News

Hudson River pageant showcases costumes, talent

By amNY Posted on May 16, 2012

[media-credit name=”Downtown Express photos by TERESE LOEB KREUZER” align=”aligncenter” width=”600″][/media-credit]The 315-mile-long Hudson River harbors some interesting creatures as it flows from Lake Tear of the Clouds in the Adirondack Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean, but none as dazzling as those who came to honor it on May 12 in the annual Hudson River Pageant.

In a swirl of imaginative costumes and vivid colors, participants paraded along the waterfront in Battery Park City and Greenwich Village, stopping every few blocks for dancing, music and poetry readings. At the Christopher Street pier, there was an oyster planting ceremony and dance. At Charles Street, fish were released into the river. The parade ended at Horatio Street with a boat dance and harmonic chant concert.

The pageant is an amalgamation of exuberant artistic invention and rituals, music and incantations borrowed from many cultures. The community and scientific groups who study and tend the river and its inhabitants exhorted the audience to be aware of how politics and economics have affected the river and to be its voice when needed.

Pageant director Felicia Young founded the not-for-profit Earth Celebrations in 1991 to engage artists and the arts in the service of ecological awareness. She first staged the Hudson River Pageant in 2009 to call attention to the native species and habitats of the Hudson River and to address climate change.

In preparing costumes and puppets for the pageant, Young and her team hold workshops for adults and also work with students who will be the stewards of the river in the future.