AZ to CA to WA

I’m going to try not to make this into a novel, because SO MUCH has happened since I set off on my big vacation/moving adventure.

For those of you who didn’t already know, I met my friend Sabien at 8 Elements: Initiation and we hit it off in a crazy way, hanging out every day, exploring Portland after class, sharing meals, and studying together. There was one problem: I’m from the US and she’s from the Netherlands. Distance didn’t do much to stymie our friendship though, as we found a window of time when we were both awake and could chat almost every day.

Sabien wanted to come back to the states for a big belly dance festival so I was like “You HAVE to do Tribal Fest!” Being the sort of person who likes to plan ahead, she went ahead and got the time off and the tickets to SFO. Then shit went down. There was no more Tribal Fest. “Whatever!” we said “We’ll just have a vacation in San Francisco!”

And so we did.

The San Francisco Bay Area is a great place for a dancer vacation, because even without a big dance festival to go to, there was more belly dance stuff than we could do, plus lots of shopping and beautiful nature and cool people.

I drove all the way from Tucson to the South Bay in one day, with half my life in my car with me. I don’t really recommend that, but I had the audiobook version of Ancillary Justice queued up and I just powered through.

We spent our first few days in a tiny house in Emerald Hills, aka The Minotaur Maze. This was the makeup shopping portion of our trip, during which we went to Sephora and Nyx. We also took a day trip down to Half Moon Bay, which has an adorable main street and a beautiful walking path along the coast. We also did a walking path along a marsh preserve which was not as beautiful, but it was still good to get out and walk and see birds and flowers. I managed to get sunburn on my lips because I forgot to pack my hat and SPF15 lip balm was not cutting it!

After that we went to Berkeley to begin the dancing part of our adventure (although Sabien had done some dancing before I got there). I have to say Berkeley was probably my favorite stop off on our trip. We had a little studio apartment in a very walkeable neighborhood. We got to explore a lot of local businesses, including a Burmese restaurant — YUM! And we were able to walk to The Works studio, where we were supposed to take class with Kami Liddle, but Kami was sick so instead we had a substitute teacher — some lady named Mira Betz? Ha ha! Oh yeah, and there’s also Shadowbox, the adorable pop-up shop run by Zoe Jakes and Beats Antique, which was open on one of the days we were there.

While in Berkeley we went into SF twice to visit FCBD, once for ATS classes and once for Strange Brew with Mira Betz (yeah that’s right, I got to study with Mira twice in one week!). I’m really glad we were able to visit the original Mothership before it closes down at the end of June. It was also fun to discover that I know/remember more ATS than I thought, as I was able to hold my own in Level 2 and even take some turns leading. It’s good to know that while ATS is not my focus, I can still participate in a classroom or jamming with friends.

Also, after so long of not being in a regular belly dance class, it felt so nice to be in a classroom situation again! There’s a really different vibe between a workshop and a classroom. Workshops tend to be more about the teacher working to get a specific concept across, and then you’re off to get another concept from another teacher. These classes had more of a back-to-the-basics feel, especially the second class of our Mon evening with Mira in Berkeley, when there were only a few of us so she asked what we wanted to work on, whipped up a class based around that, and gave each of us individual corrections and encouragement. I couldn’t stop smiling when I was in class!

SF was not my favorite, we took the BART in one day, which was fine for getting in but not so great for going back late at night, and then we drove in for Mira, which involved lots of traffic and parking. Plus I really wish the city would do more to help its homeless population get off the street. It’s ridiculous to walk by all these cute, overpriced trendy boutiques and bistros and see people sleeping under tarps on the same street. Talk about a painful reminder of the wealth inequality in this world, and especially in cities where the cost of rent is fast outstripping the median wage.

After Berkeley we took off for Sacramento. It’s funny that I spent my first 12 years in California and finally visited its capital city well into my adulthood. Anyway, Sac also seemed like a cool town. We were there for Hot Pot. I didn’t end up doing any classes because one of my freelance projects blew up and took over my life, but I did attend a casual hafla which was fun. We were in another cute, walkable neighborhood that I didn’t get to enjoy due to work, but we did explore Old Sacramento when I finally tamed the work-beast. It’s a cute old timey area with shops and restaurants, kind of touristy but still fun, and the weather was nice for playing tourist. Also our apartment was great and our host was a peach, definitely one of my best AirBnB experiences.

Finally we went over to Sebastopol, because we wanted to do the Sonoma County thing and I found an adorable eco-yurt for us to stay in. WE LOVED THE YURT! It was cute and comfy and surprisingly roomy, and had an outdoor shower with a sandstone floor. I wish we’d had a couple more days there. We had fun walking around downtown Sebastopol, eating ice cream and exploring all the local businesses that I never had time for during Tribal Fest.

We took a day trip from Sebastopol to first drive through some redwoods and see Jenner (where the above photo was taken). So much gorgeous scenery! Then all the way back down to Oakland for Ariellah’s 10th Anniversary Home Studio Student Hafla, which was amazing! In addition to her students she had some awesome Bay Area dancers joining in, including a couple original members of FCBD, and Verbatim (one of the Unmata offshoots). The performances were on her patio surrounded by trees and looking out onto the city and the bay, and the weather was perfect, and I got to see some friends.

THEN our day still wasn’t over, because we had to finish out our trip with a big treat — back down into San Francisco for an amazing evening of entertainment from Sorne, Zoe Jakes’ House of Tarot and Stellamara — and you bet some of those House of Tarot dancers got on stage with Stellamara, too! What an incredible show it was. And it was held in the beautiful Great American Music Hall, which was all rococo and shit. We were out way too late but I don’t regret a moment of it.

One of the amazing things about our trip was how we kept running into the same people over and over again — We saw one lady in class with Mira, then at Shadowbox, then she was running the merch booth at the concert. Some people were in various classes, and at Ariellah’s hafla, and at the concert. One of the dancers we met at Hot Pot, who I’d also briefly crossed paths with at Massive, came all the way from Sac to SF for the concert. Oh, and Kami Liddle was in the audience at the concert, too. It was really nice to see people supporting the dance community with their time and money. I also witnessed or heard about a lot of people giving each other rides home, or walking them to the BART station or just otherwise watching out for their fellow dancers.

Anyway, Monday morning came and I had to drive Sabien back into SF for her last few days (if only we’d known about the concert when we chose our AirBnBs, we could have saved ourselves a lot of driving!) and then I was on the road again all the way up to Portland! I had a lovely overnight visit and breakfast with my teacher and mentor Jolie and her family and their dogs and got to see their lovely new home. I hadn’t seen her since the last TF so it was great to see her and also to see how her baby has grown into a toddler!

And then just 2.5 hours more on the road Tues afternoon, and I was IN MY NEW HOME! I have the cutest little sublet in Tacoma WA and I love it and my new neighborhood and I can’t wait to spend the summer there. I can’t believe it’s finally real, I finally moved out of AZ. I did it!

Of course, now I’m back in AZ to get my braces off and bring my cat back home with me. But just two more days and I will be back and I will be sharing lots more about my new home, here and on social media.

What an incredible journey you've embarked on! From forging a lasting friendship at 8 Elements: Initiation to experiencing the diverse belly dance scene across different cities, and finally settling into your new home in Tacoma, WA—it's truly a tale of adventure, culture, and personal growth.

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WHEW! Not quite a novel, but close.