So i just got home from our Fall ’09 tour which started on the West Coast of the US in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and North California and then we flew over to England and performed in London and Basingstoke, Paris and then over to Morocco where we performed 2 shows in Casablanca, 1 in Rabat and 1 in Marakech! This felt like a quick tour but with a lot of moving around. My body felt like it was just starting to sink into the rhythm of things around the week we were finishing up! What an amazing adventure though! This is my 2nd time in Morocco (we performed in Casablanca last year around Spring/Early Summer i think) and i just love it there! I went to the Habous and the Medina (2 different kinds of markets in Casablanca – the Medina is more for locals and the Habous for tourists) in Casablanca. I bought shoes for my Grandpa. I got him a pair of camel leather shoes last year that he LOVED and made me promise if i went back, that i would get him more! I got 5 pairs of different sandals… Grandpa can take his pick! And i bought myself a cool tea glass set (the mint tea in Morocco is UNBELIEVABLE and i’m so excited about getting those adorable glasses)! And, of course, i bought Argon oil for my hair. Argon oil grows on a bush only found in the Moroccan desert. It’s an ingredient in a hair oil (called Moroccan Hair Oil) that i found at my hair dresser Byra’s place here in Alabama and i researched the ingredients online before going to Morocco. I am sooo glad i found some over there!! (Happy Dance)
ok, enough shopping talk… In terms of the show success, it’s been a dream! I am just so proud of our new show ‘The Art of Bellydance’ that i seem to have a bias opinion on it all, but it’s being received wonderfully and with open arms – WORLDWIDE!!! I feel closest to this show for many reasons and i feel that our spirit as a team, is growing closer which propels us to perform better too. My piece in this show, is my baby! It’s my one truest sole execution of how i’ve always imagined my piece could be! I use a Beats Antique song and Zoe Jakes dances in the piece as well and we collaborated on the tribal portion of the piece, which was so much fun! Zoe is so creative and who better to understand the mood of a Beats Antique song than, Zoe herself, right? There are 4 spinners in the piece with Tanoura skirts: Lauren, Nathalie, Cecilia and Stefanya. Zoe and Sam (sometimes Moria and sometimes Kami depending on who is on tour) do the tribal section of my piece and pass off 2 veils to me and then at the end of the piece Sonia enters on stage and passes off 2 more veils! So i have 6 veils in total and a surprise at the end!! The colors are ice blue, black, white and raspberry. We are planning on filming the show in Shanghai in December so you can buy your copy of ‘The Art of Bellydance’ probably early next year! But in preparation for filming and my upcoming workshops, rest is pretty restless. I hear it’s over-rated anyways, and i can sleep plenty when i’m dead! I leave this week for Budapest for a workshop weekend with Sonia (go to the CALENDAR section for full details on subject, prices, and contact info), Slovenia the next weekend and then a performance in Holland! It’ll be cold this time of year so i need to pack warm and i’ll have tons of sewing projects with me to get everything looking good before filming and get back on track with my workout regime too so i can be in tip top shape! I’ve got my technique dvd’s to take with me, jump rope, resistance bands, P90X video’s and Tuna packs!! Ah, the glamorous traveling dancing gypsy lifestyle!