Tradition vs. Newness at Spoleto
May 24, 2009
POSTED ON BEHALF OF MARC OVERTON, FROM SPOLETO FESTIVAL USA IN CHARLESTON Hearing the bells of St. Michael’s this morning just after 10:00 made me think again about the striking juxtaposition of tradition and newness that each year’s Spoleto Festival brings. I’ve spent a lot of Sunday mornings in a lot of small American towns over the years as I toured the country on one or another of my motorcycles, but there are few places left where the sound of Sunday morning church bells are so much a part of the weekly rhythm of living. As they rang, I thought that later that day, Spoleto performances by Japanese dancer Hiroaki Umeda, and the raunchy, graphic, ritualized violence of DON JOHN would shake up Charleston’s genteel sensibilities and jazz up its rhythm. And that’s good. Spoleto always brings some jolts that make the old ways stand out in relief, and we all need to be reminded that old things have value for good reasons.