Greatest free show on Earth

The phrase ”lively arts” which I use to encompass the various events and activities dealt with on this page was first coined, I think, by the American composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein for a TV show he introduced in those distant days when network television audiences were thought to be interested in such things. It's a useful phrase and can certainly be applied with complete accuracy to the major event taking place in Palma this week, the IX World Folkdance Festival which will welcome some fifty groups from thirty five countries as far apart as Indonesia and Jamaica. This really is a lively art; those taking part seem to be in perpetual motion – dancing on the specially erected stages in several of Palma's central plazas and even dancing through the streets as they move from one to another. This goes on for three days, beginning today, between 10.30am and 2pm and then again from 5pm to 8.30pm. and also on Saturday morning from 10.30am to 2pm. The stages are at the Parc de Mar below the cathedral, the Borne, Plaza Mayor, Plaza Olivar and Plaza Espana. In addition, in the morning and afternoon of Thursday and Friday there is continuous dancing at the Auditorium on Paseo Maritimo in Palma where the groups appear before the Festival judges; members of the public can test their own assessments against that of the experts.