DATE: Thursday, May 8, 1997                 TAG: 9705080065

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY KRYS STEFANSKY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   70 lines

WEEKEND CELEBRATION AT THE OCEANFRONT WILL BE MULTICULTURAL

JULES VERNE would be jealous. Eighty days, heck. Here, he could get around the world in just two.

This Saturday and Sunday, the first ever Multicultural Festival will turn several blocks of the Boardwalk at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront into a cultural smorgasbord. The festival atmosphere promises food and favorite delicacies, performances, hand crafts, music, artifacts and visual arts from more than 30 countries and ethnic groups.

The celebration, part of the Virginia Waterfront International Arts Festival, will take over the strand to the right and left of 24th and 25th Street parks. Entertainment will come from every corner of the globe - dancers from Korea, the British Isles, China, the Philippines, Poland, Thailand, Palestine and even a belly dancer from Romania.

This is a chance to look beyond the surface of other cultures, said Christina Alexander, the Romanian dancer.

``There is more to belly dancing than people often think,'' she said. ``Belly dancing tells a story. It was done in temples, at weddings, for entertainment.'' Ancient Indian philosophers thought the navel was the seat of consciousness, hence the rippling motion of the midsection that fascinates the Western eye.

Festival participants welcome the chance to let others see what is so familiar and dear to them.

``This is a great opportunity,'' said Beatriz Amberman. Amberman's Hispanic Folk Ballet performs both days. It features a mariachi band that will stroll through the crowds and play, as is customary in her native Mexico.

The folk ballet will perform dances from northern Mexico.

``The dancing is very exhausting,'' Amberman said. ``It's almost like tap dancing. The steps provide the percussion sound that accompanies the mariachi band. They complement each other beautifully.''

The dancers will end their program wearing the national costume of Mexico - the women in ornate dresses that weigh 20 to 25 pounds and the men's clothing adorned with silver.

Several participants, like the local branch of the Sons of Norway, imported performers from out of town for the occasion.

Loretta Kelley is a Hardanger fiddler from Washington, D.C., who plays an eight-stringed instrument unique to the Hardanger region in Norway.

``Her playing is interspersed with little stories. The music is lively, sometimes soulful and sometimes classical,'' said Bill Nelson, president of the Sons of Norway. Kelley's tunes come from an area of Norway where 300-year-old folk traditions are still part of daily life.

The event is the first big function planned by the newly formed Multicultural Alliance, an organization pulled together over the past year by Angel Morales, a member of the Virginia Beach Arts and Humanities Commission. The alliance's purpose is to promote the multicultural ethnic arts in this area. Morales welcomes more member countries at any time.

``Working together on what makes us similar will help us better understand and respect what makes us different, and what better than the arts to begin this endeavor,'' Morales said.

Bring the kids and the camera, wear comfortable shoes, sunscreen and elastic at the waistline for unlimited sampling and tasting. Come early for easy parking - festival planners expect a crowd of 3,000 to 4,000 people over the weekend. The festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. It is open and free to the public. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Chinese Community Association fo Hampton Roads

MULTICULTURAL SCHEDULE

THE COUNTRIES

VIRGINIA WATERFRONT INTERNATIONLA ARTS FESTIVAL 1997 CALENDAR OF

EVENTS

[For a copy of the schedules, see microfilm for this date.]

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