Festival of Food and Fun at Taste of Times Square
On Monday June 7th 2010, Times Square was transformed into a rarely seen neighborhood block party when World Heritage Cultural Center (WHCC) came together with the Times Square Alliance, local restaurants and WHCC artists to showcase a festival of food and fun in New York City.
This fun festival which spanned several blocks of Times Square was one of the many events that World Heritage Cultural Center has put on in alignment with their mission in creating a common ground where any culture in the world can come and celebrate their way of life through the Arts & Food.
World Heritage Cultural Center has hosted the first Multicultural Stage in the 17th year of the Taste of Times Square, that involved restaurants selling their yummy treats to hungry eaters while WHCC’s stage kept their energy up with songs and dances from all over the world. Fashion designer Asher Jay and expert dancer Ryan Holder were the MC’s for the evening.
While international DJ Ash spinned music for the audience to dance to, and a variety of dancers took space on the stage to share dances from Hip Hop to Bollywood and Latin there was never a dull moment at this festival. Unified Dancers which were a group of high-school aged students took the audiences breathe away when they performed a mix of Micheal Jacksons music with dancers even performing his famous “moonwalk”. Bollywood Funk, Dancing Shiva and Seeta David dancers performed contemporary dance steps to Bollywood music and Ancestral Horizons & Recklez Riddimmz - African drummers/Caribbean drummers created sounds that were true to their tribal roots. Latin Sensations "Piel Canela Dancers" danced away as Heart Break Kids and Daraja (Houston) brought Hip/Hop and Rap music to live on stage. Italian Opera Singer Cristina Fontanelli made a special appearance on stage as well.
When asked a few spectators at the show about their thoughts of the event here is what they had to say: MC Asher Jay said “The performance excerpts featured this evening emphasized customs embraced by various collectives, from dated legacies to contemporary colloquialisms, only to eloquently highlight the fact that human expression can neither be bound by tense nor space."
Manoj Rajwani (Audience) “The WHCC’s show was an amazing experience. I was inspired by the talent that performed and I felt like I was part of a very special night. At the end of the night I realized the power of music, dance and the mission of WHCC. It’s about bringing us all together to appreciate the beauty that is present in all of our cultures.
Mitchell Henning (Times Square Alliance): "I'm very impressed with what you are doing, WHCC kept the crowd here and I will recommend you to everyone! I can't wait for next year!" These are just a couple of thoughts out of the many who appreciated the festivities.
Through their hard work and commitment in creating a common ground where any culture can shine and making a positive impact through knowledge & charity, both Sattie Persaud and JuanCarlos Gonzalez, the founders of World Heritage Cultural Center were able to create an amazing spectacle of festivity and learning for those lucky enough to have experience the fun at the Taste of Times Square.
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Written by Laju Shah
