The 8th Grade Girls' Festival was a very big deal for the 28th School in Baharly, Turkmenistan in the winter of 2008. The girls competing in the festival designed and sewed their velvet dresses, and hand-sewing the intricate embroidery around their necks, cuffs, and belts. The festival was partially a celebration and partially a competition, as girls did cooking demonstrations (one girl carries a traditional camel-hair cloth with bread she baked herself), recitations in English and Turkmen, and reenacted scenes from popular music videos. In this photo they are waiting to go on stage in front of their peers, parents, and school administration.