The Syracuse Area Bellydancers Association hosted a fundraiser for the victims of Hurricane Katrina last night at Westcott Community Center.

The documentary American Bellydancer was shown followed by a live belly dancing show.

“The thing is that we are here and we seem so far removed from what people are actually experiencing down South. Myself personally, I am from Gulf Port, Mississippi, so for me I have been affected by the Hurricane even up here and there’s so little that we can do from a distance. This is one thing we can do that will make an impact,” said Chelle Naef, bellydance instructor said.

ok, it’s official. 17th is out, 31st is in… thanks for your opinions

the 17th is getting a lot of complaints about conflicts through the back-channels, and i have a conflict on the 24th, so, if you’ve got some thoughts on the 17th versus the 31st, get in touch…

many of you that know me know that i’ve been putting off the “Grand Cut” since around the end of last year, with great global events (tsunamis, popes, wars, etc) and minor personal events conspiring to ruin the best laid plans and best intentions… now that the spring crunch is [mostly] over, it’s time to get this done.

for those that don’t know, i’m cutting off about 16 inches of hair.

i’m looking for people who will play with me on a sunday toward the middle of july (july 17 would be perfect), and i’m going to bring myself and hopefully a bunch of amazing dancing girls in full dance regalia into adams morgan (washington dc) to take off some hair for locks of love.

i have a salon in adams morgan willing to work with me, so we’re back on track… plans are afoot, as it were.

i’d like to turn this into a bit of a media event, so we can make it into some sort of fundraiser for the charity, have an all-day party… pretty much anything goes. for me, it’s a chance to lighten my load and spend the day with some great people for a good cause. i’ve got some silly ideas myself, but i want to give everyone some time to brainstorm.

so, tell me what you think. tell me if you’ll play along. tell me if the 17th is good for you, or if the 24th is better for some reason. tell me if you’ve got great ideas for this event, or if you’ve got some special skill that would help make this happen. tell me if you’ve got connections with local media (newspapers, radio, tv, websites).

creativity counts, and there are scissors involved, so it should be fun.

if you’d like to participate in some way, say so in the comments below and we’ll get something organized. thanks!

Belly Dancing From the Heart; N. Va. Women Raise Funds & Confidence

“It was pretty traumatic. I wanted to see what I could do,” she [Nazie Massoumi] said. She took the idea to [Katayoun] Hutson, who has in the past helped organize benefit performances. She said that she would definitely help, but because of numerous other commitments, the majority of the organizational work would have to rest with Massoumi. “It was actually more work than I anticipated,” Massoumi told the News-Press. Over the past three months, she has been designing and sending out flyers and posters, posting information on a variety of websites, arranging for the venue, insuring the event, and arranging advance ticket sales, not to mention practicing for her own performance.

thanks for dancing…
chiaki, ebony and elyssa of sahara dance
lucy
nadira
katayoun
the desert doves (janice, mary, sunny, robyn, kaliah, ramaya, johara.zorayah, nazie, asana, mima)
asharah
katie
shems
rodrigo

thanks for hosting, leila

and honorable mentions for nimeera. who apparently had to drop out with the chaos of the evening…

details are here on this site and here on samira’s.

not only do you get to see more than a dozen of the area’s best dancers come together to in response to one of the greatest human tragedies of modern times, but you could go home with one of these three prints…

from left to right, i present asharah, lotus niraja and lucy, all of whom are not only lending their talent and passion to this benefit, but have allowed me to give a little too.

each print is 12.5-by-12.5 inches, printed on richly saturated archival paper to last a lifetime, and are ready to frame.

other items in the benefit auction:
* 6 lbs. of delicious Starbucks coffee in assorted varieties
* A treasure from Cleopatra’s Closet
* A gift basket from Natural Body Spa & Shoppe
* A beautiful black elephant made in India from Ten Thousand Villages Hand-beaded jewelery by Kostana
* A doumbek from House of Musical Traditions

If you are unable to attend, but would like to make a donation:

Darfur Peace and Development
PO Box 15177
Richmond, VA 23227

Reported in the Hattiesburg American, Jarvis McKinley’s, 16, and a student at the Virginia School of the Arts is trying to raise $7000 to continue his dance education. He has $3000 to date.

To provide assistance for McKinley to continue attending the Virginia School for the Arts, contact USM professor Tim Rehner at (601) 266-5114. Checks for tuition assistance may be made payable to: USM Foundation – School of Social Work (Jarvis McKinley) in order for the donor to qualify for a tax deduction.