The Invoketress ladies love a good road trip, having traveled multiple times to Michigan, Windsor, Sarnia, and all over Ontario to perform. At the end of August, Ishra and some of the ladies traveled to Montreal to perform in the Spectacle Des Élèves Nocta Bellydance, thanks to an invitation from innovative and creative dance artist and choreographer Andrea Fryett, (an Elora native who now lives, performs, and teaches in Montreal) founder of Nocta Bellydance. The ladies jumped at the chance!
The weekend started off with Ishra teaching the Montreal ladies a workshop based on her challenging, award-winning “Enemy Guns” choreography on Saturday. That evening, Andrea invited the girls to dine at Menthe & Couscous, a Tunisian restaurant where she regularly performs. It was an amazing evening filled with delicious food, lots of dancing by Andrea, the Invoketress girls, the restaurant owners, and the patrons.
Sunday was the day of the show. It was held at Cabaret Lion d’Or, a charming theatre that evoked history and conjured stories of classic cabaret shows stemming from the 1930s.
It was Andrea’s student gala and the show was filled with a wide range of styles from traditional to fusion. Invoketress performed their mystical mermaid number and Ishra performed her iconic “Enemy Guns” piece.
Outside of dance, the girls enjoyed the city with shopping, dining, walking, croissants, and enjoying the nightlife. Thank you, Andrea, for your invitation to perform…it was a great reason to road-trip to Montreal, network with the Nocta ladies, and enjoy this fabulous city!
~ M.W.