Carnaval Nouméa Style

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

Carnaval came to Nouméa on 22 April 2006 and boy was it something! Imagine a three-hour parade of 1 400 dancers on 27 floats dancing to disco, 50s American rock, local traditional music, Celtic ditties, Indian bits and Brazilian drums. The streets were filled with an enthusiastic audience from babies to grandpas, many dressed in carnaval garb, putting their hands together and swaying to various beats.

Photo by Laurent Guiader, 2006.

Sophie was one of the dancers and danced with Float 18 (the "Peace and Love" float) to the theme of disco - in pink and white. There were a fair few 150 of them on Float 18 and Sophie had a whale of a time (though very exhausted the day after!). Can you imagine dancing through the streets for three hours to disco? Ah, those were the days ...