younger crowd danced the night away.