Recap of Friday's belly dance showcase and booksigning

Friday was one of the hottest (and most humid!) days of the year here in Orange County, but the Cameron clan had a very cool time at the booksigning and belly dance showcase that Laguna Beach Books hosted for us.

The event took place on The Old Pottery Place's brick terrace overlooking Coast Highway and the beautiful Pacific Ocean, with the lovely Danielle Bauter starting things off. After her introduction, I gave a short reading of THE BELLY DANCER and then the real fun began with live Middle Eastern drumming and lots and lots of belly dancing.

I was thrilled that so many friends came out for the event, especially Diane and Mara (who also danced!) who took great care of my little belly dancer while I manned the microphone and signed books, and my multi-tasking husband managed the sound system and drummed.

Here's a peek at the evening:

The darling Taide was our first dancer for the evening

Irma Garcia followed with a great tribal fusion pieceThen it was IrinaXara, who adds a touch of Gothic flair to her tribal fusion performanceAnd then the always spectacular Sooz and troupe Azuluna, with special guest Soy, performed traditional American Tribal Style as the sun started to set Sherrie followed with a sassy tribal fusion solo

Then Mara dazzled the crowd with her awesome Egyptian cabaret style

And Shanna, who came all the way from L.A., followed with another awesome Egyptian cabaret number

And Ninyshenka wowed us with her graceful dancing Next up was Tivka, who danced to a lively Middle Eastern number

And then JJ & the Habibis, a local Laguna Beach favorite, ended the night with a big troupe number