What a great time! And can I say, I officially LOVE Palace of Wonders!! I want my house to look like that :) Priscilla, the General Manager, is absolutely adorable and such a down to earth, genuine gal :) The pizza and nachos were faaabulous and my Serpentina Orangina came adorned with is own little rubber snakie. I thought about dancing with it, but it was too shy.. :D

The stage is quite intimidating in its petitness but everyone owned it fantastically... well, I did have a wee bit of a run in with one particular brick and my sword, but now I can say I've offically left my mark.. ha! :)

I hope there are some photos out there from last night, cuz my schweetie was filming and coudn't take any.. anyone got any!?? I'd love to see ! :)

The video did not turn out very good. We had it setup for spotlight due to the BRIGHT lighting condition that was initially on so needless to say.. you can see the occasional head and arms of an otherwise invisible Urvashi.. bummer. I really wanted to see how I did cuz I was soooo nervous and unworthy feeling being amongst such FABULOUS dancers!

I also have to mention the sound tech was .. well, a little disappointing. The main sound person could not make it so someone filled in. I am very thankful that we had someone but I really wish (and this is a consensus opinion from most if not all of us performing last night) that she would have kept the music kranked and left it there. The music was entirely too low and though we would motion for it to be turned up, there was delay in getting it turned up, and then it would get turned back down again. what the h e double hockey sticks! it was so distracting as the performer and for the audience and very frustrating.

But that set aside, the performances were fantastic. I loved the variety of talents ranging from tribal to cab to fusion. One big happy belly dance community.. because it is all belly dance and we all share the passion of it :)

Opening the show with Sammati!

Eugenia and Jen rocked it with ATS! Big skirts on a tiny stage whirling together were stunning and the energy was contageous! They were truly representing and would do Carolena proud!

Katrina was beautiful and flawless with her Oriental set of Veil to drum solo in her sparkling green and gold (THANK YOU so much for letting me use your Sugar Plum Eye Candy!! it RAWKED!)

Asharah - well, what can I say that I haven't said before, kicked major ARSE! She always leaves me breathless with chills

then a wee bit o intermission...

Mayyadah and her magical shamadan performance. Wow. Whats more to like than balancing something on your head that is 2 ft tall, and is on fire? not much I say! :)

Then it was my turn... egads! I was so nervous. I opened with Mahtab:Moonlight Mix Pt 4 using black isis Wings, then Djinn:Brooklyn Baladi with sword, and ended with Evanescence:Lacrymosa. As I said, the petit stage was rather intimidating. I tend to travel alot when I dance and .. well, there wasn't alot to travel so I found myself circling the stage alot like a trapped wild jaguar .. ha!! :)

and closing the show was:
Samira. Double WOW. With her (as we discussed backstage) Tim Burton, Pirate, 50s Sailor Girl cabaret costume wich was gorgeous! Black and white stripes with beautiful large rhinestone adornments.. she is just an absolute treat to watch. Her skills are maddening, her zilling is perfection, and her personality and audience interaction is astonishing. I absolutely adore her.

The show went from about 9:45 till... almost 11 I believe. Jen did awesomely as our MC of the evening and girl, I dont know how you were able to get up there right after your ATS set to MC and not pass out! I bow to you. :)

Thank you Jen for creating this event and for a fabulous experience in my first professional solo show. I look forward to the opportunity to do it again! ;)