1998: Dinner Dance Delights

by Ruth

The dinner dance event was born, adding a touch of "Cairo nightclub" to the Festival.

The Midnight at the Oasis dinner dance was held at the Addison Rd Centre on the Friday night. For many audience members, this was the first time they had seen cabaret dancers in their "natural environment" - on the dancefloor with a live band performing for an audience seated at tables enjoying dinner. It proved a glittering night, with most attendees dressing the part, and featured performances by Shamira, Cait Delaney (daughter of Cynthia) and Amera.

Shamira not only gave a beautiful performance but also survived a marathon nine minute drum solo from the notorious Ghassan that had her wiping the sweat from her brow. Obviously Ghassan is a big Shamira fan, because he just wouldn't stop! And on top of that, he once again demonstrated his complete aversion to the conventional approach of playing the same rhythm four times in a row!! Fortunately, this was nothing that Shamira could not handle - she took in all in her stride magnificently.

During 1996, Amera had returned from her travels and bought half of Amera's Palace back from Leonie. The two of them ran the shop together until 1997, when Leonie decided it was time to give up retail and concentrate on her school and the Festival. Amera's shop and Leonie's school continued to share premises at 12 Enmore Rd. But late in 1997 this building was sold. Both moved down Enmore Rd to number 83, Amera in the shop downstairs and Leonie in her studio upstairs.

The new studio was one of the workshop venues (Friday and Saturday), along with Addison Rd Centre's Turkish Hut & Main Hall (Saturday) and The Edge (Sunday and Monday). On Sunday, while workshops were being conducted at The Edge at the south end of Newtown, the Bazaar was in full swing at Addison Rd some distance away