Looptopia

A Chicago version of Utopia happened on Friday, where everybody could enjoy culture for free.

The Loop, or the downtown area of Chicago, turned into a massive festival with people streaming in from nearby suburbs to listen to live music, watch skits, dance in department stores or perhaps do yoga as the sunrises.

I went to the festival for midnight yoga which was held on the fifth floor at the Chicago Culture Center. But when I arrived there an hour short of midnight, the class was already full and had started! Whatever happened to midnight starting at 12 a.m.? The lady hosting midnight yoga was very polite, and zeny. She apologized to everyone who couldn't get in for the lack of space and weirdness of time. I felt bad for her because it probably wasn't her fault but she looked geniunely apologetic.

So after failing to get my daily exercise done, my friend Jessica, Jing and I decided to head out and see what was happening else where. Every show we passed by in at the Center was packed and all I could see from my 5 foot 2 height was heads, more heads, and some times other people's butts. So we decided to leave the building.

We reached the second floor and realised that people had to line up to get into the second floor! The three of us stopped and wondered if we should leave if it was such an elitist thing... Funny how the value of staying on a human packed, semi-beer flavored second floor goes up when there is a line spirawling all the way to the first floor trying to get in. Kind of like the stock market, or the Dow Jones stock right now, going up up up in value because it's in demand by people, or by Rupert Murdoch.

We decided our best bet was to find out if there were worth while events in the building before leaving our elavated status.

We settled on going to the back alley of the Oriental Theater, where they were offering samples from all the broadway shows in Chicago.

The alley was long and lit by amber light with typical black fire escapes clinging on the wall. It was packed with people straining their neck to see the stage. I didn't see anything as usual. But the good thing about being short is that you learn to look up high instead of trying to look forward into a crowd.

When I looked up, I realised that other people had climbed to the various floor of the parking garage which formed the other side of the alley.

It was so loud that I had to shout, "I've found a great place, there!" pointing to the no longer so secret spot.

As soon as my words came out, the people around us started to dart for the same destination as we did. Luckily my daily rountine of exercising paid off and my friends and I secured a perfect spot directly overlooking the front of the stage. It was like the balcony seat in the theater.

Singers from the cast of "The Color Purple," "The Spelling Bee," and "Wicked," all performed. It was almost like a wine tasting of broadway shows, making me want to go see all three of the shows now.

Looptia as the festival was called lasted from 5 p.m. until 6 a.m., and was the first of its kind in Chicago.