In a Trance at the Tribal Festival
... by Richelle Spencer
It's 25 past midnight on an excitable Friday morning and six of the nine Free Spirit Gypsies leave for the Tribal and Trance Festival in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains N.S.W.
We eventually meet up with our fellow sisters and move into a quaint little cottage in Blackheath, a ten minute drive out of Katoomba. Our aim today is to fit in as much sightseeing of the spectacular views as possible, because the next two days are jam-packed with wonderful workshops.
Day 1 of the Tribal Fest
On arriving at the Katoomba High School we are immersed in this huge melting pot of diverse women - it's truly beautiful, but a little overwhelming for the uninitiated.
The drawcards are Carolena Nericchio and Megha Gavin of Tribal Pura offering ATS workshops, but there was so much more on offer - Tribal Fusion, Flamenco, Khaleegy, Trance, Zaar, Working with Fire, 9/8 Dunyavi Gypsy, Zills, African drumming and Dancing and so much more. The hardest part had been making a choice!
The general feedback was Wow!
The knowledge imparted was immense, workshops were really well received and confidence levels went up a notch or two. Again the difficulty was maintaining energy levels due to sleep deprivation!
The concert night, DUSHAR, Russian for spirit or soul was truly spectacular, some very theatrical pieces, some interesting, some out-there Tribal Fusion pieces, amazing high energy African dancing and drumming, Carolena and Megha well spellbinding to watch with their perfect ATS formations and posture and the always spectacular Ghawazi Caravan, very inspiring!
My personal favourites were Melusina, Jrisi and when Devi and her Mum did a Russian gypsy duet, it nearly brought a tear to your eye with its heartfeltedness.
Day 2 of the Workshops
Once again the consensus is Wow! The Bazaar and performances were lots of fun and many a bargain and beautiful pieces were purchased. A colourful Free Spirit performed an Aboriginal piece about the seven sisters with didgeridoo and vocals, which was extremely well received by those who watched, a pleasant change from some of the darker, more Gothic performances that seemed to have been the flavour.
Overall we had the most amazing time, we got to catch up with our fellow eastern and western seaboard sisters. We left with many new ideas and dance combinations to work on, made new friends, purchased bargains from the bazaar, have been taught by some truly gifted teachers, but the biggest was the deeper more spiritual closeness we developed within our own Free Spirit Gypsy Tribe.
Thank you Ayesha for bringing us together and thank you Devi for all your hard work, we had a blast.
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