Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Wave Dance Festival Starts Tonight!

We all went and hid after all the show-and-tell hoopla of last September! Now that the promotional dust has settled we can come out again and share what New Island is about....so we start with the Island's festivals.  

The new year always begins with the 
Wave Dance Festival 

 Practicing for the Wave Festival

New Islanders are gathering at the sacred Wave Dance sites this afternoon for the Wave Dance Festival. The highest tides of the season arrive at about 6 pm this evening, January 16, then return at 6:45 pm tomorrow evening, then 7:30 on Tuesday evening, before finally subsiding.

Three old stone platforms scattered at different beaches around the island are the stages for this festival. At the Wave Point site, on the island's eastern coast near Bella Shore, drummers have set up on the nearby bluff while people gather 'round the food and wine booths to tank up. As the tide comes in the dancing starts to old Gaelic tunes or to a wild African-Caribbean beat.

Wave dancers gather on the platform and move to the drums and the rhythm of the surf, losing themselves in the sensuality of nature's energy - and it's ALL energy! People get wet, but it's warm these nights in the Antipodes, it's midsummer here!

Here's the site of the Wave Point festival:
Enjoy!