Earlier this month I made my way to The Raleigh Convention Center to The International Festival of Raleigh. This was their 24th year and it was the first festival of it’s kind that I had attended. I was fortunate enough to document the amazing visual impact that only this type of event can deliver. Honestly, I wish that I could share the “sites, sounds AND taste” but Canon hasn’t developed a camera that does that yet. Two out of three isn’t bad though I guess.
There were over forty different ethnic groups represented in the booths and the crowd celebrated and learned about the cultural differences that makes each one unique. This particular post focuses on the main stage where all of the cultural dances took place. Before each dance an announcer would share a little background and the origins of each dance style. I did my best to stay down low and capture as many unique photographs that I could. The stage lighting was very colorful and offered a lot of opportunities for some unique back lit shots.
There were so many different groups that I’ll need to update the individual stories as I gather some data from the event coordinators. If you recognise any of the individuals or dance groups I’d love an email so that I can add links to different websites.
If you would like to see more photographs of the main floor area CLICK HERE to go to that post.
I really like taking these panorama to show the vast space of the locations I photograph. This one is huge but not quite as impressive when shrunk down to fit on a blog.
The children dancing in The Young People’s Matinee were a crowd favorite and drew a huge paparazzi of parents and friends to front of the center aisle.
I really like the color contrast of the blue background and the red banners for the Chinese Youth dance performances.
The Filipino Youth dance troop performed an entire story.
I particularly liked these colorful costumes that were featured during the Korean knife dancing session
This is the beginning of a traditional Korean fan dance.
The finale of the fan dance was impressive yet fun. I could tell that the women really enjoyed performing.
These kids couldn’t get enough of the show… Or maybe they couldn’t see enough of the show…
Another Korean dance that featured pink costumes. These young ladies were amazingly graceful on stage and their routine was well choreographed and executed.
Here are a few traditional Scandinavian dances.
This Korean dance feature two ladies vying for the attention of a male suitor.
This is the Turkish teen portion of the show that featured some very talented belly dancing by these young ladies.
I loved freezing the motion of the cloth as they moved around the stage.
This was one of my personal favorites of the day. It’s a Venezuelan dance that is similar to double dutch jump rope… BUT the people on the end clap the bamboo poles together as the dancers quickly and skillfully step in and out in sync with the rhythm. This rhythm increased so fast near the end of the song that I have no idea how they didn’t get their feet pinched in between the poles.
I loved the ever flowing movements of the dresses during the Venezuelan dance performances.
The Indian men came out in full force and really got the crowd excited! Their song choice and infectious smiles were perfection.
The Brazilian dancing was also a crowd favorite. There was a very diverse style with both male and women performers. The entire group was extremely talented.
I’m pretty sure that I would permanently hurt myself if I tried this move!
The Israeli dancers were a little more traditional but I really liked the choreography…
… and they caught the undivided attention of this little girl that had climbed up to watch the show.
The Korean Percussion band was powerful and engaging! Their percussive rhythms had an almost trance like quality. This one was probably one of my favorite photographs of the day.
I thought this was a great shot that showed the vocal energy of the group.
And here are a few from the Colombian dancing troop.
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