IN HISTORIC SOUTHEASTERN ENGAGEMENT, OPULENT 1947 SPIEGELTENT RETURNS FESTIVE, BOHEMIAN CULTURE OF A BYGONE ERA TO CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA AT THE GAILLARD CENTER From Circus to Cabaret to Local Musicians, Month-Long December Spiegeltent Residency Offers Charlestonians Opportunity to Experience Eclectic Performances and Celebrate the Holidays in an Early 20 th Century Traveling Dance Hall Filled with Mirrors, Stained Glass, and Hand-Painted Wood Decor
December 1-30, 2022
Interior of the Spiegeltent. Photo by Aaron Winters
CHARLESTON, SC (October 19, 2022) – For the first time ever in the deep South, this December the Charleston Gaillard Center will host an elaborately ornate, 2,000-piece Spiegeltent or “mirror tent” dating back to 1947—one of fewer than 40 of these original traveling dance hall tents still in existence worldwide—in the heart of the city’s downtown for a month of curated performances and holiday celebrations. Though today it’s most known for world-class dining, beautiful period architecture, and its rich and complex role in American history, in the 1840s and 50s Charleston, SC was also home to a budding bohemian arts subculture. To celebrate the holidays, the Gaillard Center will present a series of performances and events that evoke that same sense of creativity, self-expression, and experimentation within the one-of-akind Spiegeltent, the only historic one of its kind still traveling within the United States. Initially created and utilized in Belgium in the late 1800s, few Spiegeltents still exist in the world after being destroyed during World War II and falling out of fashion in the late 1900s. International attention grew in the 21 st century, spiking their popularity around the world and sparking the creation of similar tents, but only the tent that will be hosted in Charleston this December still travels around the country and brings with it the history of 65 years’ worth of performances.