Gypsy Passion at the Minnesota Fringe

It's that time of year again. It's time to Fringe.

What's a Fringe?

In Minneapolis, it's 10 days of "experimental" theater. The performers might be (but probably aren't) professional actors, comedians, playwrights, dancers, choreographers or musicians. Most likely, they want to be, but it's just as likely they are Fringing for fun.

The shows aren't planned by a governing body or board of directors. Instead, people submit their ideas for a production and then applications are drawn from a pot until all the show times are filled.

This means you never really know what you're going to get when you go to a Fringe show. The actors might be awkward. The audio might be scratchy. The audience might be slim. But that's the fun, and the point, of it all. Plus, you never know. Maybe you're watching the next Diablo Cody in action; she did, after all, write "Juno" right here in the Twin Cities.

I don't suspect, however, that the Fringe show I saw last night is about to take Hollywood by storm. It was called Gypsy Passion and it was, bascially, 60 minutes of bellydancing performed by middle-aged (or almost middle-aged) women.

I have to give these gals credit though. I wasn't up there baring my belly and I certainly wasn't up there giggling my bare belly in front of a bunch of strangers.

If nothing else, I enjoyed the opportunity to go into zone mode and listen to funky music while focusing on little more than a bunch of swirling women in pretty colors.