Shaken baby

(Zoe Jakes, one of my extraordinary instructors, pictured above)

Wow, what a weekend!

The Bellydance Superstars Raqs America event in D.C. was quite an experience, especially for an out-of-shape novice like myself. I'm still exhausted, but I'm starting to feel like a human again.

I'll begin with Thursday night's Gogol Bordello show at Toad's Place in Richmond. Isobel was correct, it was an amazing live experience! We scored some excellent spots atop some risers so I had a great view and could dance a bit without having to deal with the crowd below. The crowd was nuts, I saw this girl after she got clocked hard in the face and she was wrecked. I was ridiculously lucky, I had a great sight line and no one punched me in the face. Gogol was terrific, full of insane energy and exuberance. It was definitely one of the best shows in recent memory.

Then onto D.C. where we arrived at the hotel at 3am. We got to meet up with lovely Emily for lunch and ice cream. Matt played chess in the park at Dupont Circle and then it was time to find the belly dance convention. Thought the venue was nice, it was located in the ghetto.

Workshop #1: Locks, Breaks & Waves with Kami Liddle

Ms. Liddle is a stunner in person. I hadn't met any of the dancers when they were at my theatre last fall. Her workshop was an intense one with lots of focus on muscle isolation. It was difficult for me to keep up. I was fine at slow and medium paced drills, but the faster we went, the more lost I became. Still, I learned quite a bit and have a lot to practice towards. The two hours blew by quickly and I was sore as hell when I awoke Saturday morning.

Workshop #2: Medium Paced Fluid Beledi with Petite Jamilla

This was my very first cabaret style class (I have been focusing almost solely on tribal fusion style). Petite Jamilla is a young little gal from Alabama with the lip liner to prove it. She is mostly known for her whirling dervish-style double veil dances. This class was, for a beginner like myself, not at all medium paced. For me, it was crazy paced. It was a lot of fun and it was the best aerobic workout I've had in a long time. As fun as it was, I was terrible and I didn't learn much other than I'm no cabaret dancer. Petite Jamilla was a good instructor and very sweet, she's supposed to e-mail everyone in the class a picture that she took of all of us.

Workshop #3: Unleashing the Inner Spaz with Zoe Jakes

Zoe Jakes is a delight. She's a tiny person with a big personality. Full of humor and energy, Zoe led us through a 3-hr long crazy workshop filled with all sorts of crazy drills and a short choreography (I'm just awful at learning choreography, especially in a very short time!). It was massive fun, but again it was difficult for me to really keep up as the pace quickened and as the choreography became more layered. Still, again I have lots of little drills to practice until my arms, legs and butt cheeks fall off. Without her makeup, Zoe looks totally different, fresh-faced and youthful and so very cute (not that she isn't supercute with makeup and costume!).

Workshop #4: Spiral Curve & Bend with Kami Liddle

By this time, every inch of my body ached and groaned and creaked like that of an 80-year-old woman. I didn't know how in the hell I was going to make it through another 2 hr workshop. Thank goodness this one was a nice, slow-paced workshop. The stretching actually helped my aching muscles and the drills and choreography were lovely and pretty and SLOW. It was a great way to wind up the weekend. Again, Kami Liddle was a great instructor.

The show on Saturday evening blew hard. It wasn't the caliber of the dancers, they were all amazing, of course! The room in which the show was held was atrocious. It was a giant, un-air conditioned concrete room filled with folding chairs. Stuffed to the gills with sweaty people packed in like sardines, the room was a nightmare. Plus, the floor didn't slope so the sight line was awful and I couldn't see anything. What misery! That was by far the only big disappointment of the weekend.

I saw some great dancers on the open stage on Saturday (including my own amazing instructor Dana Beaufait) and was really impressed by many, amused by others and bored by a handful. All in all, it was excellent. It was a smaller affair than I had imagined, but that intimacy added to the experience. I hope that they do it again some time, just so long as they don't hold the show in the same venue!