Fall 2020 Virtual Classes

Hello Dancers,

Well, we’re still sheltering in place here in California, so let’s keep belly dancing from our homes.

My Fall teaching schedule is up now on my Classes page. Registration for the classes through the SSF Parks and Rec starts on 9/4 for SSF Residents and 9/8 for everyone else. And the one bright side of virtual classes is that you can take them from anywhere, so please feel free to join us.

You can register for the Parks and Rec classes directly on their website. I hope to see you in class.

In addition to teaching, have also been using this shelter in place time to go through years of performance footage. I have always lacked the confidence to share my dancing on social media and so I neglected this part of being a dancer. It’s been nice to go through them all now and I will start sharing some here. I am working on my YouTube channel and I hope you will consider subscribing.

Here is one of the performances I posted there. It’s a lovely American Cabaret style performance from 2014 featuring live music by local belly dance favorites Meridian Band. I hope you enjoy it.

Thank you all for reading and I will look forward to seeing you in class.


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Rakkasah Part Two

Today I wanted to share a few of my photos from the Rakkasah West Festival in Concord, CA last month.  Rakkasah is the first of the bellydance festivals in the US and I believe it is still the biggest.  It is always an inspiring and fun day!

This year I was incredibly fortunate to get a slot with one of my favorite bands, Pangia.  They play classic American-style belly dance music, which is really a blend of many traditions- Arabic, Turkish, Greek, Armenian etc.

Here are a few of my photos from this great day:

Dancing with Pangia:  Pat Olson, Denise Olson, Reda Darwish, Tim Bolling, Shady and Linda Grondahl

Dancing with Pangia:  Pat Olson, Denise Olson, Reda Darwish, Tim Bolling, Shady and Linda Grondahl

It's always an honor and just so much fun to dance a drum solo with the great Reda Darwish

It's always an honor and just so much fun to dance a drum solo with the great Reda Darwish

One more at Rakkasah West 2018 with Pangia!

One more at Rakkasah West 2018 with Pangia!

Finally, I also wanted to share a bit of the tribute to Zelina/Elaine that I mentioned in my previous Rakkasah  post.  This is the last minute or so of the show where we all blow are dear friend a kiss.  (The great music is Kuli Banat by Nazir Latouf).  I was so happy I got to be a part of this celebration of our beautiful friend and her love of dance.

The last 1.5 minutes of El Asaab's tribute to Zelina/Elaine Arneson at Rakassah West 2018, where we blow are dearly missed friend a kiss.

I'll just close with a few reminders!  My summer belly dance classes at the South San Francisco Parks and Rec will start on Wednesday, June 20th.  You can register online at the brand new SSF website here.  If there are any problems you can call the office at 650.829.3800.  Complete class information is available on my classes page and you can also always contact me!

And then I will be performing at Tannourine Restaurant in San Mateo to live Arabic music as part of a belly dance show put on by the one and only Khalil Abboud and band on Friday, June 1st.  Complete information about the show is on my Shows page.