This year the Culture Day celebration at Ability Education rocked! Not only can our magnificent students speak English but they can: cook all kinds of delicacies, dance many kinds of dances, play the guitar in tune, sing lullabies, paint, make origami, act, and lastly, they can clean too!!! Absolutely amazing!
Many of us were impressed with the raw talent. I mean how often can you say that someone is smart, good looking and talented. That’s just an impossible trifecta or is it? I think the phwoar factor or in French the oh-la-la factor doubled once the Japanese girls (dressed innocently in knee highs and school girl uniforms) and boys (all slick and tight in rock star black) took to the stage to dance the Fisherman’s Dance: new and traditional styles. Of course, they were the winners for the Best Performance. After all they had Japanese calligraphy, a song and 2 dances.
However, the judges had a difficult job. The competion was tight. The Thai blindfolded kick boxing was awesome. The Tarantella from Italia was chaotically beautiful in the colours green, white and red. The Festa Juninha realistically cute. Abel and Maria stole the show dancing a romantic Peruvian dance. The Korean soccer dance had the audience singing and dancing. What can I say? Truly magical! Meanwhile downstairs the party kicked off early when the classrooms each presented the food and decorations from 5 World Regions: Latin America, Europe, Japan, Korea and South East Asia. The generosity of the students was overwhelming!
There were so many lovingly prepared dishes: spicy, sweet, sour and exotic. Personally my fave dessert was the Love Pudding from Peru. However, the best food award was given to Mongolia. The best room decorations winner was Korea, for its detailed pictures and posters about Korean culture and history. Ruby, the Director of Studies especially loved the personal tour of the room and the abstract corner filled with umbrellas. Room Eight was as one student called it ‘Disco-Ability’. The Colombians took over the music with vallenatos and taught everyone how to dance. In one small room 30 or 40 people squeezed in to share the experience. It got veeeery hot! Eeeeppppaaaa!
After the awards ceremony naturally a post-party followed at Side Bar where the students and staff danced and sang some more to the live music until late. All this energy and enthusiasm created a brilliant day shared and loved by all the 33 countries that Ability Education represents. Many people discovered new things about each other and really appreciate the new friendships they have made in Australia.
