Yes, as the title states, I witnessed and participated in belly dancing in Bonfield. Actually the festivities took place Thursday, August 14th, in a church hall in Rutherglen, but it was hosted by Friends of the Bonfield Library so it counts as Bonfield. The belly dancing was one of two featured events during their Ladies Night Out fundraiser, the other featured event being an auction of goods and services donated by sponsors. Here you can see the four belly dancers and the auction items on the table behind them.
The Ladies Night Out event was spectacular! At the entrance each of us selected a colorful numbered paddle to hold up during the auction and also deposited our ticket stubs into a basket for the door prize drawings. We were invited to examine the items slated to be auctioned, all painstakingly grouped into wonderful collections of items (such as ceramics, a satellite radio, a large wooden memory box, a birdhouse, etc), services (such as personal training sessions or massages), chocolate and books. The room decorations were elaborate and the tables were laden with marvelous treats: platters of fruit, platters of mouth-watering pastries ("Turkish Delights"), saucers of artfully-arranged teabags, colorful napkins, beautiful china cups and saucers, Friends of the Bonfield Library bookmarks advertising their events for the year, ribbon-bedecked menus, and elegantly-wrapped centerpieces: baskets of either chocolates, candles, or lotions and other little luxuries. The centerpieces were to be auctioned at each table at the end of the evening--I won the bid on a basket of chocolates, as Liz outbid me on the lotions and I abstained from bidding on the candles (not with all these cats!). In the centerpiece I won was a wineglass, many beautiful, clear, blue stones, a seahorse stirrer, and several Ferrero Rocher chocolate sweets.
The thoughtful organizers made sure to provide sugar-free treats for those who were diabetic. Servers provided either coffee or hot water for tea, and later invited us to partake of a refreshing Persian drink (Sekanjabin?) . At the end of the evening we each received a festive sachet to take home with us. You can see a bit of our table and some of its finery in this photo of one of the belly dancers:
The Mattawa group was given the long table in the back of the room and had a good view of all the dancing. When the dancers made their entrance to music the whole audience felt the spirit and was enlivened. It was marvelous! I couldn't resist snapping a few photos of the belly dancers. You can see from the faces of the audience that we all had a wonderful time!
After dancing for us for quite some time, the belly dancing instructor, Susan, had us all stand and taught us how to do some basic moves. Her three students helped by coming around to us to check our progress and to demonstrate the moves again. Here is Susan dancing with one of the event organizers, Chris Kerr:
A good time was had by all!
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