2005: Legends and Innovations

by Ruth

2005 saw some new innovations and the changes were not always welcomed!

For the first time in 2005 the Festival program cover appeared in full colour, featuring Nayima of Adelaide in an image by Chris Maait from her 2004 concert performance.

Leonie introduced free half-hour Taster classes to provide a "taste" of different aspects of bellydancing. This was intended to spark the interest of new beginners and to give more experienced dancers a chance to try out different teachers. The Tasters included Daria teaching her "Beautiful Belly Rolls", Sahara looking at "Two Classic Songs" and Seda introducing Sedadance Gentle Exercise.

The introduction of free Tasters was also intended to soften the decision to place a cover charge on entry to the Sunday activities in the Addison Rd Centre Main Hall for the first time. In previous years the Festival had absorbed the cost of venue rental for this day but a steep increase in the charge made this no longer sustainable. While a few vitriolic complaints were received about this decision the vast majority accepted it - much to the relief of the organisers who were grateful that most attendees understood the financial reality behind the move.

The Sunday events consisted of performances all morning from schools, troupes and soloists and a Bellydance Competition for amateur dancers was added to the event schedule for the first time in the afternoon. There was some discussion about the pluses and minuses of adding a competitive aspect to the Festival but ultimately a full house turned out to cheer on the entrants. In front of an enthusiastic and supportive audience the soloist category was won by Lulu of Newcastle, one of Silk Caravan's members. The Desert Sirens from Bellydance with Daria took out the troupe category. In line with the new events the day also got a new name: Festival Follies.

Above from left (click to enlarge): Backstage at Treasures of the Sultan - Elenie, BellaDonna (second from right at back) and Snakeweave, Cathryn McCormack (left) and Bellydance Shaken and Stirred, Maria Sangiorgi, three of Terezka's six secret jewels. Onstage - Jrisi.

The Treasures of the Sultan concert included a mesmerising 'dance of the seven veils' from Shamira and hot solo performances by Elenie and Seda. Seda brought her keyboardist and drummer and together they created some magic moments culminating in Seda kicking off her shoes and getting down to the floor in her signature Turkish Rom 'doing the washing' routine.

Jrisi's Hathor Dance Theatre perpetrated a jewel heist for 'Diamonds', the Veils of Baghdad recreated songs of the silver screen for 'Silver', and Melissa Cristina's Hip to Hip troupe were exactly as their program blurb described them - shimmering, sensual, dynamic and upbeat - in 'Blue Topaz'. Dianna Dupont's girls' fun and quirky burlesque number for 'Emerald' raised some eyebrows. Meanwhile the Turkish Delights had cause to raise their own eyebrows at the antics of the 'Sultan' who was onstage throughout the show. Leonie had asked the Delights to decorate the Sultan's podium after their number early in the second act. Little did they know that to pass the time the Sultan had brought his own raki and had been partaking freely throughout the show! Let's just say they had an interesting time of it.

Above from left (click to enlarge): The concert billboard outside Enmore Theatre which prompted Nayima to quip "it's the only time I'll ever be more than 4 feet tall", foyer entertainers UrbanTurban, Hip to Hip Bellydance with Melissa Cristina centre.

The Bellydance Legends dinner dance proved to be one of the best-attended dinners of recent years. The Legends theme was suggested by Terezka and it had the fans flocking to see Australia's doyennes of bellydance performing in one place - Leonie, Terezka, Belyssa and Amera. All gave spectacular and memorable performances. It was also a family affair, with Belyssa's son Gintaras persuaded from the audience to join first Leonie and then Belyssa during their shows.

Above from left (click to enlarge): Bellydance Legends - Amera, Leonie, Belyssa and Terezka. Leonie and Gintaras, Belyssa and Gintaras.

Workshops were as popular as ever and many Festival favourites returned to teach including Amera, Shamira, Elenie, Leonie, Nayima, Terezka, Devi and Ruth Brent in her final Festival teaching appearance. Fay Green's 'Aging Disgracefully' proved popular with many 'wiggles and giggles', as she promised.

Behind the scenes some big changes also took place. We moved to a computerised booking system with the help of some nifty software. This dramatically cut down the administrative work associated with each booking, which is just as well because participant numbers continued to grow. It did away with the need for workshop tickets as lists of workshop attendees were now able to be generated with a mouse click or two. And it also completely eliminated the "I forgot to bring my workshop tickets" issue at the Info Desk, resulting in significantly enhanced levels of cheeriness among Festival workers!