Market at the Casbah 2011

Market at the Casbah is a wonderful belly dance festival that takes place every spring at the Fullerton Senior Multi-Service Center. This year's event took place Satuday, April 2, and offered a full day of performances, shopping and food, thanks to the amazing organizational efforts of Wanda Lee Sundberg and Deborah Peterson. Here's a peek:

Shopping!

Below is my festival buddy, Alane, and drummer Ed Lee, who was scheduled to perform later in the day with Saf Mavi, accompanying Katerina and the Kabuki Dolls.

Azure Moon is the lovely 3-lady troupe who kicked off the performances just before noon.

Next up was Celia, a soloist with loads of style and grace. Not to mention an awesome costume...

How cool is this jeweled foot cover?

Ah, Azuluna -- I always love to watch these ladies dance. They are the student troupe for Sooz, who teaches ATS in northern OC.

Marla is more often seen as half of the Raks Bahlam duo, but today she performed an exquisite Egyptian solo. Gorgeous!

Roz and the Dancing Sands are always popular. The three young girls also performed a Bollywood-style choreography on their own, which they choreographed themselves. It was fun to watch their enthusiasm--and talent!

Essence of the Orient came up next, and yes, they raq'd it!

Cynthia is such a talented dancer and she just gets better and better every year. And I love her costumes! This one is a show-stopper. I wish my photos did it justice.

JJ and the Habibis -- It is impossible to watch these ladies and not have a good time. They are so much fun to watch!

And JJ (Jeri St. James) performed a terrific cane solo, too.

Next up was Medea and the Desert Mirage Dancers. And not only did they fit 12 dancers on this tiny stage, they performed with zills (and sounded great) and veils, too! Just to give you a flavor of their fun act: They opened with Red Elvises' "I Wanna See You Bellydance"

Gabriella from San Diego was next up, and she really shined in this lovely minimalist belly dance costume. Stunning.

Mariposa, who studies with Sylvia Xica Gitana, danced a Spanish-Arabic flavored tribal fusion piece.

And each dancer wore an amazing crocheted hip scarf. So pretty!

Taji and the Johara dancers came out next, and they were a lot of fun to watch. Great dancers, and they play zills, too!

A bit later in the day, Cyriana danced to live music provided by the legendary John Bilezikjian and his band.

So that's a bit of what you might have missed. If I misspelled anyone's name, please drop me a note and I'll be happy to correct it.

Happy dancing!

Market at the Casbah 2010

Another year, another wonderful Market at the Casbah at the Fullerton Senior Multi-Service Center. It's so nice to be able to enjoy a day full of belly dancing and shopping with friends without having to drive all the way into Los Angeles or Long Beach. Wanda Lee Sundberg and Deborah Peterson put on a terrific event every year and I can't thank them enough for doing it. I came home with a couple new CDs from the terrific people at Hollywood Music Center and some amazing new jewelry from Diamond Pyramid, and some pics of some of the lovely dancers who graced the stage all day long.

The event floor

Taji and the Johara Dancers

Taji

Atlantis

Johara Two

Cynthia

Raqs Belam

(I apologize if the spelling is wrong. They were a late add to the lineup and weren't listed in the program.)

Katarina and the Kabuki Dolls danced with live music from Marc Cornelius on the oud and vocals, Ed Lee on the doumbek and another wonderful musician on the didgeridoo.

Christina Rizkallah

Troupe Raihanna

Marlena

John Bilezikjian and his band

Market at the Casbah 2009 recap

The 11th annual Market at the Casbah, organized by local belly dancer and instructor Deborah Peterson and Wanda Lee Sundberg at the Fullerton Senior Community Center on Saturday, was an incredible event with lots of vendors, great workshops by Angelika Nemeth, Middle Eastern food, and nearly continous performances throughout the day.

It was fun seeing Angelika (who ran out to see a student's performance before the first of her two workshops began), as well as Serena, Laura and Veronica -- whom I haven't seen in months because being pregnant has kept me out of dance class. I also got to visit with Najma, Mara and Shauna Roberts (a writing friend who is now taking belly dance classes in the Inland Empire!)

My good friend Enala and I also spent a lot of time at the O.C. Bellydance Connection table (generously donated by Deborah) to say hi to Rachel (who gets the credit for starting what has become a really robust local meetup group for belly dancers), as well as meetup members Gigi Lenker and Elena Wise.

We also had a great chat with belly dance costumer extraordinaire Doyne, who told us a terrific story about how he turned the tables on some Internet scammers (you have to ask him about it -- it's a great story!) and I had the opportunity to say thank you in person to Mher of Hollywood Music Center, and its sister company http://www.bellydance.com/, for his generous donation of raffle prizes, which I'll be giving away at my July 25 Book Release Party & Benefit (more info on that later, or you can check here). He also helped me replace my outdated VHS version of Fat Chance Belly Dance's Tribal Basics tape with a brand new DVD version.

Here are some pics:

Ana

Westside Belly Dance Project

Tribe Roman Morga

The view of the floor

Taji and the Johara Dancers

If you're interested in dancing next year, reservation forms will be available in January. You can find out more at http://www.marketatthecasbah.com/.

Market at the Casbah on Saturday

The annual Market of the Casbah returns on Saturday to the Fullerton Senior Multi-Service Center for its 11th year with lots of performances, live music by John Bilezikjian, shopping and two great workshops with local legend Angelika Nemeth.

In the first workshop, "Folkloric Styles to Enhance Your Dance," which runs from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., Angelika will teach participants how to "add folkloric styling to your dance routines," including "appropriate music, body postures and costuming for Saidi, Khaleeji, Zar and Debke." The cost is $40 at the door.

Then, from 3 to 4:30 p.m., she'll present "Polishing Your Performance: Now That You Know the Steps Let's Dance!" In this workshop, participants will learn "how to use breath, phrasing, dynamics, transitions and expression to take your dance from the ordinary to the extraordinary!" The cost is $35 at the door.

I'll be there to watch and shop, and I'll have some of the super-pretty promo cards for THE BELLY DANCER with me. If you'd like one, just ask -- they're free :-)

The festival opens at 11:30 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. The Fullerton Senior Multi-Service Center is at 340 W. Commonwealth in Fullerton. For more information, check http://www.marketatthecasbah.com/.