Turning the Salt Pan
into a Runway.

The salt pan itself becomes the background to a fashion show. Ngwatle’s third Ukhwi O Qhuqhayo runs for three days from August 28 at Masetlhane Pans, with poetry, drumming, dance and camping. A show combines African-inspired clothing with Indigenous jewellery, and four groups from nearby communities take the main stage on Saturday.

What interests me is that the event does not end with displaying clothes. A practical workshop for local makers is held at the village craft centre. Organisers say more than 70 percent of profits remain in the village and many services are locally supplied. The spectacle on the plain and tomorrow’s small business sit on the same timetable. I would first work out where the audience sits.

A multicultural festival of food and dance is also bringing back a blacksmith. Mareeba’s festival, held in Arnold Park on August 29, has run since 1999. People from around 75 national and cultural backgrounds live in the region, and more than 20 food stalls share the park with dance, singing and live music. Admission is free.

Children can try crafts, face painting and a bubble laboratory, while the popular blacksmith demonstration lets visitors make a pendant. I expected the food to be the detail that stayed with me, yet it was the hammering. Music, cooking smells, bubbles and iron all fit into one park. I would enjoy deciding what to eat first and when to join the blacksmith’s queue.

Before more than 700 dancers arrive for the main event, the town plans to dance one song together. Atlixco’s 22nd Atlixcayotontli takes place on September 6 on San Miguel Hill, bringing music, dance, dress and traditional knowledge from four cultural regions. A week earlier, the Convite invitation procession leaves El Ahuehuete and crosses town.

Dancers, residents and organisers hope to form a large circle and dance the Tlaxcalteco together. The festival also collects visitors’ memories, offers mezcal through a reed tube and holds a photo contest. I would rather see the moment the circle expands than the polished stage of 700 performers—the instant someone who intended only to watch takes one step forward.