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Location: The John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts
Photos by Joseph Allen and Margot Schulman
CULTURAL BREAKTHROUGH: The Kennedy Center’s $10 million “magic carpet ride” to 22 Arab League nations during its three-week “Arabesque” arts festival featured art, poetry, film, fashion, and performances by 800 actors, dancers, singers, and musicians. AN ARABIAN NIGHT: Opening festivities showed just how “hip” the Arab world can be with an extravagantly avant-garde dinner hosted by Bahraini Minister of Culture Mai Al-Khalifa in a huge, heated tent where modern Arab design elements included lighted aqua chairs, giant triangular Lucite tabletops, and sexy swags of Swarovski crystal.