A dance performance at the 2015 Las Vegas Bellydance Intensive

I have a confession to make: I almost didn’t go to Vegas this year. My original cheap-and-easy travel plans fell through and I was left trying to make alternate plans, while stressing over my upcoming PNW trip and my messed up toe and trying to keep up with my day job commitments. Even though I had already registered for workshops, it would have been much easier to just stay home and eat the cost of the classes. But I was really into the workshops I had signed up for, and a lot of my friends were going to be there (including some I hadn’t had the pleasure of meeting with yet), and there was a last-minute opportunity to sign up to perform, so I took the plunge and I’m glad I did.

I was able to stay with my fellow Waking Persephone teacher Asiya. We were already planning to room together at WP, so I’m happy to say we made really good roomies on this trip and we had a great time together. She introduced me to a lot of her Bay Area belly dance friends, who were all just as delightful as she is. In fact, I made a lot of new friends this trip! Vegas is a really good event for networking, because it’s such an easy place for people to travel to so you get dancers from all over the country, and since they bring in top-notch instructors in a variety of styles, you get to meet a wide variety of fellow dancers.

And speaking of workshops, mine were great! On Friday I had a three hour workshop with Ariellah on traveling, transitions, and how to have a dancerly sense of flow. It was amazing! I really enjoyed her teaching style, the workshop was very well-paced and had a good amount of variety. I had to sit chunks of it out because my foot is still messed up and too much time in releve hurts. Then on Saturday I started out with an early morning zill workshop with Ustadza Azra, who is actually from here in AZ. I saw her perform with her zills at the Kaeshi Chai show last year and she was so good that I jumped at the chance to learn from her! The workshop was so good, but I’m going to talk more about it next week when I do a zill-themed post, so check back then. My last workshop was with Tamalyn Dallal, who I kind of have a huge dancer crush on. So much so that I was too shy to go introduce myself to her! Her workshop was on how to pose beautifully during a performance, and to give that stillness a sense of breath. It also involved a lot of dancing to the samai rhythm, and some discussion of hand stylizations in different eras of Egyptian dance. It was really delightful, although by that point, I had spent the morning stomping to the beat with Ustadza and dancing my heart out on stage, so my foot was having none of my shenanigans and I think I sat about half the class out, but I was very actively listening, absorbing, and dancing with my upper body.

As has been the case the past two years, one of the best parts of LVBDI is getting to watch so many top-notch dancers. The pro shows were once again OFF THE HOOK. I was especially happy to see my New Mexico Mira Retreat pals The Desert Darlings on the pro stage — way to rock it, ladies! And there was an incredible lyrical fan veil piece on Saturday night (and I am picky as hell about fan veils). I could go on and on about every amazing pro performer, but were were also some real treats on the festival stage! Lots of talented professional-level dancers and very promising amateurs. I saw a super sexy choreo from Mandala Danceworks, a tear-inducingly beautiful solo from my friend Aaliyah Jenny, and several of the incredibly talented contests from the So You Think You Can Belly Dance? competition, among others. I’m feeling so inspired! Definitely keep your eye on YouTube for videos from this year (or if we’re connected on FB and Twitter, I’ll be sharing my favorites as I come across them).

Of course I’d be lying if I said I didn’t also love the shopping! I wasn’t really going to buy much, but that lasted exactly zero seconds when I realized that the Snake Church belt I had admired on Instagram fit like it was made for me (which it basically was, Dusty is like tapped into my brain or something). It’s perfect for the concept I’m developing for Tribal Fest next year, but I will probably also make it work for Waking Persephone. I also rocked it in class because when you have a cool belt, you wanna wear it. I should have stopped with the belt, but I also got myself a comfy vest/wrap thing that can be worn a bunch of different ways, because I didn’t pack a jacket and the AC was giving me goosebumps. My new wrap kept me extra cozy! And then because I enjoyed Ustadza’s workshop so much, and Saroyan was there, I bought myself a new set of zills that I really love the tone of, so I will enjoy practice a lot more. I saw many other things I wanted to bring home with me, but I have to save some money for the Waking Persephone vendors, too!

Last but not least, let’s talk about the performance. I just had to erase some self-depreciating excuses. Forget that. I did fine. I got some good video and beautiful photos and heartfelt compliments from my fellow dancers, so I think it was a good choice to perform. If you’d like to see and judge for yourself, here it is:

Over all, I think I made the right decision to go to LVBDI after all. I saw so many wonderful people and had so many wonderful experiences.

PS: As a side note, earlier this year it was announced that this was the last year for LVBDI, but there has been a stay of execution! Someone very awesome has taken over the event and has a great selection of instructors lined up. I’m looking forward to returning in 2016 and supporting the new management. Long live LVBDI!