To dance at the Notting Hill Carnival you really do have to let it all hang out. Add some sequins and a brightly-coloured headdress, make sure you've already sampled the jerk chicken which is the staple food of the carnival and then join all the other looselimbed exhibitionists sashaying down the streets of west London.
Under sunny bank holiday skies yesterday, up to one million people came together to dance, play the steel drums and wiggle their bottoms in time with the calypso beat, all in the name of celebrating West Indian culture at the 37th Notting Hill Carnival.
The carnival grew out of the racial tensions experienced by black immigrants from the Caribbean, particularly Trinidad, in west London in the 1950s. It was a small street festival when it began in 1964, when local children and their parents took to the streets to celebrate their culture as their families in Trinidad had done for generations.
From a street festival it has grown into a huge event attended by tourists from Russia, Australia and the US. And apart from violent clashes with the police in 1977, the carnival is now a mainly peaceful, multicultural festival of celebration and tolerance.
Yesterday's dance marathon wasn't just about getting the moves right, it was about wearing the right costume. An essential feature of the carnival costume is sewing as many sequins as possible on to the outfit, but Carnival 2000 was also about wearing the largest and most colourful outfits the dancers could get away with.
"There's lots of bare flesh on show here," said one reveller, as girls wearing skimpy leotards and head-dresses with peacock plumage danced along Ladbroke Grove. "It would be great if the Twelfth of July could be like this," said one carnival regular. "Just imagine the fun on the streets of Belfast if everyone could get together and celebrate their culture and music together instead of having separate festivals."
The carnival was definitely a feast for the eyes as well as the ears. Hundreds of floats filled with dancers dressed as scorpions, doves and a bishop covered with glitter wound their way along the carnival route through the streets of Notting Hill. Huge sound systems erected on the street corners played reggae, jazz, soul, house and garage music. The West Indies cricket team was in London yesterday for the final Test cricket match against England and their fast-bowler, Curtly Ambrose, went down a treat with the carnival crowd when an impromptu turn as celebrity cook saw him serve up chicken on a barbecue as a steel drum band added the essential Caribbean touch.
By late afternoon the carnival procession had ended and most people headed for Notting Hill's bars and clubs. About 22,000 litres of rum had been consumed along with 1.5 tonnes of chicken and the streets were filled with discarded Western Union sponsorship bandannas and whistles. The dancers had gone, but no doubt they were already planning their outfits for next year.