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Monday morning at the Port Fairy Folk Festival was time for some belly dancing. As some what unusual time for middle eastern erotic dancing perhaps but most entertaining never-the-less. The dance troop is called Underbelly and hail not from Ankara but from Melbourne.

The origins of Belly Dancing are lost in the mists of time however it has been around in the middle east since the dawn of writing. Even today it retains its connection to fertility and eroticism by being an indispensable feature at weddings in many Middle Eastern countries. As well as providing entertainment for the guests at the wedding it is designed to get the bride and groom, who may have just met, in the mood for hanky panky, thus providing the blessing of fertility on the couple.

Moving along from the joint effort we were treated to a dance by one of the members of the troop using a middle eastern sabre, not that easily seen in the photo to the left. The sabre is, of course, the traditional weapon of the desert people of the middle east and it is only natural that it feature in their dancing. That is not to say that Belly Dancing has not moved with the times. The dance of the rocket propelled grenades that followed put paid to that notion.

By way of contrast the Celts are so much more down to earth when it comes to matters including erotic dancing. Over at the Guinness tent the previous evening a pause in the performance was created by a broken guitar string. What does one do in such a situation? Well if you are a Celtic band you invite women to come up on the stage and bare their breasts. A request to which a surprising number of young women, fired with Guinness and the encouragement of the crowd, responded.

It seems however that, whilst we are comfortable with foriegn eroticism, there was a singular lack of Australian eroticism, vis-a-vis table top dancers, at the festival, although that may have been because the portable tables in the tents were so wobbly. Occupational Health and Safety is a big concern these days.