Dear Friends,

Happy New Year to you all! I am very excited to tell you about this past year for it was truly a watershed year in dance for me.

To begin with I was given a lectureship teaching Middle Eastern Dance at UCSB. It is the first ethnic dance class taught at this university. I am thrilled that Middle Eastern dance was selected and proud to have the opportunity to teach it.

In addition to this appointment I have recently completed a worldwide trip doing dance research and buying products for my new business, Caravan Imports, located here in Santa Barbara. I visited Morocco, Spain, Egypt, Turkey, Greece and Indonesia and spent about a month in each country shopping, studying dance and making friends. Here are some highlights from each country to share with you.

MOROCCO
Morocco was the usual exotic and sultry country it always is, filled with incredible drama and beauty. I went to a sow billed as a folkloric show with a little Russian, and it turned out to be a Russian show with a little folkloric thrown in. In between a folkloric group came out and did its thing but was VERY incongruous and strange in the same context of the Russians! Sigh! Alas, I guess the Russians have come and they have taken over!

SPAIN
I went to Spain to see the country and to continue my study of flamenco. While there I visited Grenada and wandered around the caves of Sacramento where the gypsies have lived and danced for over 600 years and where much of flamenco was born. Also visited the beautiful town of Jerez de la Frontera and its fabulous Centro de Flamenco, a library which houses pretty much every document, (literary, audio and video), ever made about flamenco.

In Spain I found very cool lodgings in Sevilla, (where I spent most of my time), living in an old hacienda, a white elephant owned by an old German “vagabond” musician, (that’s what he called himself, proudly - he was kind of a white elephant himself), who only boarded dancers and musicians.

I took classes with a wonderful teacher, Carmen de Torres, and danced in an Arabic Tea House called Club Chaouan which was one of a few of its kind in Triana, the old gypsy quarter of Sevilla. I was there during the Semana Santa, Spain’s holiest holiday commemorating Christ’s crucifixion, and enjoyed observing this, one of Catholicism’s great annual events. I was also fortunate to be there during the Feria – the big fiesta of Spain – which puts Santa Barbara’s “Fiesta” to shame!

I must say, my time spent in Spain was perhaps the happiest and most fulfilling and the Spanish are some of the happiest, most enthusiastic people I have ever come across anywhere. Spain was one of my favorite countries. I hope to return there someday.

EGYPT
When I left on my trip in March I had had no solid contacts and had no confirmed accommodations. I really took a leap of faith doing it this way and most of the time this did not present any problems. I believe this was because I never once felt afraid. The entire trip I had the faith and exhilaration of a child and I believe that this, combined with having a couple of angels on my shoulders, got me through a lot.

Near the end of my stay in Sevilla I still had no confirmed place to stay in Egypt, however, through a friend on the internet I found a super couple to stay with for the duration of the month in Egypt. I lived wit them on (not in) their houseboat.

Bill and Bridget, (my hosts), were very well connected in Cairo, he being a prominent photographer and she a teacher in a private high school, and, as their guest I was befriended by both my hosts as well as their social group. It was a group of exciting and excited young ex-pats living and working in Egypt to escape from their disillusionment of life back home, (shades of the 60’s!).I had friends to help me, to play with, and get entrée to many wonderful events such as art openings and consulate parties.

I went to Egypt to study Haggala and my dream came true. I met and befriended a former students family – a wealthy Coptic family who live in Heliopolis. They own a fabulous four-star hotel in Marsah Matruh called Beau Site, recognized as Marsah Matruh’s best hotel.Marsah Matruh is a small coastal town in Lower Egypt and it is the center of origin of the Haggala, a men’s wedding dance. I was very fortunate when they invited me to be their guest for a four day stay in Beau Site, gratis, not only because Iwas given the treat of a four-day paid vacation on the coast of the Mediterranean, but also, they put on a concert of Haggala with the local Bedouins in my honor! What a show! What a weekend! What wonderful people they were. They truly exemplified Arabic hospitality and I got a great firsthand experience with Haggala.

Back in Cairo I saw Dina’s show and was not impressed at all. The orchestra had enough brass to be a swing band. The dance she did was more of a fashion show than a belly dance performance as she went off after every song and changed costumes, which became quite disruptive. Throughout the performance she did little to no taxsim or any other contrasting work to balance the incessant fast-paced 4/4. My bottom line impression of Dina is that she has technical ability, (although she’s a bit stiff and frenetic), and definite panache, but lacks the softness and grace that is the benchmark of belly dance. I decided that if she is the pinnacle of the belly dance experience in Egypt, well, then, somewhere in time Egyptian belly dance has lost it’s true identity as belly dance.

On the other hand, if you haven’t seen them and you are in Egypt, go see the Sufis perform at the Khan el-Khalili mosque – they as superb! The music and dance is absolutely spectacular and the show will leave you breathless!

As for the shopping it was as always a shoppers dream come true! I am anxious to return and buy for the company, my store and myself!