Just over one year ago, my troupe, Blue Moon Belly Dance, had our first public performance at a student hafla sponsored by Qadria of Belly Revelations. We entered the YWCA of Raleigh, nervous as kittens, dressed in all our tribal finery. Skirts, choli, and pantaloons purchased; coin/shell bras and turbans handmade; the rest of our costumes either dug out of the attic, bought at thrift stores or donated by relatives, we were ready to go. Months of practice and agony over every move behind us, we stepped out onto the linoleum floor of the hafla room, and looked out onto a veritable sea of faces. Among them, one person in particular stood there beaming at us- Qadria. Interestingly enough, we were not current students of Qadria’s; nonetheless, she welcomed us as one of her own with her trademark warmth and good will. To her, we were all truly sisters of the dance regardless of genre or familiarity. Her support made a nerve-wracking experience so much more delightful than it would otherwise have been. We launched into our first choreography, complete with zilling, and despite shaky hands and dry mouths (mostly mine) we got through it without too many glitches. Amazingly enough, at the end we got applause- a balm for the butterflies still flitting in our stomachs. On to our second (soon to become a signature) piece, Frame Drum, "the one with the hands." We did it!! To this very moment, however, I am convinced that our success was due not only to hard work and creativity, but to the friendly and encouraging atmosphere in which we made our debut.
Our relationship with Qadria, and by extension the rest of Belly Revelations, did not end there. We performed again at Linda’s December hafla, debuting an Arab-Spanish piece as well as our unique interpretation of "Jingle Bell Rock." Her haflas felt like home already. In January, we danced at Carolina House of Cary, inviting soon to be Belly Revelations’ member Haala to join us- another wonderful collaboration which showcased that tribal and cabaret styles can be complementary in performance. In February, Qadria invited us and Haala to join her at a benefit for Heritage House in Raleigh. After we completed our performance pieces, we all danced tribal follow-along until we couldn’t dance any longer, having a blast in the process. During the course of the evening the conversation turned to performance venues, and Qadria, in her own inimitable way, said to just tell her when we were ready and she would help us get into The Silk Road where Belly Revelations performed on a monthly basis. A real gig at a real restaurant!! Such generosity astounded and delighted us, and we wondered if we would ever be ready for what we perceived as such a monumental undertaking.
Life as a troupe continued to evolve, and after many queries of "do you teach?" we decided to present a workshop of slow moves. To be honest, some of us were worried about how the belly dance community would feel about this decision. At that time, we had been in existence as a troupe for about a year; would we be perceived as upstarts? Nothing ventured, nothing gained, we went ahead and hoped for the best. A few weeks before ours , Belly Revelations hosted a workshop featuring Kajira Djoumahna; we were thrilled to be able to learn tribal technique from such a master. We danced at the attendant performance that Saturday night, at which Bedriyyah of Belly Revelations, the evening’s emcee, surprised us by announcing our workshop to the audience. Unasked, she did it on her own. Others may have wondered, "who do they think they are?", but Belly Revelations once again evidenced thoughtfulness, grace and support. Moreover, Qadria recommended our workshop to several of her students. An established troupe, with nothing really to gain, they continued to nurture our fledgling one- to our great delight
Our next collaboration was the Generations Fair in May which Haala attended. Despite the pouring rain, continuously ringing fire alarms, and an ever-changing schedule, we and the audience once again enjoyed each other tremendously. Another delightful aspect of that performance was that we were also joined by Nandana who would soon become the newest member of Blue Moon Belly Dance. Among the chaos of the day, we all bonded even further.
What happened next is undoubtedly the best testament to the generosity of spirit that Belly Revelations embodies: they offered to share their July gig at Silk Road with us. Not merely for one or two dances, but for an entire set, complete with tips. They were taking a chance on us, I am certain. Belly Revelations has an established following at The Silk Road, and it was a big leap of faith on their part to allow us to fill half of the night’s performance. We worked ourselves extremely hard preparing a performance that not only would please the audience, but that would make Belly Revelations proud. We watched them perform first as they worked their magic, delighting the audience. As we took our turn, they sat in the audience, smiling, clapping, cheering- truly our big sisters of the dance. I am happy to say that our performance was a resounding success; embraced both by the audience and the mangement, we did ourselves and Belly Revelations proud.
Since that time, we have garnered our own ongoing gig at Silk Road, and have frequently gone to watch BR perform theirs, each troupe being there for the other as often as possible. Qadria took classes from Nandana at this year’s Pennsic, we took and performed at the Donna and Asim workshop that Belly Revelations presented, we have performed along w/Belly Revelations’ members at a book store grand opening, and Nyla of their troupe honored us by taking our latest workshop. In the meantime, we have gotten to know other members of the Triangle dance community better, including those of Orientale Expressions and Moondualtions, as well as many others who have come to watch us at this year’s Festifall as well as other events in which we have participated. But the absolute highlight of our troupe’s existence so far has to be the hafla we sponsored the evening of our latest workshop. The perfect ambiance, the delicious food, the wonderful performances and outstanding live music were all a backdrop for the true purpose of the evening: getting together as many of the area’s various middle eastern dancers and musicians as possible and having a rockin’ dance party. And what a party it was. To see people dressed in cabaret, folkloric, tribal and street clothes all up and dancing together; laughing, relaxing, relishing each others’ talent and creativity; new dancers and experienced, accompanied by 7 live middle eastern musicians all coming together into a true dance community- what a glorious night! A true joy and inspiration, without any doubt to all who were there. We only hope that everyone from our dance community can join us at our next hafla; the invitation is open to all.
There is a quote from Shakespeare that I think summarizes the sensilbity of that evening. "My bounty is as boundless as the sea; my love as deep; the more I give to thee the more I have for both are infinite." We in the Triangle middle eastern dance community have proved that the more we give to each other, the more we all have. Thanks to all who jubilantly attended our hafla and who welcome others with an open heart on an on-going basis; especially to Belly Revelations for modeling so beautifully that there is indeed room for everyone. Blue Moon dances a little more joyfully because of this synergy; we know we wouldn’t be where we are today without it.
About the author: Sashi (aka Patti Beaman) is a member of Blue Moon Belly Dance, and lives
in Apex with her wonderfully supportive and loving family: husband Brian, daughters Sara and
Emily, and her dog Casey. Sashi has been studying belly dance for two years, but wishes it
had been two decades instead.
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