Best of the City 2009

The Global Edition

Edited by Jessica VoelkerWith contribution from Eric Scigliano, Kathryn Robinson, Karen Quinn, Matthew Halverson, Alex Girma, James Ross Gardner, Kelley Frodel, Laura Cassidy, and Steve Wiecking

Brazilian Capoeira

In 2001 the very muscley Marcos “Coquinho” Nascimento founded GRUPO AXÉ CAPOEIRA, where Seattleites are schooled in the ins-and-outs of a martial art form that’s difficult to describe (games, singing, dancing, and choreographed sparring are all involved) but unspeakably fun to practice. Nascimento discovered capoeira over 20 years ago on the streets of Brazil, and he shares his skills in a series of classes at Dance Underground on Capitol Hill. Saturday mornings, his tribe of mini capoeiristas, clad cutely in little white practice pants, can often be spied skipping across the crosswalk on 15th Avenue. Grupo Axé Capoeira, Dance Underground, 340 15th Ave E, Capitol Hill, www.axeseattle.com

African Music and Dance Program

A cultural arts school, company, and community center, the ADEFUA AFRICAN RESOURCE CENTER was cofounded in 1986 by the velvety-voiced Afua N’Diaye, a lifelong dancer who has studied all over Africa and the U.S. Every August, 20 artsy kiddies are chosen to attend Adefua’s Sankofa Cultural Camp, a four-day, three-night African drumming and dance retreat held at Camp Long in West Seattle. For the rest of us, there are introductory classes at its Rainier Avenue South location and Seattle Central Community College, as well as a summer day camp at Othello Park. Just want to watch? Head down to Pier 58 on Sundays at noon all summer long for the African American concert series—a collaboration between Adefua and the Seattle Parks and Recreation Department. Adefua African Resource Center, 6716 Rainier Ave S, 206-722-6602; www.planetafua.com

Spanish Camp

How does this sound: Your kid spends her summer beating drums, gardening outside, and kicking around the fútbol with friends, and emerges practically bilingual by the time school reopens in the fall. Ballard-based ZOOM LANGUAGE CENTER Spanish Camp—brainchild of teacher and native speaker Angelica Camargo—entices young linguists (three age-based programs cater to children from two-and-a-half to nine years) with music, arts and outdoor activities, plus lots and lots of soccer, all while addressing them only in Spanish. Zoom Language Center, 1116 NW 54th St, Ballard, 206-783-5000; www.zoomlanguage.com

Norwegian Parade

Laila Sharpe remembers marching in the SYTTENDE MAI PARADE back when a few dozen folks showed up to celebrate Norway’s Constitution Day. Today it’s a full-on neighborhood event attracting Ballardites of all backgrounds, who pack Market Street to cheer on kids in funny troll costumes and Nordic diehards dressed in bunader, traditional Norwegian getups whose patterns function as a sartorial semiotic device, signaling the wearer’s regional origins. “You know how on St. Patrick’s Day everyone is Irish for the day?” says Sharpe, a parade chair. “On May 17th everyone is Norwegian.” Syttende Mai Parade, www.syttendemaiseattle.com

Global Festival

The festival formerly known as Seattle International Children’s reappeared at Seattle Center this year as GIANT MAGNET—the new name intended to, ahem, attract visitors of all ages. Andrea Wagner and Brian Faker, co­directors of the weeklong event, travel the world every year, bringing us the best of what they find: captivating Sufi dancers from India, oohy-aahy German illusionists, and a stage adaptation of The Very Hungry Caterpillar by puppeteers from Nova Scotia. Giant Magnet, 206-684-7338; www.giantmagnet.org

International District Tour

After the 1983 Wah Mee Massacre—in which 13 people were robbed and killed at an International District gambling club—left her neighborhood scared and empty, Vi Mar had an idea: Reintroduce the I.D. to the city. In 1984 she launched CHINATOWN DISCOVERY, a walking tour of the neighborhood. And although Mar has since turned over the operation to docents at the Wing Luke Asian Museum, the 90-minute tour is still going strong. The expedition begins with a history lesson at the museum (erected in 1910 after a bog near the waterfront was filled in), then slides past the new scarlet Chinatown Gate (red symbolizes good luck) and into restaurants and bakeries, often with its sights on the I.D.’s famous cocktail buns (coconut-filled Chinese rolls). Chinatown Discovery, 719 S King St, International District, 206-623-5124; www.seattlechinatowntour.com

Next: Where to have fun

Pages:123456789101112

Published: July 2009