Las Vegas festival delivers sampling of folk dance from across the globe
Lorenzi Park patrons took a tour of the world Saturday afternoon without leaving the festival plaza’s plush green lawn.
A crowd of about 30 people clustered on picnic blankets and plastic chairs at the Sammy Davis Jr. Festival Plaza to learn about other cultures through a series of dance performances with influences from around the globe.
GlobalFest, a celebration of folk dance organized by the Las Vegas Office of Cultural Affairs, was kicked off about noon by an Olabisi African dance group accompanied by bongo drums.
Pete Garcia, 70, lives a few blocks from the park at 720 Twin Lakes Drive and said he walks the park’s 35 acres every Saturday. He was planning to head home about 2 p.m. Saturday when he stumbled upon the dance festival.
“It’s about time they start using this place for something,” he said, pushing his round sunglasses up his nose and fiddling with his walking stick.
As he spoke, a group of about 10 girls with the Armenian Dance Academy of Las Vegas, dressed in long, blue velvet skirts and thin wire crowns, twirled across the stage to mandolin-heavy music.
“Oh look at the little ones! I’ve got to get a picture of that,” he said, walking away to get photos of the girls, about 5 years old, in their floor-length Armenian dance garb.
Garcia’s daughter married into an Armenian family, and the girls’ dance routine reminded him of the “wonderful” food his son-in-law’s family prepared for his daughter’s wedding reception.
The Armenian dancers floated off the stage as the Te-Awhi dancers of Las Vegas Hula waited in the wings.
Two “warriors” wearing leafy green crowns and white, knee-length loincloths bounded onto the stage and slapped their arms, legs and chests to the rhythm of a Hawaiian chant. The chant ended and four hula dancers swayed onto the floor, donning long grass skirts and pink leis, with orange and yellow flowers tucked into their brunette manes.
Tania Sagapolu, 37, moved to the mainland from Hawaii about 20 years ago and said hula dancing reminds her of her childhood.
“Us being away from the island, it gives us a way to stay in touch with that side of our culture,” said Sagapolu, who twirled two white poi balls attached to brown ropes in a Maori dance. “For me, it’s a spiritual journey.”
The Polynesian dance acts were followed by a traditional lion dance and kung fu demonstrations performed by the Lohan School of Shaolin. Young men beneath bright, orange, red and purple lion heads maneuvered the stage, leaping between tabletops to the persistent beat of a lion dance drum.
Following the Lohan School and closing Saturday’s festival was a group of women in colorful, traditional Mexican dresses and their male counterparts in bright-green, button-down shirts and white cowboy hats.
The girls clicked their bright-orange heels against the wooden stage and floated in circles, their wide, flowing skirts clutched in their hands and waving about their heads. The young men flipped their hats on and off their heads, touching them nearly to the ground as they bowed at the end of their final dance.
The last person clapping, Garcia, reached for his walking stick and what was left of the Hawaiian food he’d ordered from a food truck. His only complaint about the festival was the poor attendance.
“There aren’t enough people here to view the show to really appreciate it and find out about the different cultures in our city,” he said. “But that was really great. I’m glad I stopped.”
Contact Kimber Laux at klaux@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0283. Follow @lauxkimber on Twitter.
