The Funky Foyer is the beating heart of the Shimmy Shake Festival, open on Saturday October 9th and Sunday the 10th. It is lively, colourful and best of all, free to enter! Whether you visiting our festival for the first time, or visited many times before, your festival experience starts here! In this article, you will read everything there is to discover in the Funky Foyer!
Big bazaar
A traditional part of the Funky Foyer is the bazaar. Here you can shop the bellydance clothing and jewellery you need (of just really really like to have) and other cute trinkets to brighten up your house and dance experience. This year’s market is bigger then ever and covers both floors of the foyer!
Downstairs you can do your shopping. Fill up your jewelry collection with the beautiful nature stone creations by Sunna Kind Sieraden, shop your Morrocan houseware at the MyMedina stand or get a dazzling henna done by Hand of Fatima Henna Academy.
This year, there are plenty of (belly)dance clothing stands to choose from! Mar Gonzalez is back with her multi shape designs, perfect for dancing and yoga, and an absolute favorite among Shimmy Shake Festival visitors every year. Get your original costumes from Scarabella who makes the most beautiful bellydance clothing. Mata Hari Tribal is a new webshop with gorgeous bellydance clothing. Shimmy Shake Festival is the first place where your can get these costumes, exciting! And last but not least, you get a lot of choices at the stand from Ardaround, who sells not just handmade clothing, but also prints and design, illustrations, accessories and decorations.
Gotten hungry from all of that shopping? Go to the Veggie Galore café on the first floor of the Foyer! A quiet place above all the festival action. Raimunda will have plenty delicious options to fill your stomach in your little break.
Be sure to bring enough cash for the bazaar! Not all of the traders offer the option to pay with card.
Open stage
Speaking about taking a break. When you are a little tired of shopping or participating in one of the festival workshops, you can enjoy performances on the Open Stage in the middle of the foyer. The Open Stage offers a mix of different fusion styles, and dancers of different levels. Be amazed by the diversity of Tribal Fusion Bellydance!
Do you want to know who performs when? Check out the Open Stage schedule below. (this line up is subject to changes).
Saturday Line Up
12:30 – 13:30
Madaloka Dance Studio with a Indonesian fusion duet
Dina Matskevich with a Tribal fusion solo
Zaahirah with an Oriental Bellydance solo
Ghatiedja Khadje with a Belly and hip-hop fusion solo
Vocal Shines, a Caribbean fusion group with acapella singing
Saskia & Ilse in a Tribal fusion duet
Spaghetti Monster with a Tribal fusion solo
15:00 – 16:00
Aruna Nalini in a Belly solo
Cassandra & Toni with a Tango fusion duet with live bandoneon
Laudanum in a Dark fusion solo
Marianne Leyfeldt in a Middle Javanese (Indonesia) solo
Zaahirah and four of her students in an Oriental group performance
Vocal Shines with a Dominican Bachata group performance
17:30 – 18:30
Šárka in a Contemporary and traditional Balinese dance solo
Leana with a Bellydance solo
Senta Moves with a surprising Karate fusion
MounaMay Group in a Belly group performance
Dansacademie Natraj with Rajni Ghiraw performing an Indian solo
Dea Boom with a fun theatre bellydance solo
Claudia Karapanou performing a Flamenco fusion duet with live guitar
This block of performances will be followed by the Bellydance Fashion Show!
Sunday Line Up
Different performances between 13:30 and 15:30
Mercedes with a solo bellydance performance
Myfanwy Liddle in a tribal sword dance solo
Nargis Dance Lab performing an oriental duet
Deirdre Zoë in a tribal fusion solo
Navrang performing a Rajasthani folk duet
Contramestre Lisette from Capoeira School Semente performing a surprising capoeira fusion
Queens of the Dam with an ATS group performance
Join a workshop and pay what you want
New to (belly)dance and not ready for a paid workshop? Or are you an experienced dancer and do you want to dance even more? You can also follow workshops in the Funky Foyer! These workshop work with a Pay What You Want principle: just join and pay what you want or what you can afford. No obligations whatsoever.
(want to start your Festival weekend exploring the amazing city of Rotterdam? Join Rotterdam Rocks! Click here for more information about this free activity)
We start of the Saturday morning relaxed with a yoga session by Sulayca Soijo! Sulayca is a yoga instructor, but also teaches tribal fusion bellydance and performs with her group. The perfect teacher for the Shimmy Shake Saturday Morning Yoga Session. The yoga session starts at 11 o’clock.
On Saturday at 14:00, Adrijana Beumer from bellydance school Bellyssima (Rotterdam) teaches a Balkan Folklore meets Oriental workshop. Gypsy vibes, togetherness, energy, footwork, pleasure and burning calories without you noticing, are all central to the folklore dances of the Balkans. An interesting fusion that will sure make your belly move!
Last workshop on Saturday will be taught by Leana who will travel all the way from Groningen to introduce us to the world of Bellyfit! Strong, Sexy, Sacred. Bellyfit is one of the hottest fitness trends this moment. Work on your condition, strength and flexibility with belly dance, fitness and yoga. The amazing Leana will lead you through this exciting workout, starting at 16:30.
On Sunday, we will open the Bazaar with a really special workshop by Mena Leila, who will take us on a Journey through Gypsy Dance. In this workshop/lecture Mena Leila takes you on a journey through India, via Andalusia, the Ottoman Empire ending up with a tambourine by a Romanian campfire. She will show you the basic dance steps and hand movements of the diverse styles and illustrate the history with a film projection. Join us for this special workshop at 12 o’clock.
And the very last workshop of the Shimmy Shake Festival will be the annual introduction to bellydance workshop at 15:45. Always wanted to try belly dance and didn’t dare? In this workshop you can discreetly join in and try out the moves at your own pace. This year, Siobhan from Greenstone Belly Dance will guide you through.
The Shimmy Shake Festival offers a lot of activities you can join for free, but there are a lot more activities to develop your dance skills or to let you be amazed by the diversity and skills of Tribal Fusion Dancers. Click here to check the entire festival program!