Looking Back: 8th Annual Asian Festival 2011
Destination Asia, the 8th Annual Asian Festival, held in July 2011 at George Mason University.
July of 2020 is not the best time to visit a crowded cultural festival, but around this time in 2011 it was. My brother and I attended the 8th Annual Asian Festival, held that year on July 23-24 at a new location on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. We’d visited in past years when it was held, if memory serves, at the Reston Town Center. And though that was a great location, setting up in the parking lots of GMU gave them much more space.
My favorite part of the festival were all the live performances, some on stages and some right in the middle of the crowds. I tried to find locations that let me create pleasing photographs, but many times I was stuck in a location because of the large crowds, so I did the best I could where I was. I also very much enjoyed the food selections, but didn’t end up photographing any, and this time around we didn’t try as much as I’d hoped because it was so very hot that day we mostly just wanted cold drinks. This also means we didn’t stay as long as we’d liked. The heat and humidity had a way of sapping our energy. I’m so very impressed by those who performed in that weather.
One of the first events we stumbled across was a group of young martial artists performing on the ground. They cleared a space in the crowd and began performing. You can see some of the industrial sized fans the event had to help deal with the heat, though the one in the background wasn’t running at the time. These athletes were incredible, performing amazing acrobatic moves with and without weapons of various sorts.
Flipping completely upside down, a young athlete demonstrates her martial arts.
A martial arts display demonstrating the sword.
A martial arts performance with a wooden spear. He was close enough the tip of the spear is out of focus.
Shortly after this we watched a performance on stage with a group of beautifully clothed dancers with these long feathers flaring from their headpieces. Part of the stage was shaded from the sun, but part was in full sunlight. You can see the difference in the photos.
Illuminated by the sun, this dancer stands out against the background which is in shade.
I loved their colorful outfits and those long feathers flowing from the crowns on their heads.
When performing close to the background the dancers were in shade, providing a softer, more even lighting.
About a half hour later we had to move aside as a parade came through the section we were in. It was fun getting to photograph this from up close.
This parade was full of bright red outfits and big smiles.
Later we heard music and made our way to another stage where musicians were playing these incredible traditional stringed instruments. It was a really fascinating sound.
Musicians performed using traditional stringed instruments.
A cropped view showing just the strings and the musician.
Here we get a better view of the stringed instrument.
The final performance we watched was a group of young dancers on stage, wearing bright colors
The final performance was a group of young dancers in bright colors.
The dancers brought big smiles to go with their bright colors.
The final performance we watched at the Asian Festival.
We were only there a couple hours before we grew tired of the heat, humidity and crowds, but I really enjoyed that time, and I think we got to see a nice sampling of the performances. I hope you enjoyed this brief look back at this great cultural event.
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