The World's Festival 2009

Celebration of
World’s Cultures Through Performing Arts‎

By Ivan L. Mao

 Photo by Gary Lau, Michael Weis, Peter Lau

April 4, 2009

It’d have to be the best kept secret in northeast Orlando, a premier concert hall
equipped with state-of-the-art sound and light systems, a grandeur stage, a massive beige
curtain, a huge monitor fl anking each side of the stage, and nicely cushioned chairs
seating 850. Tugged cozily away from one of the busiest intersection in Casselberry, there is
this open and expanse of a fi rst-rate auditorium fi t for premier performances. Such was
the setting on Saturday, April 4, 2009 for the World’s Festival, which offered indeed
premier performances of the world to the 1500 audience between 4:00 to 8:30pm.

The World’s Festival (www.RotaryFestival.org) was offered free admission to the
public by the Rotary Club of Casselberry intended to bring together our diverse
community to advance cultural understanding and fellowship through performing arts.

Cultures of Asia, Europe, and Americas were represented for families in the community to enjoy. Fabulously representing China were the teenage professional acrobats of
Dragon-Legend Inc. from China. Its jaw-dropping performances were easily the
crowd’s favorite. Filipino folk dances presented by the Filipino Dance Troupe of UCF
included the ever popular Filipino national dance, Tinikling, and an interesting mix of
hip-hop and traditional folk dancing. The fan dance by the Korean Student Association of
UCF showed perfectly synchronized patterns of fans, but the crowd was even more wowed
by the gorgeous Korean costumes worn by the dancers. The KSA of UCF also offered
an awesome exhibition of martial arts, which was both powerful and entertaining.

Belly dance, the most ancient art form from Middle-East, is well known, but no other
groups could possibly perform belly dance more enchantingly and gloriously than the 20
some women and children of Jolie’s Elements of Dance. Hula dance is also well known, but
the songs, chants and Hula dance of different Polynesian islands presented by the 30
women, men and children of Halau Hula O Kaleooka’iwa were unparalleled.

Latin Music Institute offered a 25-piece band delighting the audience with music of
Puerto Rico. Patricia Castro of Fiesta De Mexico performed two Mexican folk dances.
Her smile was as bright as her beautiful costume. Displayed at the booth of
Asia Trend magazine was a lion head, which surprised the audience by
coming alive aided by Sifu Charles Rivera.

Energetic, youthful, athletic, rapid and rhythmic footwork to heart pounding beat,
perfect synchronization, and powerful music are trademarks of Irish folk dance, and
was exemplifi ed by Tir Na Greine. Its dancers are in fact amongst the world’s best, as
they have been successful at the world’s competitions. Dancers of the renowned
Flamenco Del Sol Dance Academy performed fi ve classical Spanish Flamenco
dance. The New-Age Dancers danced a waltz to a song in Japanese, a samba to a
song in Korean, and a cha cha to a song in Spanish. All the men, women and children in
these dance performances were in their gor geous traditional costumes.

Outside the auditorium, a crowd streamed by the food vendors which included Jamaican island and Chinese cuisines. Also sold well were pizza by Italian Village, offerings of Bubbalous BBQ, and Heavenly Hotdogs. A good crowd also milled through the eight cultural art
and craft exhibitions.

Students from seven Elementary Schools and three Middle Schools in Seminole county
were showcased in an art contest about cel ebrating world culture with winning submissions displayed in Auditorium. The theme for the contest is “Make Dreams Real” coinciding with this year’s annual theme for Rotary International. All participating schools and students were recognized and winners awarded in a brief ceremony during the World’s Festival.

How the Rotary Club of Casselberry was able to offer this fabulous event free to the
public as a form of community service? It was because of the generous contributions
by many sponsors, who believed in the importance of community services and the
importance of mutual understanding of ethnic cultures in our diverse community.
Other than those sponsors donating monetarily, there were in-kind sponsors.
Asia Trend Magazine was a prime example, who donated promotional material and photographic and video recording of the event. The people preparing for, working at, and performing at the event were all volunteers. There’re expenses indeed, but sponsor contributions after
expenses still allow this event be a meaningful fundraiser for the Club. The Rotary Club needs
funds to conduct community services both locally and abroad. Some examples of service projects of the Casselberry Rotary Club are preparing dinners at the Coalition for the
Homeless in Orlando; Meals-on-Wheels assistance by delivering meals to homebound
senior citizens; building ramps to houses of handicapped residences; and sponsor orphanages in the Dominican Republic and Chile. The Rotary Club of Casselberry is a
local chapter of Rotary International, one of the largest and oldest service organizations
in the world dedicating itself to provide humanitarian services, encourage high ethical
standards in all vocations, and build goodwill and promote peace throughout the world.

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