The event
To close the first week of Stolen’s Kickstarter campaign, four belly dancers and I did some shows along the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
The dancers
Angie, May, Jericha, Parya and I got close during a belly dance intensive called Soul Food. Five days of nothing but belly dance training with Zoe Jakes and Mira Betz: heaven. Going through the entire thing together created special bonds amongst the women that attended the intensive.
Angie
Angie is a cabaret style belly dancer. Her and I had not met before Soul Food; but we have spent some time together doing things for this project and because of the stories we have shared during that time, I feel like I have known her for a long time.
If I was asked to describe Angie’s dancing in one word, I would choose the word “free.” Have you ever heard about those people that just let music take them places? Yeah, that’s Angie… on stage, by the beach, inside the studio during class. She lives life the same way she dances too.
Angie makes you feel safe, she is too busy finding things to love about you to even think of judging you. The most important thing I have learned from her is that sometimes it’s ok to let people help you.
For Stolen, Angie did improvisation to a Beats Antique song called Derivations. As she performed her piece for the third time I heard a little girl in the crowd ask her dad a million questions about belly dance. Some of which, his dad was unable to answer. Maybe she will get those answers in the future… after a few lessons.
May
May and I met a while ago, not in a dance related manner. I was looking for a model for a photo shoot and she showed up. After that, I started running into her at different dance classes. The core of her training is on American Tribal Style belly dance, a style that was originated in the Bay Area. She also does tribal fusion these days.
Her and I day dream together sometimes: “Let’s drop everything and just dance,” we say to each other. May does things that not many would do to be able to dance. Would you commute a total of four hours in public transportation to make it to dance class? Would you book a flight to San Francisco in less than 24 hours just to be able to take private lessons from Zoe Jakes? May would, May has.
On Saturday, she did a drum solo along the Embarcadero, followed by a tribal fusion piece to a cover of “What a Wonderful World.” She put a smile on everyone’s face and a couple asked her if she could be a witness in their wedding.
Jericha
Jericha is so full of live. This is what I thought the very first time I saw her. We commuted together from San Francisco to the East Bay during Soul Food.
I think of her as someone that is constantly experimenting and discovering new things about herself and the world as a result. She spends her time between her job at the Exploratorium, dance, and life itself. Throwing herself fully into whatever she is doing at any particular moment.
She belly danced to Bach. Lovely improvisation to classical music. She taught the crowd how to cheer for belly dancers. A lot of people were really intrigued by her headpiece, at some point I saw a woman trying it on.
Parya
I had seen Parya in many occasions while taking classes with Jill Parker, but didn’t really got to know her until later on in life.
Parya trains at Suhaila Salimpour’s school and she takes classes from different tribal fusion dancers. She has also been doing salsa for a while with her husband.
I love to hear her talk about dance, the way she gets inspired and the things that amaze her about certain dancers. But more than anything, I love how her husband is really into what she’s saying. While riding in the back seat of their car, I have heard her share her dance stories of the day with him. They love dance, they dance together.
Parya did a tribal fusion piece. She put some salsa into belly dance. At some point her husband popped out of nowhere and started dancing with her. It was truly magical and such a perfect way to close the three shows.
After All The Dancing
This was a great time and a learning experience. Performing is hard. Sometimes, you just have to do it… even if you don’t feel ready.
Some of our friends came out to support the event and to help us talk to people about Stolen. I’m very thankful for all their support.
I’m also thankful for the kindness of strangers. The dancers performing next to us were helping us hand out Stolen postcards. Some people came to us to give us positive feedback. Some learned how to zaghareet! Some took videos, and some got home and backed the project on Kickstarter.
There’s nothing like dancing outside in a sunny day with your friends. Specially if they are the kind of friends that encourage you to chase your dreams.
