What an amazing night! My first Leith Festival event, A Bit of Cairo on Duke Street, was a success! The Parlour Bar turned out to be a great venue with very helpful staff. And Leithers turned out to be a brilliant audience.
So, hours before the event, two of the performers pulled out - I guess it's not a real hafla without last-minute stress! By 7.30pm I was very nervous but as the bar started to fill and the atmosphere began to build, I calmed down a bit. There were dancers, bellydance students with their friends and families, and a good number of people who'd come along after seeing the listing in the Leith Festival programme. There were also a few slightly perplexed locals. But it was a really good mix, in total about 60 people, and the atmosphere was just amazing!
When I was performing, the speakers tripped and my (already too quiet) music disappeared entirely. I was gutted because I was really enjoying myself and the audience response was so good. But everybody was already clapping along, so I got them to keep it up and danced to the rhythm of the clapping instead, until the [sterling] bar staff got the music on again. Not every audience would have managed it, but this was a hell of a crowd!
We had nine performances, a lovely variety of dancers and styles - and because our dancefloor was the bar area, and we couldn't dance while customers were being served, nine performances was just the right number for a two-hour show. As it was a free event, everybody had a few quid available for raffle tickets, with a bottle of Baileys and a term of classes as prizes - and £100 was raised for Just Because.
I am really chuffed with how the night went, and would love to do it again next year! A big thank you to you if you came along, and especially to the performers and The Parlour.
