The
Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s small ensemble Potomac Fever had a public
performance on the outdoor main stage of the America Days Festival today. In
addition to us, there were jazz instrumentalists and vocalists featured at the
festival in Lviv’s Opera House square.
After
a lazy morning of sleeping in, we arrived at the stage to meet our new security
detail. The square was filled with vendors selling food, coffee, honey-flavored
vodka (a new favorite of mine), and traditional clothes. There were fully
costumed animal characters à la New York’s Times Square, and an impressive
presentation of US Army troops showing off one of their hummers. Gen. Hodges
came right up to us for a photo opp. He is as personable as he is decorated. The
Army is currently training Ukrainian troops in Yavoriv, just outside of Lviv.
This is one of the many factors contributing to the positive reception of
Americans in Ukraine. For as much as we may have to go back in the closet for a
bit in the more public performances in Ukraine, our American identity makes us
welcome almost anywhere we go.
While
we were meeting by the stage pre-show, we were awkwardly asked by our security to
move over to a holding tent. There were lots of people in uniform around the
stage, and I later learned that some of them weren’t actual soldiers, but
rather right wing paramilitary extremists. The kind that wouldn’t like a gay
chorus being there if they knew who we were. I’m glad there were more of our
uniforms than theirs.
Today’s
performance at the America Days festival was very public, which means it was
one of the performances where we used the title Potomac Fever, and made no
mention of gay. There were surely people who knew the full story if they
bothered to Google search the group. Leading up to the tour, many allies have
been informed through liberal social channels. The US Embassy has worked hard
to get the word out to the right people and keep it from the wrong people. So
far so good. On the tail end of the tour, there will be a lot of local media to
get the word out that a gay chorus toured Ukraine. Those TV and radio spots are
already lined up, and we’ll be safely en route home.
The
performance today had a bit of a rock concert element to it. We chose some of
our more popular songs (Teenage Dream anyone?) and had the audience dancing and
singing along. Afterwards, a bunch of teen girls wanted pictures with the
group.
Another
fun thing happened at the festival. The America House in Ukraine organized an
effort to break the Guinness World Record for the largest English Lesson
(currently held by Germany). Hundreds of people in the square participated, and
there were about 100 other locations doing the same thing simultaneously around
the country. We don’t know yet it the record was broken, but the goal was 6,000
people participating.
After the festival, we all boarded a bus to go
to the Ukrainian Catholic University Campus for a performance hosted by the US
Embassy in honor of Memorial Day. You heard that right – we sang at the
Catholic University of an orthodox country. That experience deserves its own
post, so I’ll cover that another time.