Day 3.160: A grand 'National' near our local track

When we were in Washington D.C. at Easter, pretty much everything was the 'National' whatever. Here in upstate New York, it is less common, but we do have the National Museum of Dance and that was where Exile #3 specially requested we go on our special day out yesterday.

It must be said that our first impressions having headed into the south wing of the building were not so great. It was not until we returned to the foyer that I was even tempted to take a first photo - of this little ballerina. The other side of the museum was a different matter altogether.

The first area contained an exhibition of dance-themed postage stamps from around the world. This might have been a bit dry for the kids except for the fun they had using the supplied magnifying glasses. Next, we visited the kids area where the girls put on several shows - helped out by E5N1 as announcer and drummer, undertook several costume changes and had an impromptu tap dance lesson (courtesy of a DVD).

When we eventually dragged them away from there we visited an exciting exhibition of photographs. You can see some of them (although I should warn, as the museum did, of "moderate, artistic nudity") here.

The final exhibit was a history of Ballets Russes with costumes warn by Anna Pavlova and Ida Rubinstein amongst others. It was a great trip - not harmed by the fact that we had the place completely to ourselves (most schools are still winding up their school year) except for a little maintenance work going on.

More pictures below.



Today was much less interesting - although I did get do some hedge-trimming this morning and get the grill going late in the afternoon.