Adventures of a New York City Belly Dancer

Rufio & Zena

2006-08-22T16:35:00.000-07:00

My two little bengal kittens are doing well. I am very happy with them. Zena has become a little more affectionate, and Rufio is my lover boy who loves attention. Mojo has adapted very well, and loves them dearly.

Every time I sweep up the living room they decide to destroy the pile of dirt in the middle of the floor. It does not fail every time! you would think I would be prepared by now. They are always into trouble, enjoy destroying things, and knocking everything over that can be knocked over. Well they are babies what to expect. Rufio has the loudest meow I have ever heard. When I feed him in the morning he screams so loud. And he is still responding with a meow when I call him by name.

They seem to think that the huge litter box I decided to buy for them is a sand box and play in there all the time. They have playing matches in the litter box, I have to get them out. They like to even use the litter box at the same time. And if one is using the litter box the other one will poke his head in and attack with a paw. There is no privacy!

Rufio and Zena do not like being separated at all. If I carry one into my room the other comes runing and screaming! As you can see I am very happy with my babies.

Fun parties

2006-08-22T16:13:00.000-07:00

I recently performed at a party that had an Arabic theme. It was in Pennsylvania two hours away. Believe me I had second thoughts about going so far. They made the offer quite attractive so I could not say no. It was a group of about thirty people or so, mostly from Russia. The woman who hired me was hiring me for her husbands birthday.

When I walked in everyone was very excited to see me. I was shocked to see that all of the woman were dressed as belly dancers and all of the men were dressed either as sheikh's or Sultans. They all had different type of turbans and head dresses. Gold and black, flashy and very colorful. I was totally amazed that everyone, absolutely every one was in costume from head to toe. The costumes were not cheap costumes that one would by in a store. They were professionally done, and done well.

I later found out that one of the woman at the party was responsible for making all of the costumes for everyone. I also found out they often have parties with themes and usually go all out. I think it is great that all of these adults agreed to wear costumes and be apart of creating something unique and fun. The pictures are going to be great!

I performed for twenty minutes and then gave all of the woman a lesson, since they were really into it. There was a photographer taking pictures constantly and I hope to get a hold of some pictures. They all danced and had a great time. I changed costumes and performed again, they loved every minute of it. Usually a second performance is not really paid much attention, but everyone really watched me intensely both times. I was enjoying myself so much that I gave the ladies another dance lesson until they were exhausted. They appreciated me so much and everything that I had to give them. It was really a wonderful experience.

The food was fantastic and the hospitality was great! After I ate we were all told to go out side to see the fire works. Wow! Fire works! They were amazing, They asked me if I would stay and hang out, well why not I was having a blast. I found out that the person in charge of the fire works always does it, and sometimes the cops come, but they don't care they do it anyway! The cops did not come by that night.

This is a great example of a what a wonderful job I have. Meeting and getting to know different people is a wonderful experience. This was a great party and I am happy I was a part of it.

Thank you Kacy for hiring me.

Living Life and Loving It!

2006-08-07T11:43:00.000-07:00

After coming from Egypt and two spiritual retreats I must say that I do appreciate life a lot more. I love my life and I am so happy that I am doing what I love. Life is very precious and I appreciate every moment I get to spend with my family and friends. My two new little kittens Rufio and Zena have truly blessed my life and filled my heart with love. I am enjoying every moment with them.

Zena has a little eye infection, but she will be fine. She is a little distant, and very much a loner. The other day she actually layed on my lap and let me pet her and love her. I was so happy to have her on my lap. So she is coming around and getting a little more affectionate. Every time I pet Mojo or Zena Rufio comes running and screaming because he wants all of the attention. He gets very jealous. When I call his name he always responds with a very loud and long Meow. He is quite a character. Mojo is very happy he has company now. I call him papa Mojo and Rufio is my lover boy. Zena well she is still adjusting.

I have never danced so much in my life. The drum circles at these retreats I went to were so high in energy and going into a trance under the moon and stars was more than I ever dreamed of. I danced into the morning almost every night for one week. All of the drummers were just as inspired as I was. The energy exchange between the drummers and the dancers was just so intense. There were two drummers that drummed until morning for me . Dorian which is a wonderful close friend of mine and I think the other drummers name is David was just incredible. It was 9:00am and I had been dancing since 3:00am they ended up being the last drummers that could actually keep up with me. We just could not stop it felt soooo good. Dorian, and David were still able to play so precisely even though hours had passed they were both still incredible. Thank you Dorian and David for sharing your wonderful energy and love of life! It was truly a gift to have you there under the stars drumming for me as I was the only dancer left I feel truly blessed to share those moments with you.

I am a little bit overwhelmed with work and a little behind. I am teaching so many classes and performing so much that I barely have time for myself. I really need to change that. I would like to just teach two classes a week instead of four. I need some time to take workshops myself. I love taking classed and dancing 10 times or more a week between performing and teaching just seems to take up all of my tim. So for the new year I need to make some serious changes. I have not been to a movie in a long time, and although I love dancing I need to create some down time also. Having a sense of balance in life is not easy especially for me, since I am deffinatley a high energy person.

My six week vacation all revolved around dancing, classes, and performing. My love of dancing has me very inspired to continue on this wonderful journey and fly with it. It is never too much, and I hope to excel in this art as far as it will take me. I love my life and I feel so fortunate to have found dance which has inspired me in my life unlike anything I have every experienced.

My bengal kittens have arrived and so have I

2006-07-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

I am back from Egypt and I had an incredible time. I did go on a short spiritual retreat to regroup myself. My spiritual retreat was amazing! I met a lot of old friends and bonded with new ones. I took some amazing classes and had plenty of time to meditate and cool down. It was a camping trip so being out for five days in the wilderness was wonderful. The entire time I was very excited since I would be adopting my two little Bengal kittens as soon as I got back.

I named the boy Rufio and the girl Zena. They are so adorable. They have already taken over the apartment. Rufio is very sensitive and needs lots of love and attention. Zena is very dominant, and she does not like to share her toys with Rufio or Mojo. Mojo is my roommates cat. Mojo seems to be getting along with them. They are very active and have already brought so much joy into my life.

I am in the process of creating a cat jungle on the ceiling of my living room. I already have three cat houses and two reach the ceiling. I have gone a little overboard for my little kittens. I think they have everything and more. They are filled with love and affection and I have never ever been happier. I will be having a little baby shower for them so that all of my friends can meet my two babies.

I am going to begin teaching again on Tuesday and look forward to dancing again full time. I miss my friends and especially my students. I will never go away for 6 weeks ever again. It was not as easy as I thought it would be. I became so home sick and after coming from Egypt I must say that my perception of life is very different.

Traffic In Cairo

2006-07-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Those of you who have not been to Cairo are not aware of the traffic here. It is pretty scary riding in a cab, and even scarier crossing the street. There are no traffic lights, in some places there are, but they are ignored. Cars scrape each other and mark each other and no one screams or yells at anyone. It is almost normal to hit a car and keep on going, no one is going to complain. I was sitting in the back seat of my friend Atef's car, and he scraped two cars hit one car slightly and bumped his side mirror twice. No one yelled or complained, everyone went about there business as if it were normal.

Sometimes in a busy area there are traffic police and they do help out, but they are not everywhere. Just imagine New york with no traffic lights and cars doing what ever they want! Well that is what it is like here. Cars just do what ever they want when ever they want and I basically hold my breath when ever I am in a cab. I can't believe how many times this cab almost gets into accidents.

Crossing the street is another matter. The cars don't stop and people basically run into the street while cars are still going. It is really scary! I saw so many close calls. I am always affraid to cross the street here. I usually wait for someone to cross with. They just start crossing while a bunch of cars are still moving very quickly. The cars just slow down, but they do not stop.

Being a Famous Belly dancer in Cairo

2006-07-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

I did not really have enough time to write everything I wanted to about the festival. My time here was very limited since I had 6 hours of dance classes every day. I just wanted to add what incredible performers were at the festival. They all did a beautiful job.

The opening Gala was filled with more than 2000 people, and everyone was all dressed up in gowns and dresses. All the men wore suits and ties, everyone looked amazing. As you know here in Cairo most woman are covered from head to toe. So ofcourse all of the men at the festival were going nuts with all of these woman in gowns without covering much skin. Diana and I were asked to take our pictures more than a dozen times. In fact this is the night we got in the News Paper. The photographer interviewed us and asked us if we felt safe here. He also asked who we looked up to as a dancer. We could not walk two feet with out cameras flashing.

The dancers for the opening Gala were Katia, Rhonda, Dina, and Sorraya.
Katia entered in an Egyptian outfit. She sat on a royal golden platform that was carried by four men. She wore a gold dress and egyptian head dress. It was a beautiful entrance. Katia used Egyptian poses using her hands and arms. It was a grand entrance.

The musicians were incredible. I noticed that for each dancer the musicians changed. I found out that they all had their own musicians. It is nice to be famous and have your own musicians when ever you perform.
They all had fabulous costumes and I was shocked to see them all change about 4 to 5 times during the show. When ever I perform in New York I would dance for 20-30 minutes straight! Some times with a live band 45 minutes in the same sweaty costume, while I am dripping wet! No costume changes no breaks, no breathers. Wow these woman were lucky!

I loved watching Rhonda, I was lucky enough to see her perform twice. She performed at the closing Gala as well. Asmahan and Rhonda both performed at the closing gala. I am sure those of you reading my blog know by now that Asmahan is my favorite.

I loved Sorraya she is deffinatly a little fire cracker. She is a great performer and teacher. She mixes brazilian dance with belly dance and can really wake up any crowd. I enjoyed watching her. She is a very dedicated dancer and one of the most creative. I took her shimmy work shop and when I tell you three hours in a class with this woman and you will understand her dedication. She pushed us and did not stop, oh and by the way she did not take a ciggarette break! Sorry I had to stick that in, I was just shocked to see how many of these performers smoke. I have nothing against smoking, I will even have a ciggarette now and then, it's just that these women have really made it in this field and I am amazed with the amount some of them smoke.

Well now I am up to Dina, unfortunatly my least favorite dancer. I could not wait to see her, I have heard so much about her that maybe my expectations were to big. She stumbled on to the stage as if she were drunk or on drugs. She lost her balance a lot, and did not appear graceful at all. I kept waiting to see how amazing she supposedly was and I just kept waiting. She did not do anything spectacular or amazing. She did not do anything different or refreshing. Oh yes as a matter of fact she did do something different!

She wore a costume that was made out to be a thong panty sticking out in front and in back. The audience gasped! Everyone was shocked and dissapointed. It looked like she just came out of her bedroom. Her other costume had garter belts attached to it hanging down. This really was not neccesary. These two costumes were not classy at all, and I thought to myself why is she doing this. Then I realized, maybe she needed to compensate since she was not the best dancer that night. Maybe if everyone looked at her costumes they would not pay attention to the way she danced. I spoke to a lot of dancers in the audience after the show and also in the classes that week. Every one was appalled at what she wore. I took her workshop and was equally dissapointed. I ended up walking out. I don't want to knock Dina completely, please do keep in mind that this is my personal opinion and I am sure that there were girls that enjoyed her performance and her workshop I just was not one of those girls.

Still in Cairo

2006-07-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

I had a great time riding a camel at the pyramids. The desert is beautiful and the camel ride was very scary. Finally getting to see the pyramids in person was such an uplifting experience. I will never ever forget it. It is very hot here, but I am enjoying myself very much. I am home sick and I can't wait to go home to see my family and friends. I purchased so many things that I needed to buy an extra suit case. I miss all of my students very much and I can't wait to see them all.

Our pet rabbit Alli has really warmed up to us and even greets us at the door when we go home. He lets me kiss him on the head and even follows me every where. He is sooo cute. He loves tomatoes, and hazel nuts. He hops around the whole apartment. He is very happy and Diana intends on bringing him to New York. If she can't keep him I hope that someone reading this will be interested in adopting our little Egyptian bunny rabbit.

Every time I have dinner here at a restaurant out doors I have to order two meals, one for me and one for the many cats that I feed. They all flock once they see that I am feeding one cat five to 8 cats come running and all wait for me to throw chicken to them. They are all hungry and skinny it breaks my heart and I have to constantly hold my tears back. There are so many homeless cats.

Every one here in Cairo smokes. It is unbelievable! Even during one of my dance work shops some girls took a break to smoke right in the class room. No problem. if you can't handle smoke don't come to Egypt! The cab drivers smoke, almost all of the dance teachers need to take a bunch of smoking breaks during the class and will smoke there cigarettes right in the class room. Most of the cab drives smoke and in all of the restaurants there is smoke. There is smoke everywhere, you can even smoke on the bus in the bathroom especially in any store that you go into . I am amazed.

I saw the whirling dervish show yesterday, it was great. There were many musicians and they were all brilliant. There were four men dancing with these beautiful colorful skirts. They spinned for so long I don't know how they did not get dizzy. It was an incredible show.

I have been to the bazaar four times already and the amount of belly dance costumes is so overwhelming. I got some really nice costumes and great souvenirs. I love the camels and could not resist buying a cute stuffed camel for my living room. When I was sitting at the vendors I decided I wanted to get camels as a gift for my students. And when I asked the boy for 20 camels he almost fell over. What?! He said 20 camels? I said yes 20 camels. They did not know what to do, they went crazy they did not have enough camels and they had to send to boys out to find more camels. When he returned all sweaty and tired. I said o.k. 5 more camels. What?! He said 5 more camels? So he had to rund out and find 5 more camels. Then when he returned I said o.k. 5 more camels NO I am just kidding then they all started laughing. I had no idea that these little stuffed camels would be so heavy. I had to cary them with me all day. I hope my students appreciate my gift of camels I will be bringing to New York. They were a lot of work to get.

Living in Cairo

2006-07-09T09:53:00.000-07:00

I love my apartment, it is beautiful and very spacious. I am happy we have a bath tub, but there is no shower curtain or rods to put one on. The entire floor gets wet anyway. Also there is usually no water during the day. We have to shower in the evening and save water in bottles so that we can brush our teeth and wash up in the morning. There is no hot water ever, but that is o.k. since our apartment is so hot. Diana has an air conditionerin her room but I don't. When I wake up I am soaked and I have to take a bath with the bottles of water we save. The landlord came over and left us plenty of water to use in these huge plastic containers. At first we didn't know why he did that, but of course now we realize why.

Diana and I are the only Americans living in this Arabic neighborhood, and everyone stares at us all of the time. We get stared at a lot no matter where we go. People in the neighborhood have been very nice to us and I am sure they wonder what we are doing here. The first time we moved in the super and his wife had to help us with our luggage since the elevator did not work. Diana gave them a very nice tip and now the woman will not leave us alone. She keeps ringing our bell and pushing her way into our apartment. She wants to do our laundry, take out our garbage and clean our apartment. She is very desperate to work for us. I would love to help her, but Diana says it is not a good idea, because she will be here all the time bothering us. Wow, was Diana right! The woman rings the bell at all hours pushes her way in and is constantly trying to get money from us. We really need our sleep and this woman keeps on and on. She even went into our kitchen did our dishes took our garbage out and then demanded 15 pounds. She started becoming very aggressive and pushy. We started sneaking into our building afraid she would hear us. Eventually we had to talk to the landlord, because it really got out of hand. I would have loved to help her, but I like my privacy and especially my sleep! After we spoke to the landlord she still did not give up, but things did get better. We still come into the building very quietly.

There are so many homeless animals here. It breaks my heart! I now walk around with chicken in my bag. I have candy for the kids in one pocket and little pieces of chicken wrapped in aluminum foil for the cats in the other pocket. Cats are everywhere and they are so skinny. I have to hold my tears back. When we go to a restaurant that is out doors so many cats are just passing by under the tables looking for food. I thought about taking a cat home with me, but it is just a lot of work. They have lots of diseases and I can't risk that. The cat may not be completely healthy. I would also have to get permission to take the cat to New York, and the cat will have to get certain shots etc. I don't know we'll see. The street cats are really afraid of people anyway,and I can't have a cat that will not let me pet him.

Diana and I went to this Bazar and stopped when we saw this man selling rabbits. Oh my god they were sooooo cute! So what do we do? Well we decide to buy a rabbit for a pet while we are here. I would love a cat, but they are impossible to catch. The rabbit is clean and healthy. When Diana gave me the idea I agreed instantly. There was a professor that teaches French for the university showing us around the bazaar. He thought we were both nuts! So here we are shopping in the festival now holding a box with a cute little black rabbit. We decide to name him Alli Baba. He loves the apartment! He hops all over the place and he even lets me pet him. We are having so much fun with our new pet Alli. We have taken a bunch of pictures of him and hopefully we will find a good home for him. Every one wants to eat him, and that really makes me angry. We are just trying to save his life. Well I just might be coming to New York with a cat and a rabbit.

Taking a taxi here is driving me crazy. All of the taxi drivers want to charge so much money. They know we are not from here and want to take advantage of us. Today I had to buy an extra suit case to take home with me. Diana decides to stay at the market and I go home alone with the suite case. While I am in the cab the driver negotiates a price with me. I already know all of the prices. I told him I only have 15 pounds and I know that is how much it costs, he agrees. I gave him my note book which has my address written in Arabic. The huge suite case is on top of the car. We arrive to my apartment and he demands more money. I had just spent all of my money and in reality 15 pounds was all I had. So I got out of the car and struggled to get my suitcase out of the top of the car, while he is screaming and cursing at me. I don't know why he got like this we made an agreement and now all of a sudden he changes his mind. I ran into my building. He starts to chase me into my building. This is the second time this has happened to me. But this guy was a little more aggressive than the last one. Just like out of a movie I ran into the elevator with this huge suitcase and the elevator door closes just before he gets there. Whew!!!! He is still yelling and screaming. The super of the building comes up to talk to me with the money from the driver in his hand. I can't really communicate with him because he does not speak English, but I try to tell him as best as I can that the cab driver is wrong. I am completely shaken up by this cab driver that chased me into my building. The super understands and brings the money back to the driver. I am safe behind my locked door and I am happy. Then the door bell rings again. Now it is the supers wife asking for garbage, ofcourse I will never give her my garbage again, it will cost me 15 pounds and a head ache of her ringing my bell 6 times a day at all hours.

I can finally relax and play with my little black bunny rabbit Alli. I decide to take a nap, since I am so exhausted. As I lay down, I realize that I left my little book in the taxi cab. In that little book was my address and phone number to my apartment which I can get. All of my New York phone numbers. All of the choreographies that I had learned in my dance workshops were written in that book. Everything that I learned here was all in that little black notebook. I put hours, and hours of steps and ideas from 13 workshops that I took. HOURS of work! There is no way that I can remember everything that I learned here and I took so much time and have so many pages of ideas that I poured in that book! I took that book with me to each and every workshop and wrote everything down! I sat and cried for two hours, I am at the computer right now and I am still crying! I will never see that little book again. Today is a very sad day for me. What I have to look forward to is going home and running away from another cab driver. It really does not matter how much money you give them they will still yell at you and sometimes even chase you. I can't believe I left my note book in his cab.

Last day of Ahlan Wa Sahlan festival

2006-07-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

Wow my body never knew such pain. I can barely walk and feel every single muscle in my body from my neck to my toes. Dancing 6 hours a day has been a real challenge for me. I realized that I took more workshops than most students would do. Some of these teachers were such drill sergeants. I loved every minute of it and I am so happy it is all over now. Tonight is the last performance for the competition and other belly dancer's performances.

Last night I stayed at the Mena House till 3:30am got home at 4:00am and had my first class from 10:00am-1:00 This was a Masters class with all of my favorite Masters Suhaila, Amir Taleb, and Raqia Hassan, they are brilliant!!!!!!

I am not going to mention the teachers that are masters that I did not like, but just for your information some of these workshops were really bad. I even took one workshop with a master, and I honestly felt like I knew more than her. Everything she did I already knew. I was very disappointed. Oh and another great star taught a workshop where there were over 400 girls in the class and a fews guys ofcourse. I will give you a hint. Her nam begins with D
her workshop was the second worst. Any way that is just my opinion and maybe some students did enjoy and like these workshops . I learned nothing from. As I said before everyone is beautiful in there own way. However not everyone knows how to teach.

I am surviving on 4 hours of sleep and I got lost in a taxi this morning for one hour looking for the Mena house for my Masters class. The Mena house is only about less than 10 minutes from my apartment. I was only 5 minutes late to class and did not have time to eat. My classes were pretty much back to back today, so I did not get to eat until 3:30pm But I have the runs all of the time anyway, so food was not something I was looking forward to.

The Masters class today was very impressive. I may not want to master Suhaila's technique, but her choreography was amazing. Amir Taleb again took my breath away!!!!!!! I love him Love him love him. In my opinion he is the very best. And I know that him and Yousry have studied together. So there that says it all. Amir Taleb and Yousry Sharif are the best teachers, dancers and choreographers that I have come in contact as of now. Please do keep in mind this is my personal opinion, and I do enjoy their particular style.

I will write about the competion in two days or so, since I know I will not be able to get out of bed and I need to catch up with my sleep. Suhaila's daughter Isabella was amazing on stage she danced three times and even did a small choreography with her mother to live music. She danced for the competition and it would not surprize me at all if she won. She blew everyone away. She is great and I enjoyed her performance emensly.

I am going to find a sofa in this hotel so that I can try to take a nap for the show, I am beat!

Egypt

2006-07-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

I have never taken a 10 hour flight before. This flight which went straight to Cairo took 12 hours. I had a huge head ache the whole time. There were a lot of crying babies which made it difficult for anyone to sleep. During the course of the flight three movies were shown. Two American movies and one Arabic movie. The flight was exhausting. Finally we arrive, and everyone is anxious to leave the plane, who could blame them 12 hours is a long time to be sitting down.

Getting luggage was a mess. We had to wait a very long time. Luckily Diana's friends picked us up at the air port. Atef and Magda, they are a married couple which taught a workshop in New York. They are wonderful people and have been very kind to us. They are both dancers and have a lot to offer to the belly dance community. They will also be teaching a class at the Festival here. I took this workshop already in New York and it was great! Atef drove us around and helped us find an apartment. After Atef picks us up, he brings us to Magda's mother's house. She is so sweet, offering us Mango juice and a place to stay for the night. We are so exhausted that we excepted.

The room is small with two beds, and a fan on the wall. We kept our luggage in another room, and they go out of there way to put a curtain in place of a door that is not there. They explain to us that it is very safe here since men are not allowed in the building. My first experience using the bathroom is no toilet paper! Surprise! Well I kind of knew that, but to see it live is very interesting. Magda's mother pulls out the toilet paper and leaves rolls in the bathroom for us. We end up calling her Mama since we don't remember her name and feel to embarrassed to ask. Mama did not speak a word of English, Only Atef speaks English. I have gotten really good at playing sherades. We seemed to manage well me and Mama. Diana speaks Arabic very well and even writes it, but she is not always around. So the sherade game becomes very entertaining for me and Mama.

When it was time to shower, I noticed that there is no bath tub. Diana and I are baffled, we see a shower head in the bathroom but no bath tub. So ofcourse we need to know how to take a shower. Mama explains that we take a shower in the bathroom just as is. The entire bathroom is the shower, toilet seat, sink and all! Diana and I just give each other a look of shock, and surprise. O.K. where does the water go? There is a drain, and surprise surprise it does not really work that great. The entire bathroom gets flooded with suds and water. It does not however seep out of the door. Hmmmmm interesting, maybe the bathroom floor is on a slant? We can't figure it out and search constantly for the drain, just out of curiosity. I finally find the drain behind the toilet and I am very amused at how this works. When we visited two more people they did not have bath tubs either, but there is a shower head and you know what that means. Their bathroom is the tub. Plumbing here by the way is very bad. It was quite an experience taking a shower using the entire bathroom every thing gets wet and flooded.
I am happy to announce that my apartment has a bath tub. Wow I was shocked.

The second day in Cairo and I am still exhausted, struggling to wake up. It took me three days to become adjusted here. Diana and myself decide to go on an adventure. While we stayed with Mama she lives in Muhandiseen and we need to go to Cairo to exchange our money. Diana asks me if I want to take the metro and then the subway. One train is out doors and the other one is underground. We would need to take both in order to get to Cairo. I agreed since I want to experience what there Metro looks like. Well we seem to be the only ones on the Metro and the subway that are not Egyptian. Everyone stared at us all of the time. Their subway is actually cleaner than New York. You would not believe it. They have a television at the stations so you can watch t.v. while waiting for a train. I was very impressed. I was also impressed when we did not get lost. But wait, we do get lost coming back. We get our ticket to take the train, and when we are ready to exit something funny and embarrassing happens to us. As we are ready to exit all eyes are on us. We did not realize we needed to put the tickets in a little slot in order to exit using the turn style. So at the same exact time we try to go through and both of our bodies jerk back really hard. The men working there had to come and help us figure it out. We really looked like tourists now. All we could do is laugh, it was really a seen out of a comedy. I could feel the pain in my stomach from the blow it took.

We found out that the first two cars or the subway are only for women, so we decide onn the way back to take them. It was so uncomfortable with all the men staring at us. Even though the other cars had woman as well. Big mistake! The first two cars are not air conditioned! It is so hot. I then find out that the only cars air conditioned are all of the other ones. Mean while these women are covered head to toe! On the way back when we get ready to go on the Metro, I mention to Diana that everyone is not getting on this Metro and it is the last stop. Then I mentioned well that would be funny if there is more than one train on this line, because we have no idea which train we took on our way coming. Anyway we were on the wrong train and got really lost. Every one is very nice here. We got of on the stop that we thought was ours and just walked around asking everyone werer we live, holding a piece of paper in Arabic with our address on it. Finally we found Atef, someone called him for us and he met us. We went to mamma's house and rested.

Finally the day arrives to register for all of these amazing workshop's. I find out that there are 52 teachers and about 900 students. Wow that is a lot to take in. Morocco is here with Terik and they brought 40 people with them mostly dancers. I have already bumped into 10 belly dancers that I know, some I know well. The festival is held at the Mena house and standing right out side you can see two huge pyramids, wow what a site!

The amount of classes to choose from is so overwhelming. By the time I am done and go to register I am in shock at how much it came out to. I had to pay extra for the Gala and the closing show. Two shows. At the Gala we had to wear evening gowns and there would be famous Egyptian dancers. They are some of the most popular stars who are offering workshops. Like Dina, Nagwa Foad, Sorraya, Suhaila Salimpur and daughter, Mona Said, Rhonda Kamel, and, Asmahan, just to name a few. The show went on till 3:30am and I had my first class at 10:00am- 1:00 the next day and another class from 4:00-7:00 the same day so I was wiped out having to take two classes with hardly any sleep.

I forgot to mention that with the registration fee opening and closing gala plus classes in which you need to take a certain amount. You can't just take one or two. There is a required amount. Any way it came out to $790. OUCH! Can someone say bankrupt? Money seems to go rather quickly here. I would like to send my warmest regards to my students who are so supportive. I would also like to thank those students who gave me money for my trip, as you can see it was well needed. I wanted to cry when I saw money in an envelope! So you have all touched my heart in a very special way. I have taken 9 workshops already and I was only really happy with 4. Although I learned a lot, but it is like gambling when you pick a teacher and you are not sure if she knows how to teach. I took a sword work shopby Alaa Yousef, let me just say that it was soooo bad that I walked out, and so did some other girls. It was really bad.

Suhaila gave a great work shop however her technique is so different, difficult, and unique. The technique she uses would take lots of practice and a very long time to master. I do not disagree with her technique, however if you are dancing for a long time it would be hard to master. Now if you started off with her I think you would be fine. I don't have time to start over, I have already invested too many years. Amir Taleb gave the best workshop I had ever taken. He drilled and did combinations across the floor. His choreography was great! And he is a wonderful teacher with enthusiasm and high energy, just the way I like it! I was very impressed by him. I am told that he comes to New York once and a while and I highly suggest you to look for his website and plan on taking a work shop with him. I know I will!

Sorraya was great mixing Brazilian dance with belly dance. She is an exquisite dancer and also a great teacher. Amir so far has really taken my breath away. I will be taking a class with Rhanda Kamel tomorrow and I am really looking forward to it. Her performance at the gala was fantastic. Every thing is late here in Cairo. I heard that Rhanda Kamel gives a great workshop. I will let you know.

Rhanda Kamel was amazing, I learned so much in her class. She is very graceful and had a lot to offer. She really drilled us hard. Her style was very Egyptian.
Asmahan was incredible! I loved her, her class was difficult and she did not really break stuff down so you really had to keep up.

So far my favorite teachers in order are #1. Amir Taleb #2. Asmahan #3. Rhanda Kamel #4.Souhaila 5. Raqia Hassan 6. Sorraya, 7.Essam Monur
All of these teachers were great! So I really enjoyed and learned from 7 workshops.

I still have three more classes to take and I am so exhausted. I signed up for 13 workshops
3 hours a class twice a day. So that is 6 hours a day of just Egyptian drilling! Those of you who know me, I am sure you now that I am enjoying this experience to the fullest and taking everything in with love and dedication.

There is a competition at the Mena house every singe night, with bellydancers going on one after the other. Using live music or a CD. This starts at about 9:oopm for maybe two hours or more. When the competition is over you would think it is time to home and sleep, especially if you have a class in the morning right? Wrong! After the competion is over, who ever does not want to compete performs on the stage for another two- three hours. This is a never ending show. I have fallen asleep between classes in the hotel on little sofas. I have never in my life seen so many belly dancers, and vendors, I still can't believe there are 900 bellydancers here.

Oh my god the costumes are amazing. I am buying myself maybe three costumes, but I don't think I can bring any back. My money is going really fast, and my credit card in which I have $1000. Has been declined. I found out why, well the credit card company thinks someone in Egypt is trying to use my card. So it is cancelled and there really isn't anything I can do. I will try to bring back hip scarves and caftans, because they are really cheap. I am going to get some connections so that if my students want a costume they can get it for the price that is here in Cairo. I have already made some great connections. I have a CD with pictures of the costumes and you would not believe the prices. so girls get ready. I feel so bad I really had hoped to bring back a lot of stuff. But between registration, my apartment, purchasing three costumes for myself.

I do have to be careful since I am here for one month. I still have not even gone sight seeing. I have only been concentrating on taking classes. I will definitely be bringing back lots of DVD's and CD's that is one thing you can count on! I will try to post something regularly.
Gotta go the competition has already started and I am sitting in the computer room
The grand prize for the winner is a gold crown that is very expensive and unique,and no I am not competing! I don't believe in competitions, because no one is better than any one else. Every dancer is beautiful and unique in her own way. And to tell her she lost this competition because she is not good, and to tell the winner that she is better than every one else is not the way it should be. I will however watch it and enjoy it
I am not a prude. To each its own.

Becoming Rich and Famous

2006-02-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

Every one knows that becoming a belly dancer full time or part time, is not about becoming famous or rich. You will be lucky if you can pay your rent on time. This is an art form and like any other art form you must have regular work, and constant work. So unless you are in excellent shape, and can handle running from one gig to the next you can forget about doing it for a living. I have performed at least five shows in one night after teaching a class for an hour and a half. The next day my thighs would be trembling from my complicated and long drum solos. Because that is my thing. Drum solos and performing with the sword are my favorite.

Then you have famous belly dancers who have made it, like fifi Abdo, Souher Zaki, Dina, Nadia Gamal and that is just to name a few. These are names of just a few dancers that I personally look up to.

However you can be famous and not even know it. I mean famous in the belly dance community. You see there are dancers that all of us dancers look up to and give them the credit they deserve. We talk about them and praise them, and wish one day we can be as good as they are.

This art form is not about getting rich, in fact all of the money that you make goes right back into it. The majority of dancers end up spending twice as much money as they make. Most professional costumes are $600. and more
Private lessons can range from $60. an hour and more.
Regular classes on a regular basis could run you $200. a month or more.
If you are taking two classes a week at $20.-$25. per class every week, well this adds up,
you do the math.
I have not included veils in which you would want all colors for different costumes. Silk veils can cost up to $70. Coin belts which become addictive to buy. Don't forget the sword, cane, baledi dress, and wings.

If you want a candalabra that is going to cost you more that $100. Remember that you have to take a cab home if you are dancing after midnight and you don't drive. After all you don't want to be in the train with gobs of make up a heavy suit case and a sword. I have not even included the DVD's, and CD's. Whew now that I got all of that out of my system I feel so relieved.

Most dancers are, or can become obsessive with this art, by taking numerous workshops that can be very pricey, and end up spending an enormous amount of money on just about everything. How do I know this I am one! I am obsessed O.K. I admit it, while I am kicking and screaming. I LOVE DANCING!!!!!!!! I LOVE PERFORMING!!!!!!!
I feel so lucky that I am doing what I love for a living. My primary goal is to just perform, teach and be happy.

Performing for Curious Neighbors

2006-02-03T10:58:00.000-08:00

Most of my neighbors know what I do for a living. Some of them do not approve of my dancing. After all when I first told my grandmother that I wanted to belly dance for a living. Her first words were: Is your husband going to let you do that? I was so surprised by this. What century are we living in? Am I doing anything bad? Do I need permission from my husband to bellydance? I explained to her that my husband is very supportive and he even purchased my first costume for $600. Secretly, I was even shocked when he went into his wallet and pulled the money out for the costume. That is a lot of money to dish out for one costume. You do get what you pay for, because I still have it and it is in mint condition.

When I first started performing, he was my driver, and my body guard. He was very proud of me, and in the beginning went to almost all of my shows. Ofcourse things died down, when he realized I did not need a body guard and he got so sick of the music. Arabic music is all I played at home. Every time I was about to practice, he would just give me a look and ask can you please practice after I leave the apartment. I can't stand listening to that music anymore.
Some of my neighbors did not even like the idea of their husbands looking at me or even talking to me. Some people are just very insecure, and me being a belly dancer did not make things easier. I felt as though I was being judged at times, or maybe it was all in my head.

I was hired to perform for a restaurant owner in the neighborhood. I will give him the name Mike. Mike is Egyptian and I have worked for him before. In fact he is the one who gave me my very first belly dance job 7 years ago. It was my birthday and I charged in the restaurant with a group of ten friends. I was very excited to see a belly dance performance, since I had just begun taking lessons. When Mike told me the dancer had already performed and the show was over. We were all so disappointed. I explained to Mike that I had been taking lessons for about eight months or so. He and my friends all were cheering me on and pretty much convinced me to perform. I only lived two blocks away, so I ran home got my costume and my music. I only had one costume at that time and it was a red beaded costume the one my husband bought for me. I was so excited as I put it on. Wow this costume was really heavy, I still hadn't got use to the weight. I was so nervous, but I think I did pretty good.

My friends all tipped me and so did the other customers. The restaurant was packed, and everyone got up to dance with me. It was great! I loved it, my very first job performing. I had performed before, but only in student shows, retirement homes, and any free gig I could get for practice. This was my very first paid gig. Some of my friends had this on going joke that one day I am going to forget that I am bellydancing and I might just break out into a kata throwing a round house kick and yelling at the top of my lungs. We all laughed about that, I found it very amusing.

The next day when I went to thank Mike for a wonderful experience, he offered me a job performing on a weekly basis. I was thrilled. He did mention that I danced too fast, and I needed to learn how to slow down. He was right, at that time I was like speedy Gonzalez. I really appreciated his honesty and the manner in which he told me. So I was the feature dancer at his restaurant for about 8 months. I was not very confident, but I still tried my best. I asked Mike why he didn't hire a professional dancer for his restaurant again putting myself down. He said you are good and working on a regular basis will only make you better. Why should I hire a stranger that I don't know, when you are my friend and my neighbor, and you live two blocks away. Be happy with what you have and where you are. You are a professional.

He was right, I am a professional and I should be happy and enjoy where I was, besides if I was aweful I am sure I would not be there. It turns out I had regular clientele coming to see me on a weekly basis. It was so exciting. Some of my neighbors came to see me, but not all of them. After eight months or so, it died down so Mike did not have any more performances in the restaurant after that.
Mike's wife who is very nice to me, happens to approach me about performing for Mike's 50th birthday party. Now keep in mind this is 7 years later. Ofcourse I agreed, I was very excited. I was also very nervous, because it was important to me for Mike to see how much I have improved through out the years. I have studied so much, attended so many classes, spent so much money. I put my heart and soul into this art form. Mike's wife also added that I would be a surprise. Well the belly dancer is usually a surprise, so that was good.

Then Oh My God, I just realized that a lot of my neighbors would be attending this big event. I guess after this performance they would not be curious anymore. I had heard through the neighborhood grapevine that there was some curiosity towards my life style. There were certain sterio types that I was unaware of. When I heard some, I was shocked and appalled. Some were: Belly dancers like to sleep around, they only like attention, and enjoy showing there body. This is only what I heard around here. I know some of them have never seen a belly dance performance in person, and a lot of my neighbors never really gave me a chance to get to know me as a person first, with out passing judgment. I was excited and nervous all at the same time. Time seemed to be passing so slow. Finally the day arrived when I would be performing at Mike's birthday party.

While I was stretching in the restroom, I noticed my thighs began to tremble and shake uncontrollably. Oh my god I thought to myself, I am really nervous. I had to pull myself together. Then I realized I had gone on a bike ride to prospect park today, and I had performed twice before arriving. I laughed to myself thinking what a nut I am sometimes. I wore my favorite magenta costume filled with rubies and diamonds. My body was glistening with glitter. The long gloves covering my arms gave the costume a look of elegance. As I entered with my
ty-die magenta and blue colored veil, my diamond necklace and earrings sparkled.

I entered with a huge smile, as I was filled with confidence. As I entered I noticed some familiar faces looking at me with pleasantly surprised looks on their faces. I glided through the room as I reached the center stage area.

My drum solo was flawless, and my sword act was great. All I could think of when I balanced the sword on my head as I went down into a split was DON'T DROP THE SWORD!!!! I received a good exchange of energy from the audience. Mike was the first person I got up to dance. He was very happy and everyone could tell. Then an elderly man came up and showered me with money as he danced with me. He looked very familiar, I then realized we had breakfast at the same restaurant. I wonder if he recognized me. It was difficult getting people up to dance, most every one was very shy. Two Arabic men came up to dance with me, and tipped me very nicely. I was very happy with my performance and the audience loved it. Mike's daughter and her friend danced with me as well. A few more arabic men came up to dance with me and tip me.

As my finale approached I picked up my veil and glided around the room for one last goodbye. Through out my entire performance the audience was mesmorized, all eyes were on me the entire show. That was a good sign, and I felt very pleased. I asked the waiter for some water, and drank three glasses. I noticed some water melon, and asked the waiter if I could have some. He gave me one slice, as if that is going to do something for me. Mike's wife pays me and thanks me for a wonderful job. She then hands me a bag filled with my tips. It was a good night.

On my way out some people complemented me on my performance, and I felt great. Then one of my neighbors complimented my performance as his wife gave me a dirty look, and walked away in a huff. I am going to leave here tonight holding this to my heart as a good experience, and not let anything bother me. The energy from the audience was uplifting and positive. It was important to me to leave with a good feeling, and I did. After all I still had one more show to do tonight, and that one was very important to me. I would be performing at a party I was throwing at my place. There would be more than eight belly dancers performing, most of whom were my close friends and students. The excitement continues...........

Hello World!

2006-02-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

Discovering belly dancing was the best thing that ever happened to me. I immediately fell in love with the music, the dance, and oh lets not forget about the costumes. I love the costumes. The music is amazing and very hypnotic.

After a few years of Karate, and finally achieving a black belt is when belly dancing entered my life. Being flexable definitely helped my dancing. Karate helped me most with aquiring the mental strength neccesary for the physical exertions of belly dancing. The karate disipline trained me to have the endurance neccesary for several minutes of physical activity. My specialty is the sword ofcourse. I have a collection of 7 swords now. Some from my karate days, and now some from belly dancing.

Anyone can tell you that doing this for the money is just not a possibiltiy, however they don't know what they are talking about. I have spent so much money on classes, costumes, private lessons, music, videos etc….. I can ofcourse go on and on. I do it for the love of the art.

You would be surprised to know that there is a large number of people that have absolutely no idea of what a belly dancer is. The following offended me.
When I was working at a law firm and one of my co workers found out that I was teaching belly dancing. His immediate remark was “what could you possibly be teaching them? “How to shake their boobs or their ass? “I don’t understand how you actually have a class of women going to you just to learn how to shake” I can not explain to you how upset that made me. Hadn’t this man with a college degree and his own office even comprehend the word choreography! Didn’t he know that belly dancing is more complex than anything I have ever experienced before. Was he just an idiot? I did not realize that these types of people even existed. A large number of people seem to believe that it is easy. It is not easy at all and takes many years of commitment, classes and dedication to acheive the professional quality of a New York City Belly dancer.

I have now been performing as the feature dancer at Les Babouches for almost two years now. It has been one of the best experiences of my life. I love love it love it. The owners are an amazing married couple. We have all become family through out the years. It is a pleasure to work for them, and they make my experience a wonderful one. They are very supportive, and understand all of the hard work and effort that is put into the performance. Because of the support that they give me it empowers me to give the most amazing performances. Their encouragement and support gives me strength. I would hope that other restaraunt owners would follow their example.

However there is another restaurant that I work at where the management can be rude. They are mostly unpleasant and seem very unhappy with their lives. They don't realize that a dancer needs support to do a good job to make people happy. It can be difficult and uneasy to perform after being yelled at. As a dancer I walk into a restaurant and raise the energy level of the entire place with my enthusiasm and happiness. People respond to this by getting up and dancing and feeling the same happiness that I do when I dance. Can you see how difficult it is to perform when management is MEAN. However I don't let it bother me, and I give a fantastic performance, because I know how to spread happiness and joy, and I love it. I believe that professionalism is about the end product which is spreading that happiness and joy.

There are also a lot of funny moments.
Costume malfunctions are always funny. My girlfriend was performing and her nipple popped out with out her realizing, I had to signal her, and I could not stop laughing. She laughed too. Another time my girlfriend balanced a cane on this older man, and his hair piece started moving back and forth we laughed about that for weeks. And I will never forget when I first started performing, I was wearing a brand new costume and I had no idea how far the skirt went up when I turned. Needless to say I was wearing thong painties and everyone got an extra show. I was mortified! I would have never known if this belly dancer in the audience did not tell me. I was eternally grateful to her. No one else said a word! where is the love?! There was a lot of belly dancers in the audience! When I have more time I will give you an update on my future adventures and more info on belly dancing.