National Multicultural Festival in Canberra – eat as much as you can and dance as long as you can
The National Multicultural Festival in Canberra is a signature annual event organised by the ACT Government in partnership with the local community organisations. The event has always been a success with the number of attendees increasing over the years and this year was no exception to eat. As usual, on Saturday the 6th February, the Bangladesh Australia Association Canberra participated in the Dance and Food Spectacular, the most important component of the festival.
The association put up a food stall with traditional Bangladeshi food such as beef and vegetable curries and rice. A variety of finger food items and cold drinks were also offered for sale at the stall. Due to the popularity of lassi (yoghurt sorbot) in previous years, this tasty drink was put on sale as well, which attracted innumerable customers to the Bangladesh stall. The management of a food stall at such a big event is an onerous job for those who take the responsibility for overall management – starting from planning, purchasing, cooking, coordinating, selling and what not! The executive committee of the association, in cooperation with many volunteers from the community, managed the stall well from morning to night.
The association presented two items at the cultural function, the Dance Spectacular. The cultural presentation was excellent and very well appreciated by a large audience comprising people of Bangladesh origin and other cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Participants of the two presentations – the wedding dance and the fashion show – did very well.
The choreography for the dance was a testament to the creative efforts of the dance director and others involved. The fashion show was also very imposing and well organised. Children looked very lovely and charming with the colourful dresses they put on for the stage. We understand the coordinator for this item had to make tremendous efforts to organise such a delicate show requiring critical thinking, planning and rehearsing. Well done!
