I went along to IBDD 2011 to snap a few photos, and ended up taking about 700. The day showcased performances from several dancing studios including The Feminine Divine Belly Dance Studio, The Hip Circle Belly Dance School, Soma, and Rhythm Nouveau Dance Company
If you'd like to attend a show - why not go along to the Feminine Divine Annual Studio Show at Bergvliet High School on 23 July - it's certain to be great fun! :)
What I can say about the experience is that it's strangely intimidating walking into a full ballet class, camera in hand. But it seemed as though the dancers were friendly enough, and soon I was clicking away without any fear that they'd bandy together in a circle around me, hissing and snarling. :D
Okay, they weren't *that* scary... I guess that's just my picture-oriented mind getting carried away. Truth be told, I sat in a corner for most of the time clicking photo after photo and listening to Professor Triegaardt directing the dancers - "No, look that way...", "Less cheek to cheek, more eyebrow to eyebrow...", "Throw the balls that way and try not to hit the camera." :)
Cape Town City Ballet is a non-profit organisation, so if you have a passion for ballet and would like support the art, visit this page for more details.
We made it through to the Blue Shed (that big blue building next to the Waterfront's aquarium) to watch dancers perform at the International Oriental Dance Festival.
These two guys were selling these bright eastern clothes right next to where the ladies were performing - which was lucky for them, as they seemed to be enjoying every minute of the show. While everyone else either sat or stood to watch the performances, these two guys danced along the whole time, donning huge smiles and blowing kisses of appreciation, which it seemed the dancers greatly appreciated. :)
If you'd like to see a belly-dancing show sometime, perhaps over dinner, consider booking a table at Anatoli Turkish Restaurant in Green Point. The show starts at about 8:30pm on Saturdays, and I have no doubt that you'll love every minute!
Dancers, as I mentioned, I've finished with the photos from the day and will be posting them along with my next daily photo.
Now if Mavericks were spelled with an apostrophe-s then I'd say your chances of finding Tom Cruise here would be small to good. In this case however, there is no apostrophe, and Mavericks is indeed - as I'm sure you can gather from this billboard - a strip club.
I've no idea how many such clubs there are in Cape Town. The only two that I can remember ever seeing are Mavericks and Teasers... and I guess this is because they're the only ones that I've ever seen advertised.
I clicked on over to the Mavericks (careful, PG-rated content) website to see what it's all about, and noticed two things. The first is that the place looks stylish and has a red Moulin Rouge feel and atmosphere. The other thing that was apparent is that most of the ladies working at the clubs are from Eastern Bloc countries like Russia and Lithuania. In fact, the "dancer application form" is downloadable in two languages, English and Russian!
Needless to say, Kerry-Anne complemented the other exceptionally beautiful and sophisticated people. The music was loud, but not loud enough to make my ears uncomfortable; and what was pretty awesome was that while the DJ played, a guy walked around the bar area playing a saxophone in harmony with the DJ's tracks. It really was pretty darn impressive and created an interesting blend of hip-hop and pop music crossed with a live sax performance.
All in all it was a pretty good experience - the club wasn't too crowded and the dance-floor opened fairly late, giving people a chance to socialise. The drinks weren't cheap (about R20 for a 330ml beer), but not unreasonably expensive either, and there were plenty of places to grab a seat if you got tired of standing.
I think we'll have to visit again some time (so let us know when you're looking for a party ;) )!