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From break dancers to stilt walkers, from opera in an atrium to electronic sounds on the City Hall steps, the 2016 Utah Arts Festival is expanding the limits of art — beyond what one can hang on a wall or hear from a stage.

Street theater abounded on Library Square and Washington Square on Thursday, the first day of the four-day festival, the 40th edition of the state's largest multidiscipline arts event.

Markel Reed, a baritone with Utah Opera, marveled at the acoustics of the Salt Lake City Main Library atrium, where he sang arias and show tunes from a second-floor perch Thursday afternoon.

"Every time I cut off, [the echo is] still ringing," Reed said after his performance. "This is a beautiful space, [and singing] from a balcony is ideal, really."

Reed and accompanist Emily Williams provided one of Utah Opera's "random acts of opera," scheduled for noon and 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday in the library's atrium. Reed's performance Thursday ranged from Mozart's "Don Giovanni" and Puccini's "La Boheme" to tracks from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel" and "South Pacific" and Lerner and Loewe's "My Fair Lady."

"Some people think opera is still not accessible," Reed said. "My goal [is that] they see someone relatable to them."

Williams said she met Reed for the first time just before the performance, and the musical back-and-forth was part of the enjoyment. "It's fun to jump in and create art in an instant," Williams said.

Later in the day, the British street-theater group Neighbourhood Watch Stilts International performed on Library Square — seven fuzzy, plumed ostrich-like figures, each 9 feet tall and vibrantly colored. They spooked inattentive passers-by, poking their beaks into handbags and over people's shoulders, posing for selfies and sending children screaming in delighted terror.

Paul Miskin founded Neighbourhood Watch 25 years ago with co-director Maisie Sharp, "my partner in life and in theatrical activity," Miskin said.

Miskin said he found that walking on stilts prompts a psychological change in the walker. "The elevation to one meter transforms the ordinary experiences of life," he said.

A similar transformation occurs when the walkers don their costumes.

"If we're giant birds, it doesn't take long before the personality of the performer transmutes and reforms," Miskin said. "You become the bird. You see people from the bird's point of view."

Neighbourhood Watch is scheduled to perform Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4 and 6:30 p.m.

Elsewhere on the festival grounds Thursday, other creative expressions were taking off. In The Round, a small amphitheater outside the library, members of Bboy Federation were demonstrating the symbiosis of DJ and dancer in the art of break dancing.

Over by the City Hall steps, a mad-scientist trio in painter's overalls, The Synthphonics, built up rhythms and wild noises with synthesizers, mixing homemade electronics with live vocals and pre-recorded sounds.

The trio took volunteers from the crowd in hand and showed them how to make their own strange sounds. "You can make the noises as annoying as you want," one of the three said — an artistic ethic that defines the group's make-it-yourself attitude.

The Utah Arts Festival continues through Sunday, and more street theater is on the schedule, including performances Saturday and Sunday by the accordion diva Jet Black Pearl.

spmeans@sltrib.com Twitter: @moviecricket —

Utah Arts Festival

The Utah Arts Festival is marking its 40th year, now through Sunday at Library and Washington squares in Salt Lake City — with music, familiar attractions like the Kids Art Yard, food vendors and a lot from artists that's fresh and new. For highlights, visit http://www.sltrib.com/entertainment.

Tickets

Adults • $12 per day, Friday through Sunday

Seniors (65 and older) • $6 per day, Friday through Sunday

Military • $6 per day, Friday through Sunday; ID required

Children (12 and younger) • Free

Three-day pass • $30

Where to buy them • At the gates, or online at uaf.org.