The multicultural festival

I really enjoyed the trip I went to with my friends last year, and you can see and enjoy it for yourself. That's why I took these pictures. I loved each of these dances very much. The festival took place in Dartmouth. It was a hot summer day and I was enjoying the performances so much, I did not realize the sun blazing down on me and got a big sunburn. I also got to have my hand painted with henna and got a few other souvenirs.

I like Mid-Eastern dancing, seen here, they were called "Jewels of the Middle East" I think.

While I was watching the performances, I had samosas (a spicy pastry filled with either spicy potatoes or meat), right here, and tabouli salad while my friend had Filipino "pandit" rice noodles with vegetables and seasonings blended in. I got some dessert, I don't remember what it was called, but it looked like a mini pastries curled up like spirals which tasted crunchy with honey flavoring, kind of like baklava (A Greek filo pastry with honey and nuts). I've had baklava at a Greek festival a few years ago.

This is Irish folk dancing, the music was energetic and uplifting with a high pitched flute playing throughout the music as the girls bounced up and down kicking their legs to the tune, while their arms were akimbo. The Irish culture reminds me of beer and haggis, while men in kilts play the bagpipes near the shore, as waves of the sea crash against the rocks, spraying people with flecks of water as they eat and enjoy the music.

With each performance, I either leaned forward in my seat while zooming in my digital camera, or went close to the stage to take pictures.

I saw two different kinds of Flamenco, this one was Alma Flamenco, where a group of women went around in circles and twirled, raising their arms occasionally when close together. I saw the second Flamenco dance, where two women took turns dancing, wearing different dresses, tapping their heels to the beat and clapping their hands.

I hope to do Flamenco dancing someday, it's a beautiful form of Spanish dancing. According to this article on Wikipedia, there was a time where Flamenco fell in and out of style plenty of times during it's existence.
This dance was one of the most exhilarating and mesmerizing ones I have seen. Filipino men with baskets and swords dancing to the drums and other instruments in the music. The dance was called Folklorico Filipino. The dance seemed to tell a story depicting the history and culture of the Philippines.

I had used up all the space in my digital camera taking all the pictures of souvenirs, food as well as dances. I had managed to delete one picture to take this picture, but the sun got in the way of the focus.

I got my hand painted with a small henna design for five dollars. It had a nice, yet strange and strong scent to it. Henna is made of a mixture of different herbs, and is good for the skin and blocking out the sun to prevent sunburns.

She put some watery liquid over the paint and it tightened against my skin. She told me to wait for a half hour until it dried. When the time came, I brushed off the dark paint to reveal the dark orange henna which my friend said would darken even more over the next few days. The henna would only be on temporarily.

I also saw an African dancing group, I forget what they were called, and the music had an uplifting beat of drums. They danced from left to right, swinging their arms back and forth to the tempo.
I liked the music and I like any kind of African dancing.

I forgot about the time, but I knew it was very late in the evening.