MORE than 100 people enjoyed a day celebrating diversity and talent at Butetown Youth Pavilion this weekend.
Jukebox Collective performing at the Butetown Mini Mela.
The Butetown Mini Mela took place on Saturday for the second time with people from all over South Wales coming together to showcase their talents.
Butetown Mini Mela is a non-profit event organised by South Wales Social Circle, an online community which connects people in different fields from all over South Wales.
Shere Khan, one of the organisers, said it was an opportunity for people to get together regardless of their ethnicity, religion or employment.
The mela hosted performances throughout the day, including the Cardiff-based dance academy Jukebox Collective, magician Lucas Falcone and Bridgend based belly-dancer Elindia.
Dancers from Jukebox Collective, which has been running for 15 years, were spotted performing in Cardiff city centre on Friday afternoon and invited to dance the day after.
A representative for the Collective, Sylwia Warkocz Kulesza, 25, said: “It’s nice to bring the community together so people can actually see what we are doing as a group – we’re here to come together as a community”.
Also at the mela was 20-year-old student Ayesha Khan from Newport. She suffers from spina bifida and is trying to raise £3,000 for a new wheelchair.
Student Ayesha Khan was raising funds to buy a new wheelchair.
“This is our first time in Cardiff and we thought we’d come here to try to reach more people,” she said.
Ayesha has raised over £1,000 so far and hopes that attending events which promote diversity will help her reach her target.
Philip Easton ran a stall selling Pip’s Real Hot Chocolate, his vegan drink. He said he was pleased the event allowed self-employed people to show off their skills.
Some stallholders said the bad weather had hit attendance but the South Wales Social Circle hopes to hold a bigger and better event next year.
