Aware of the heart wrenching tragedy in Peshawar, Pakistan, Worldfest 2014 was started by observing silence and praying for the souls of the school children who lost their precious lives. Speaking on the same, Ms. Shubhra Bhardwaj, Founder and Creative Director of Ferriswheel Entertainment Pvt. Ltd. and Worldfest said, “Today we start the festival with a heavy heart owing to the devastating tragedy in Peshawar. Worldfest 2014 stands for today’s peace, tomorrow’s friendship and together we can stand out a strong message that this kind of a gathering stands for a united world.”

2.    The festival continued, with the audience getting the experience of Brazil, Egypt, Lithuania, Nigeria, Poland and Slovenia. There were country kiosks active through the day, selling interesting merchandise, spices and much more!

3.    Audience also got an opportunity to be dressed in traditional costumes of these countries,  which kept them engaged. That’s not it; there was also a stall to taste delicious cuisines of Thailand.

4.    Performers from Lithuania showcased the most traditional dances. Trapukas, Pakeltkojis and Klumpakojis (Stomping-dance, Raising legs and Clog-dance) – dance-trio, with comic and theatrical elements, performed with authentic wooden shoes (clogs). These dances continue the theme of comic dances. They are performed like a little play. It plays a little funny story, which is so even easy to understand without speaking. Girls make plans to steal guys’ clogs during the dance, and they do so. After guys see that, they do the same – they steal girls’ clogs. So they continue to dance without shoes. Then girls are making another plan – to change the clogs, so guys wouldn’t understand which pair of shoes belongs to them. After understanding this little joke, guys making angry-faces. This was followed by audience engagement, wherein the performers invited them on stage and taught them simple dance moves of their traditional dance. The audiences were left enthralled as they got to learn a step or two from the performers and witness a glimpse of Lithuanian culture.

5.    The performers from Slovenia played their musical instruments and mesmerized the audience. The musicians created magic with the use of following instruments, violin, accordion, clarinet, button accordion, and double bass.

6.    The dance performers from Poland intrigued the audience with three dance performers. The first dance form is called the Beskid – It is performed by people living in the mountains of southern Poland. The soloist starts the show playing on the instrument typical for this region called “trąbita”. During the dance boys are showing of in front of the girls. The second dance form is Krakowiak – It is a fast, Polish dance in duple time from the region of Kraków and Little Poland. This dance is known to imitate horses, the steps mimic their movements, for horses were well loved in the Krakow region of Poland for their civilian as well as military use. The third and the final dance by Poland was Trojak – it is the most popular dance in Upper Silesia. It is danced in a trio – one boy and two girls.

7.    The performers also invited the audience to learn the Polish dance moves and the audience took home beautiful memories of their dance and culture.

8.    Today, audience just saw a glimpse of the magnificent dance performances by Egypt and the day is not over yet, the much-awaited Carnival Parade is still awaited! There is so much more to look forward to in the days to come. As they say, it only gets better!

Source : Lokesh Shastri