I heartily encourage you to catch one of the Bhutanese demon subjugation ceremonies, or cham dances, happening around town this week. It's a beautiful experience, mesmerizing and joyous and peaceful. The monks are from a monastic fortress in Bhutan and have never been outside of their country before. The mind boggles at what is going through their heads as they experience New York City.
Here are some photos from the ceremony on Saturday at the Fulton Ferry landing. In the first photo, the dancers are about to begin the ceremony.
At the end of each section of the dance, the monks would line up like this and the lead dancer would step forward and do a little solo.
And here's the troupe in action. It was very moving to watch a demon subjugation ceremony just a couple of days after the anniversary of 9/11. If ever such a rite was overdue, it was this one, and it was fitting that people from a completely different, neutral part of the world came to do this. Just behind the squat building towards the left was where the twin towers once stood.
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