Rakassah 2007

Well hello there my lovelies,

Yesterday I was on the phone from 9am till around 4pm redialing nonstop to try and secure a dance slot for Rakassah. After 7 hours of a busy signal, I FINALLY got through. For those of you that don't know, Rakassah is one of the biggest bellydance festivals of the year in the world. Vendors, teachers and dancers fly out for this event. If you're into bellydance you can find a lot of "in demand " teachers, musicians, as well as performers. If you want a costume, you have so many options. But be prepared to shell out a lot of dough. The costumes they sell run for about $700-800 a pop.

I went last year and did my sword routine with my troupe, Jewel of Opar. It was great. It was my first time performing in public with the sword, and people loved it. Unfortunately, I was supposed to do other routines with my troupe, but the staff told us at the last minute that they wouldn't allow us all on stage, so I was cut out of the other two dances. But I was okay with that because at least I was able to dance with the sword.

So, on March 16th at 8:34pm I will be performing as a soloist. I've never danced at a festival like this alone before. I will be dancing under my stage name, Amira (it means Princess in Arabic). I don't really know what I will be doing, except that it will be under 7 minutes, and hopefully it will involve my sword.

I am so happy that I was able to secure a dance spot. Now I shall let the hard work and practice begin !