On Saturday the whole of Adelaide’s Indian Community headed down to Wayville to celebrate the annual ‘Indian Mela’ for 2017 organised by the Indian Australian Association of South Australia committee members and Mela committee members.
I have been involved with the cultural aspect as an assistant cultural coordinator, cultural coordinator and part of the Mela Committee and love this time of year for Indian community performers.
It held yearly to celebrate the diverse and colourful culture of the Indian community from India.
One of the main highlights of the Mela are the Cultural performances. It is the only time of the year you get all Indian performers from different regional groups, dance schools and dance groups together sharing the stage. For some it is the start of things to come where they go on to perform all year round, for some it kickstarts their dance schools and for others it is fun to get together with their friends once a year and create a piece on stage.
Food stalls line up the Showgrounds and businesses galore. It is a great networking opportunity between businesses and potential clientele. For the ladies (and men) there are Clothing stalls, jewellery and can get your annual Mehndi done too.
For kids there is a kids corner with face painting, activities and jumping castle.
Fusion Beats Dance has been part of the Adelaide Indian Mela for the last 10 years with performances, fashion shows and MC parts. This year the Dance School performed 2 pieces – one was their kids beginners Bollywood and they did an amazing job. This dance team have only been together from the start of Term 1 and some with no knowledge of dance and they nailed their routine. It was for them to build their confidence of dancing on stage and excited to know that for this group will definitely be some of our future state Bollywood dancers, teachers and can’t wait to see where it leads.
The Fusion Beats performance teams – both the Bollywood and Bollyfunk are the states household name and once again wowed the crowed as the final dance of the night. A fusion of western/contemporary/Arabic and the bopping Bollywood we love to hear. Francesca, teacher and choreographer works on creating a variety of different choreography that is challenging and fun and never seen on a Mela stage.