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__The International Festival; Dance Performances__

The first performance I watched involved some Irish dances. There were two groups of kids irish dancing, and the first was two girls and one boy. The girl’s skirts were green velvet and their tops were a black stretchy fabric. The boy was wearing a white dress shirt and black pants. Most of their moves were kicks and and leg lifts. The second group was more advanced and had better costumes. Their costumes were made of green velvet and the top half was sequined with silver jewels. This group was entirely made of girls that looked like they were in high school. After doing a routine by themselves the younger group joined in the dance in the background, and the older girls took turns going to the front and doing solos.

As they danced a man sitting next to them played the fiddle music on a black wind instrument. Although I enjoyed this performance, it got a bit boring after a while because it seemed to me like the only moves they were doing was kicking and lifting their legs in uncomplicated patterns. I was expecting a more complicated routine, that would be very hard for someone to do that had never Irish danced before. The dances that were shown however, I felt like I could have performed myself with about five minutes of practice. The part I liked about this performance was the second group’s pretty green dresses, and also watching the man on the side playing his fiddle like instrument. He never once look down at the instrument. The whole time he was watching the girls while his two hands moved in completely different patterns from each other. I was really impressed by the man and I am curious to know what the instrument was that he was playing.

The Heather Morris School of Dance was founded in 1977 by families living in Vermont that wanted to explore their scottish heritage. The company performs traditional and contemporary Celtic dances. It takes dancers in of all ages starting at four years old. As pupils learn the dances, they also learn the history of these dances. It has been shown that students that join this company have a better sense of self confidence, and many of the pupils have earned scholarships in Scottish arts.

The second performance I watched was belly dancing performed by Shimmy On dance company. There were two middle aged women dressed in oriental looking dresses with a lots of jingly objects attached to them. Around their midsection there was a slightly see through fabric to allow you to see the way their bellies moved as they danced. At the beginning, they danced all by themselves to upbeat music, giving the audience tips as they demonstrated. Then halfway through, they invited twenty kids onto the stage to try belly dancing themselves. Nobody was good at it, except for Erin who goes to Hunt Middle School. After the lady with black hair explained that shimmying was simply moving your knees back and forth really fast, Erin was able to do it pretty well.

I remember last year watching Luke Micheal belly belly dance, and it was hilarious. My whole group agreed that we should watch this performance, because every year it is really entertaining. The beginning was boring watching the women dance alone, because I was just waiting for the part when I could watch my friends do it. I laughed really hard when some elementary school boys tried to belly dance and ended up looking absolutely ridiculous. It was also really funny when Dasha, Layla, and Grace tried to belly dance, but they weren't shaking their hips fast enough so they looked like they were having muscle spasms.

Belly dancing is considered the oldest known dance to many historians. Belly dancing was performed by women traditionally by other women. In Africa, as women earned coins they would sow them into their clothes to keep them safe. Belly dancing costumes are generally colorful scarves, veils, and coins. This type of dance means different things for different people; sometimes people do it meditate, other for religious purposes, and still others for strengthening their muscles during pregnancy. The most important part of the body during this dance is your torso because it does the most movement.

Written by Maggie Barlow