Anya Lee Blog
ACT Cultures Crossing #8
photos by Inna Schutts
On the evening of the 24th April, I attended my first ACT Cultures Crossing event hosted by Marysia Zipser at the Bennetts Bar Hotel and Restaurant in Long Eaton.
Being located at such a large venue, I was amazed at how beautifully set out it was - in such a way that made this grand hotel seem like a small, personal setting.
With a selection of food and drink for both guests and performers, the evening shortly began. With the first performance at 7pm being a Bollywood violinist, Ursula Al-Mishari began.
As she began to play, we were all whisked away to the Middle East through her beautiful violin tune. Soon we were transported to Scotland and Ireland as her tune began to have a rather Celtic feel to it. I was so enchanted by her playing I’d forgotten that I was only watching a performance in Long Eaton!
As her performance came to an end, it was soon followed by a new performer with another talent.
The evening had such a fruitful variety of acts, no two acts were the same or even similar. With each new act, we were transported to another country, fascinated by their performance. The evening closed with Cuban dancer, Idalberto Alcada-Rodriguez, who started his performance with a chant and soon began to dance the Salsa. At the end of his performance he told us what Salsa means to him and that it is danced from the heart. Then he got everyone up to dance and gave us a taster of his Salsa classes, which he teaches to people of all ages. Whether it was to experience different cultures or simply enjoy a bit of music and other live performance, the whole evening was amazing.