By Melanie S. Mosshart
For the Kent Reporter
Get your dancing shoes on.
The Kent International Festival opens with a World Dance Party on Friday, June 21 at the Kent Senior Center.
It’s an opportunity for everyone at every age to enjoy international dances presented in traditional culture and costume. Then it’s your turn to learn the dance and take a whirl on the floor.
It is free to the public.
The World Dance Party kicks off the June 21-22 festival, which features musical performances, ethnic dance, spectacular native attire and authentic food.
Sponsored jointly by Project U(th) and the Kent International Committee, the World Dance Party starts at 6:30 p.m. and goes until 9. Food and beverages are available for purchase.
After observing each of the cultural dances presented, you’ll be taught the steps to each unique dance.
Here are a couple of examples of the dances:
Celebrate the 101st year of the White River Buddhist Temple as it presents one of the Obon Odori dances, Tanko Bushi, a charming circle dance to honor one’s ancestors.
You’ll have fun as you learn this traditional coal mining work dance with movements that depict digging, shoveling coal and pushing the coal cart.
The Mill Creek Middle School’s Latin Dance Club will perform the lively cumbia-style dance to inspire you to get on the dance floor. With its origins in Columbia, South America, cumbia is popular from Mexico to Argentina and back and is touted as the Mother of Latin Dance.
Kentridge’s Multicultural Dance Troupe will perform Turkish & Greek Belly Dancing in vibrant costumes. The “dance of the East” brings its own brand of unique music, vibrant costumes and graceful movements.
A “Dancing with the Stars” is available for contestants at the end of the evening.
The festival resumes June 22 with a Generations Walking Together at 9:30 a.m. that will lead folks of all ages and ethnicities for four blocks from Kent’s City Hall to the Town Square Plaza, where the festivities will begin.
For more information go to kentinternationalfestival.com.
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