Dragon Boats, Hula, & Brake Dancing – Sloan’s Lake

On July 26th, Dennis & I went to the Dragon Boat Festival at Sloan’s Lake. We were there with thousands of other people-enjoying a fairly low key cultural event.

Food at Dragon Boat Festival

The food vendors were lined up, happy to serve up various Asian fares. We had Thai for lunch, it was good quality for the quantity made-IMO. Here in the picture is Mango Noodle Shrimp (served cold), wide rice noodle chilli dish, and sticky rice.

Seconds after victory

After lunch, we watched some boat races, but we couldn’t really make out what was going on…so we walked over to where the racers were queing up. One of the race coordinators explained the ins and outs of Dragon Boat Racing. The primer helped us to get a handle on the excitement of the races.

Hula Dancer

We decided to check out the events under the Performance Art Tent. Just in time for Hula Lessons! Woo-hoo!

We watched several Polynesian dancers, and even got a lesson on some Hula movements. It was fun, and the whole crowd got involved. I really enjoyed watching these ladies, as they are so talented. It reminded me a little of the middle eastern belly dancers. The body coordination is amazing.

After the Hula Dance, we found another (smaller) tent with a group of brake dancers.

There were two groups egging each other on, and the rivalry was really fun to watch. One group would send a dude out on the floor, and they would taunt the other group. When that dude was tired, the rival group would send their dude on the floor and it was their turn to taunt back.

Look at his feet! A bit of Taunting...

The group wearing white was better than the blue group…they had a lot more core strength so performed more gymnastic moves…such as flares, flips, and amazing 1 arm stands/hops. They also had a better stage presence, getting the crowd involved in the moves.

It was a hot day out (Low 90s), so we went over to the food area and got slushies. I got the Thai Iced tea with Boba…gotta get the Boba (yum!). Dennis got a strawberry w/out Boba, and then he got a terrible ice cream headache, poor guy.

We watched a couple more boat races, two elementary schools competed in a very close race.

And, then we decided to call it a day.

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