CEDAR FALLS - As a light mist fell on Main Street, the effortless, improvised modern dance movements flowed in harmony with a classical music piece by Mozart.

Saturday morning's inclement weather did not put much of a damper on Artapalooza. The annual event, held in downtown Cedar Falls, typically draws plenty of paintings, sculptures and pottery.

But dancers from Kinetic Energy School of Movement ensured some artistic diversity at the festival.

A handful of young female dancers, clad in black, leaped and pranced down Main Street. Their routine incorporated the natural downtown surroundings: The group moved gracefully about cement pillars, on top of benches, and around street lights and statues.

On the benches, the dancers held perfectly still for seconds at a time, then "suddenly freaked out," as Magee Glenn-Burns described it.

After the 15-minute routine, Glenn-Bruns, 15, took a moment to catch her breath in the dance company's Main Street dance studio.

"It takes a lot of energy to get into the piece so it's fully believable," she said. "It's not just moving your arms, but using your full body."

A few blocks down, Lyle Olsen - perhaps inspired by the 20th century abstract impressionism of Jackson Pollock - slapped paint onto a choo-choo train in what appeared to the untrained eye to be a haphazard fashion.

The 3-year-old energetically brushed with yellows until his plastic cup was empty of paint.

"OK, all done," he said, holding up the cup.

"Oh? Another color?" said Andy Shimek, owner of Pursuing Picasso, handing him some purple paint.

In choosing a purple and yellow color scheme, Lyle has taken after his old man Ben Olsen, a University of Northern Iowa graduate.

Overhearing talk of UNI, Lyle's ears perk up and proclaimed, "The Panthers beat the Coyotes!" Indeed, the UNI Panthers football team pounded the University of South Dakota Coyotes last week 24-13.

Ben Olsen said his son's natural interest in painting made their first stop at Artapalooza an obvious choice.

"He's gotten the paint out more than once when he's not supposed to," he said. "Those white walls at home look like a great, blank canvas."

This time Lyle's work may find a greater audience. Shimek, who also owns Vintage Iron Co. on Main Street, said in past years the train has been displayed at the Cedar Falls Library entrance.

Contact Jens Manuel Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or

jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com.