Swishing scarves, gold coins tinkling and drumming – you wouldn’t be stupid in thinking you were in Morocco. Yorkshire folk were shouting “Yalla†as three thousand bellydancing beauties flocked to Sheffield to feed their love of Middle Eastern goods and dance.
Our Steel tarnished city in fact played host to Europe’s largest Bellydance festival – Raqs Britannia and with it came a Tunisian Market, a Moroccan Souk, dance workshops and a live performance from the Bellydance Superstars themselves – all at Sheffield City Hall.
The newly renovated venue managed to lure in the bellydance world and offered itself perfectly to the dynamic festival which is founded by Miles Copeland, former manager of Sting, Human League and the Police and, now the Bellydance Superstars!
Miles Copeland who introduced his Bellydance Superstars at their Saturday night show in the Oval hall, said;
“We’ve been all over the UK from London and Manchester and now Sheffield – and we love it. We are sure to be back here next year.â€
The evening was perfectly finished off by a performance from Sonia who was one of the first ever Bellydance Superstars who formed eight years ago. She decided that the Sheffield gig was her final performance with the Superstars before embarking on a solo career.
Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned our main celebrity at the event – Niles the papermache camel. Our unfurry bigger than life sized friend made an appearance on BBC Look North and even on BBC Sheffield’s Breakfast show as unfortunately we have to flog him this year due to limited storage space – say if you know of anyone who can give a 9ft camel a loving home please contact: admin@raqsbritannia.co.uk
In brief, it was a spectacular weekend and I was truly proud to have helped it come to Sheffield as I really think we are the UK’s premier city of culture and a lot of the visitors over the weekend agreed!
Yalla next Raqs Britannia – let’s hope they bring it back to Sheffield!
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