a lovely dance weekend

last weekend i went on the much-anticipated emerald sanctuary dance retreat at camp delaney at sun lakes. it was so much fun, and i came home exhausted, aching, broke, and thoroughly happy! for four days, we had workshops with fantastic teachers, got to socialize with other ladies with similar interests (bellydance!), swam in the lake, and of course, dance!
the workshops were taught by fantastic dancers, and they were quite fun, but totally kicked my butt. especially the ones taught by the wonderful, beautiful aubre hill. there was jen (pictured above) of the dance troupe zephyr, who taught 'bodacious bitchin' bellies', deedy, who taught us how to twirl poi. aubre showed us fosse inspired moves and more, and the marvelous magidah of portland who also has the activewear line magidahwear. there was a drum workshop by the awesome middle-eastern drummer, george sadak, and a percussion workshop with finger cymbals by my very first teacher, yasmin. then on the last day, there was the seattle dancer, elisa gamal, who taught how to put life into your moves.

and we got to do all this in this amazing setting of volcanic bluffs and lakes dotting the landscape. it was great...this is the way we walked between the cabins where we slept at night, and down to the hall where we had the workshops and met for the day. i thought i would have lost more weight than i did, since i walked this path sooooo many times that weekend!

there were haflas on both friday and saturday nights, and we got to dress up and dance and also watch other wonderful dancers. here is the beautiful aubre performing for us.

and then of couse, there were the wonderful vendors that were there to tempt us to buy fun things...and you know i did! i was there with ottoman trading company helping out, and silk road tribal was there to help me lighten my wallet...i love it! i bought a spider web hip scarf and a beautiful fuschia pink vintage sari wrap skirt. i also bought a turquoise tie-dyed veil from pearl haika who also has the portrait business, pearl portraits, and i bought a necklace from kasima of fuzzy monkeys, that is also has veils that she dyes herself, and is a dance instructor as well.


it was just so much fun... we are all exchanging e-mails and photos, and waiting to do it all over again next year!

Comments

Lila (aka Syd) said…
Wonderful post and great photos. It was a pleasure to be your cabin roommate this year. You and Dagmar put on a wonderful performance.
Elizabeth said…
Sounds fabulous! I love Aubre! She is so amazing!

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