I don't want to forget October....

October was a huge month for me. So many creative projects. I don't want to forget about them!

I started the month traveling with my teacher, Suhaila Salimpour. She was booked to teach in Mexico City at the first belly dance Congress in Mexico. The trip was a bit rough...but we had a wonderful time. I returned home to begin frantically working on a haunted mansion project with my three-year-old son. We worked on it throughout the month of October. Somewhere around mid-October I started a jury trial -- interrupting it to travel to Chicago where I performed in the Cairo Raks Chicago show featuring Aida Nour. It was a fabulous production and Aida Nour is an incredible teacher and performer. (I also had catching up with Karim Nagi!). I returned to the Bay Area, where we hosted Aida Nour in our own workshops in San Francisco....and before I knew it AZIZA was here for Luna Gitana and her weeklong workshop.....AND we finished the haunted mansion.....whew! no wonder I'm exhausted....

(Photos from top: The Completed Haunted Mansion; AZIZA and Andres, AZIZA in Andres' skunk head from his Halloween costume; Shoshanna, Chellcy, Dahlia Moon, Amira and Vashti backstage at Cairo Raks Chicago; Suhaila's workshop attendees in Mexico City; Isabella at Frida's Blue House)

Yosemite::Endings and Beginnings

Why is so damn hard to know when to end something? I am ALWAYS ready to embark upon a new project....I say "yes" to just about anything creative. But, I never know when to stop. I think it could be my Taurus rising -- that could explain that stubborn streak that runs through my veins. 

So, I'm in Yosemite. Enjoying the serenity of silence. Watching the collection of rain on trees and the many environmental transitions that signal the change of the season. It is Thanksgiving and I am grateful for so many things.

A few short weeks ago, Bellydance Odyssey Productions announced the last Luna Gitana Belly Dance Festival. Just a few days ago, we announced the closure of Dance Odyssey Studio. I've received so many wonderful, kind email messages from people expressing their concerns and well wishes. It is a little overwhelming....overwhelming to read about how important we are to the community when we have struggled so hard for so long with poor attendance at our events and in our classes. As painful as it is to close these doors (both physical and emotional) there is a part of me that feels so free. 

This year (August 2008) was my first Level Three workshop with Suhaila Salimpour. It was a strenuous workshop -- it pushed me emotionally and physically. But it also pushed me artistically -- in ways that I did not comprehend initially -- but like the change of season, the falling of leaves -- the transition was inevitable and destined. I have been able to find peace with the end of Luna Gitana because I realized that (not unlike parenting) -- I needed to stop wanting something for my community that it does not want for itself. High quality theatrical production is so very important to me....but it is not so important to most of the Santa Cruz dance scene. Students want to have fun and enjoy their hobby...and who am I to want more from them? If I want more...then I need to fulfill my own dreams, expectations and goals...instead of trying to provide pathways for others. 

So, it is with this departure and closure that I prepare to attend Suhaila's Level Four workshop next week. Wish me only goodness......