Volume 5, Issue 3
A Very Busy Summer!!
Right after the Wiggles of the West
Contest was over, we packed up our stuff (well actually about half
of it) and the puppies and caravaned our way to Las Vegas. A nine
hour drive through Nevada in the middle of July, thank goodness for air conditioning!
The new and exciting life was about to begin. The Belly Dance
community welcomed me with open arms. The first event was one of the
Haflas. I had not even been in town a week. WOW!
I highly reccomend the monthly Haflas. They are held one Saturday a month at the Arthur Murry Dance Studio on Maryland Parkway. When you are in Las Vegas, if you have transportation, try to attend. For only $5, you get to enjoy a show and a pot luck (all food contributions welcome) in the safe surroundings of Samira's dance studio. Samira is a lovely hostess and MC. Dancers and their supporters crowd the studio for socializing and the show. There are some chairs available, but regular attendees usually bring their own chairs and pillows. Most people bring something for the pot luck like wine, soft drinks, food, and snacks. Between the socializing, food, and dancing the event takes on the feel of Belly Dance tailgating.
I was not an outsider very long. On line friends and Designs by Janie customers greeted me with hugs. Members of Shifting Sands, the local non-profit group, had me sit with them. Two members are long time customers. The Daughters of Durga were sponsoring Unmata in workshops that weekend, so the Hafla was $10 and well worth it. All I can say is WOW!!
Since the first Hafla, I have not missed a single one. I am also vending at the Haflas. Double fun!!
My review of the International Belly Dance Convention.
In Praise of the Lowly Rectangle Hip Sash
Ask Janie
I highly reccomend the monthly Haflas. They are held one Saturday a month at the Arthur Murry Dance Studio on Maryland Parkway. When you are in Las Vegas, if you have transportation, try to attend. For only $5, you get to enjoy a show and a pot luck (all food contributions welcome) in the safe surroundings of Samira's dance studio. Samira is a lovely hostess and MC. Dancers and their supporters crowd the studio for socializing and the show. There are some chairs available, but regular attendees usually bring their own chairs and pillows. Most people bring something for the pot luck like wine, soft drinks, food, and snacks. Between the socializing, food, and dancing the event takes on the feel of Belly Dance tailgating.
I was not an outsider very long. On line friends and Designs by Janie customers greeted me with hugs. Members of Shifting Sands, the local non-profit group, had me sit with them. Two members are long time customers. The Daughters of Durga were sponsoring Unmata in workshops that weekend, so the Hafla was $10 and well worth it. All I can say is WOW!!
Since the first Hafla, I have not missed a single one. I am also vending at the Haflas. Double fun!!
The new house we rented is in a gated
community with all the rules and regs that go with such a development. This
was a bit hard to get used to after living in the country for so many years.
And then there are the stairs, my arthritis didn't like them at all.
I tried to think positively and consider them my personal stairmaster.
And truth be known, they have been. Just three months after
moving in my legs and feet are much stronger and my muscles are getting
toned! Las Vegas' lower altitude might have helped there too. My
skin is also not as dry as it was in Reno, that was very unexpected! It
could have to do with the huge amount of water we all drink. Plus in
the summer there is rain, not what I would call monsoons, but more than I
have seen in a long while. I have to qualify this with the fact that
dessert storms are different. They come down hard, so flash floods
can be a problem, but they don't last long. In fact, during my second
week in Vegas, we had a thunderstorm with flash flooding while I was at the
IBDC. No problems at the casino that I could see, but it did strain
my limited knowledge of the streets by flooding out one of only two ways
I knew to get home.
Just two weeks after the IBDC, I went to Yaa Hala, Y'all. I had a great time as always. I love that event! Just two weeks after that, I vended at my first Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive outside in a tent! So you can see why I say, it has been a VERY busy summer! And now on to the articles.
Just two weeks after the IBDC, I went to Yaa Hala, Y'all. I had a great time as always. I love that event! Just two weeks after that, I vended at my first Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive outside in a tent! So you can see why I say, it has been a VERY busy summer! And now on to the articles.
My review of the International Belly Dance Convention.
In Praise of the Lowly Rectangle Hip Sash
Ask Janie