see eby play

Beijing

2009-02-09T11:50:00.000-08:00

Last month I spent a week teaching belly dance in Beijing, China. I absolutely loved every minute of it! Here is a slideshow.

China 2009

2009-01-25T17:21:00.000-08:00

this past fall i went on a two month long tour with an internationally renown bellydance ensemble. here are some of the highlights of my experience dancing throughout the UK, Spain, France, Belgium, Canada and the US.

rehearsal week in LA
i spent a week in Los Angeles learning the numbers that i'd perform in the show. this was also the time for me to meet the myriad of sweet and silly characters that make up the lovely ladies of BDSS.

hanging with Deo and Mona in LA
that first week was one of the hardest. rehearsal week is physically and mentally no joke for a new girl. i was missing Gianma, mom and my crew already. luckily i have some emergency crew provisions on the west coast. they took care of me.

the night before the first show
our hotel in Newcastle was hosting several weddings where the bride and groom couldn't have been older than high school age. this resulted in loud singing, fighting, running and fire alarm pulling all night long. i probably got like 3 hours of sleep.

Alan Titchmarsh show on BBC One
we got to perform on this daytime BBC One show. because Bozenka had been Shakira's teacher, they introduced us as the "women who taught Shakira to bellydance"

going shopping in Camden
i love this funky London shopping area.

Chad and Niyati
i had dinner with a dear friend and his new bride-to-be in London. this was perfect because i was starting to miss my peeps again. these were my peeps away from home for a night.

afternoon tea
a tea house nestled in a beautiful park. tea, thick and fluffy scones, jam and clotted cream.

Belgian waffles
they're magical. enough so that you'll take some stupid risks to get one.

getting cleaned in the French pay toilet
just pay the damned 30 cents. don't try to be smart and end up looking dumb.

living in a castle in france for a week
it was beautiful. it looked just like a fairy tale castle inside and out. but i'm Ebony so i was cold and...kinda frightened at night.

fresh crepes from a Parisian street vendor everyday
ham, cheese, salt and pepper. so simple, but enough to make you stop mid stride and go "daayummmm"

Crazy Horse (Paris)
a great show to see in Paris. surprisingly, there's clips of the show on their site.

getting sick and then burgled in Barcelona
they done took my wallet

NYC show
my beloved crew (Gianma, Butter, Chichi, Jen, Rachel, Yonas, Larry) came to see the show in NYC and fed me love, wine, chocolate and cookies :) :) :)

enduring the bellybus
that bus is not cute

spending quality time with mom and Becca in philly
much needed family and friend time away from the show business

stumbling into an Improv Everywhere event in Montreal
i was at a bustling shopping mall that suddenly froze in time. i knew immediately what was up and got really giddy, running around taking video. i even stopped and "froze" for a couple of seconds, too.

falling down really hard in Montreal
it was freezing out and i could barely see over my layers of winter outerwear. i tripped over a cord and slammed into the ground with the force of the jedi. i was stunned and my spirit was broken. i was surprised my arm wasn't broken. so...i started drinking.

getting super duper dissed by a hotel manager in Montreal
"they say they're the Bellydance Superstars, but they don't look anything like in the poster"

hanging with Joycie and Catherine in Boston
yay for yummy food, chocolate martini's and super sweet girlfriends

coming home :)

2009-01-18T13:18:00.000-08:00

if high school friends try to add me as their friends on facebook, how i am i supposed to remember who they are if they have a profile pic of a stupid baby instead of a pic of themselves?

2009-01-14T18:21:00.000-08:00

i know christmas is over (although my tree is still up and i still insist on plugging it in at night) but i have to post these japanese commercials from the 80s.

i love this song. chiaki translated it for me and sent me the words so i can learn to sing it. it totally reminds me of "last christmas" by Wham. chiaki says that that's exactly the japanese equivalent of this song.

so at susie's party on saturday night all the japanese (as in, our japanese crew of friends that we just call "the japanese") were there. when the lights came up and gianma played the last song i started singing this song to them.

oh my god, they all burst out singing it at the top of their lungs. it was so cool!

2009-01-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

beijing knows how to do lamb! mmm mmm bitch!

last night over dinner i taught Yao and Guo Wei how to say "punk ass bitch". it was hilarious. we all turned into 10 year olds. they taught me some equally offensive Chinese words.

i've watched Moria craft a tribal bra and belt in 2 days. she...is a genious. a little costume making sprite. i'm totally inspired now to get to work on some costuming of my own...

especially since there's a huge show billboard at the studio with me, Moriah and Sabah on it with me wearing the same costume that i brought to perform in. eeeeeeee.

time to get to work.

also? for some reason, i can wake up at 6am on my own here. in the US, i can't bear to wake up earlier than 10am. maybe this is the time zone i'm meant to live in? maybe it's the 2 hour work days :)

2009-01-05T01:45:00.001-08:00

well, i am loving it here.

everything that i've eaten has been SO good that i dream about the food at night.

funny thing is, at home i don't eat much chinese food. but here, i love it.

the BEST thing that i've eaten so far? wait for it. fried lamb. i know that sounds wrong, but O...M...G. no yonas, don't try to do it yourself. something about the way they marinated it and spiced it and fried it up. lordy, it was crispy on the outside and lamby on the inside. hooooo.

i love how at the hotel i can eat savory chinese breakfasts. there is sooo much stuff on the buffet. our host always feeds us a delicious chinese lunch, then at night takes us out for dinner. i had peking duck in Peking!

i teach for 2 hours a day. the students are so gracious and attentive. today me and brian went sightseeing to the "birds nest stadium" and the "water cube".

2009-01-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

i've been saying "she she" to people all morning.

in response, they just look at me.

i'm talking to myself more than ever right now. in the elevator i thought to myself that i hope i'm not telling people to 'fuck off' instead of saying 'thank you' and said aloud "if the interwebs can't save me nobody can".

took me less than a minute to find out how to pronounce xiexie in mandarin.

dang...i wonder what "she she" means...

2009-01-03T00:48:00.000-08:00

so chiaki says that the dream you have on new years eve predicts the way your year will turn out.

on nye i dreamt that chi chi and i were wandering/rushing around some park/fair/carnival trying to get ready to perform. we didn't know where we were supposed to be. we didn't know what time we were supposed to be there. we weren't sure which costumes we had to wear. we weren't sure which pieces we needed to perform, etc.

i remember us watching our "troupe" perform while we wrung our hands backstage having missed our cues to go on - and realizing that we didn't know the choreography that we were watching anyway.

*shrug*

so, this morning i totally overslept and missed my shuttle to the airport. i freaked out pretty good.

then i ended up taking public transportation and making the flight.

hope this doesn't happen all year.

i love Korean Airlines. they gave me bibimbap for lunch. that is the best airline meal i have EVER had. i think it was the first time i enjoyed eating something on an airplane. i don't think the steward was confident that i could handle bibimbap. he offered me "beef or uh...korean food". i was like "bitch, gimme that bibimbap and an extra tube of chili paste".

get THIS. for snack, they passed out pork buns. butter, you reading this? and they were for real. i started giggling too, cause it reminded me of that pork bun story that gianma made up.

also? the stewardesses on Korean Airlines wear the cutest outfits.

so now, i'm sitting in the airport in Seoul, South Korea with a 5 year old girl literally breathing down my neck. i feel funny from lack of sleep. my flight to Beijing leaves in about an hour.

2008-12-23T12:41:00.000-08:00

i'm just going to jump right back in.

pre ordering fried chicken dinners from KFC is a Japanese tradition at Christmastime.

when Chiaki told me this, i thought she was making it up...just like the story about the Japanese street monkeys.

however, she sent lots of proof in the form on online sources.

and then she sent me this...

champagne with some KFC. dang.

2008-12-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

in Montreal

2008-11-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

i've been having a recurring dream about a pancake.

it's a hot silver dollar pancake that i spread salted whipped butter onto. i pick it up with my hands and fold it in half before the butter has even melted all the way. i bite into it and wake up...

i also daydream about whiskey. somewhere on the road, in Spain, i learned that whiskey makes happiness. sickness, loneliness, fatigue and other such nuisances melt away with about 2 fingers of blended whiskey, neat.

2008-11-17T17:18:00.000-08:00

tonights show was our last in europe.

we are in Madrid, staying at the pimpest hotel ever. it has remote control window shades and all kindsa mood lighting settings. it's pretty fly.

unfortunately, we have lobby call in about 6 hours, so i'll never get to take a bath in that nice tub.

i hope to come back to Spain sometime when i'm not working. it's been a roller coaster. i got sick, i found out that a friend in dance had passed away, i dealt with some minor dramas, and i got my wallet stolen. all that in Barcelona. the city that i most looked forward to visiting.

i'm very excited to see monkey and all of my furry friends and fam in NYC and PA.

monkey hasn't lost his goofy since i've been gone. here's him wearing rachel brookmire's coat at a party a couple of days ago (looking like gonzo the muppet, no less)

monkey and chi chi wearing each others' clothes

goodbye kaihea

2008-11-14T13:11:00.000-08:00

i'm glad i knew you.
i hope that you have peace.
i know you'll always be dancing.

2008-11-11T17:17:00.001-08:00

tonight i tried to use the bidet in our hotel bathroom.

i don't understand it. i got my pants all wet. i don't like it...

gianma used to shake his finger and say that we americans are "nasty" for not having these things. that all we do is "smear shit around".

2008-11-11T04:32:00.001-08:00

here in Zaragoza, Spain, they put some nasty sticky glaze on top of croissants.

this pisses me off.

i went to several shops trying to find a plain croissant.

finally, i resorted to peeling open a croissant and trying to eat just the inside. it wasn't easy and i'm still hungry.

2008-11-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

i met lucky (lucian) while dancing to drum n bass.

he was a boy dancing crazy by himself.

i was a girl dancing crazy by myself.

i literally looked at him and decided "he's my new friend" and danced over to him.

kisses and hugs to lucky and mary. i wish we weren't so far away and could dance crazy together more.

love each other forever.

2008-11-09T07:57:00.000-08:00

i keep thinking it's a joke every other time i hear a man speaking french in a deep voice. i actually start chuckling like someone is doing a skit. until i remember that i'm in france. and in france, people speak french. it's not supposed to be funny.

i realize how retarded i just made myself sound. i don't care right now. i'm tired. we will have done 5 shows in 3 days by tonight.

today i was walking past a little park in the Champs-Élysées area. i was eating up on a delicious crepe avec jambon and fromage that i bought from a vendor. i saw a guy washing his hair with a bottle of water and some soap on a park bench. he wasn't homeless, just a backpacker. it's kinda cold out. i openly stared at him in admiration of his skillz.

the next show starts in 25 minutes.

i would like a nap.

2008-11-06T08:15:00.000-08:00

a few pics from around the castle. the place is huge, i'm not a great photographer like yonas, so my pics don't do it justice. plus, i've slacked on taking enough photos. the website gives a better idea of what it looks like.

yessssssss

2008-11-05T17:31:00.000-08:00

2008-11-04T01:14:00.001-08:00

i've never had good luck in France.

the other day i got "washed" in the french pay toilet. the french feel that peeing is something that should be paid for. they have these toilet booth/capsules that you pay 30 cents to use. when you shut the door and leave, the booth cleans itself. this is a detail that i knew, but had forgotten. to save money, some of us decided to try and cheat the pay toilets by holding the door open for the next person to go in.

so, i go into this metal vault, close the door and immediately hear water whooshing and machine noises. this is when i remembered the "cleaning" bit and started pushing on the door to try to get out. it wouldn't budge. it was like being buried alive or something and i really thought for a few seconds that i might get drowned. i finally found the little red button that releases you from the vault just as water started flooding the floor. so my shoes and the bottom of my jeans got "cleaned".

and really, why was i trying to save 30 cents? what am i? a vagabond?

so far i have danced through Newcastle, York, London, Basingstoke, Tewkesbury, Cardiff, Torquay and Brussels.

i'm sorry that i haven't had much of a chance to enjoy the nightlife in these places. well, particularly London and Brussels. after the show we're usually hungry and beat. still, i'm disappointed in myself for not getting up more in London because of the electronic music scene that has always thrived there.

some food highlights of the trip have been the lot of us going to this beautiful park in Gloucestershire and having tea in the tea room there. we had some of the most delicious, fluffy, and warm scones ever!

ok, the biggest food orgasm...maybe of the year? guys, are you listening? in Brussels. how can i put this. there is nothing...NOTHING like a belgian waffle bought from a street vendor. it is MAGIC, do you understand? it's like elves make them.

those "belgian waffles" that we eat in restaurants in the US...are NOT fucking belgian waffles.

for a real belgian waffle you will take the risk of deboarding the train that is leaving in 15 minutes to take you to France to run like a maniac through the train station and outside to the street to throw yourself onto the waffle van. 3 euros buys you two waffles that are so good that they seem impossible. it's like tasting a fairy tale. they make them fresh then put some kind of sugar on them while they're hot and this crystalizes and forms a light syrup. the thing is warm, crisp, soft on the inside, juicy and buttery. i am forever ruined.

this week we are staying at the Chateau Marouatte. Miles (our boss) has owned it for the past 20 years. it's pretty fantastic. we have 3 french cooks and they are stuffing us with deliciousness 3 times a day. the castle is full of gothic art and furniture, just the way you'd expect a castle to look on the inside.

i'll post castle photos tomorrow.

2008-10-28T05:21:00.000-07:00

last night i had something called a branson pickle and cheese sandwich.

it's a very english snack, and i'd heard reviews ranging from "revolting" to "delicious".

it's soft white bread smeared with butter on both sides, topped with white cheddar and some strange dark substance (i guess that's the branson pickle).

it's off the hook.

i'm in england till halloween. more of these must be consumed.

i'll also need some scones and clotted cream.

i guess food in england has somewhat of an upside.

2008-10-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

cheers from Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire!

wanna know what matters to me these days? free wifi and free breakfasts!

this morning we packed up and left London after 4 nights of shows in the city. tonight we performed for 700 people at a large theater called The Anvil. drove three hours and are at a golf and country club (in the woods). we happen to have free wifi here, so i'm sure we'll all be up all night. it's almost 3am now.

in london, we went to the BBC One building and were on a show called the Alan Titchmarsh show. we've been doing one show a night (except yesterday, we did two) and i'm finally feeling like i'm getting more relaxed.

remember i mentioned Deo vandalizing the work spaces of his coworkers? check this out.

2008-10-16T16:13:00.000-07:00

friends...how many of us have them?

friends...the ones you can depend on

remember that whodini song?

man, again i have to thank god for my peeps. y'all be looking out for me like i don't know what.

deo's crazy ass took me out to the Roxy the other night to see some wack ass band, took me to his office to see how he's been vandalizing his coworkers' offices', fed me snacks, went to a sushi restaurant with me when he doesn't even like sushi, and hooked me the HELL up with a ton of dvds for my trip.

mona picked me up one night and took me shopping for shoes and boots. y'all know i don't know how to shop, so it was a huge help. she even offered to ship stuff back to DC for me since i'd overpacked. oh...and she took me to PINKBERRY. for this, mona will always be wearing an imaginary crown that only i can see.

ami is the shiznit for hooking me up with tons of stuff for the trip and laying down the law as far as what to pack and what to leave. (sorry i didn't get to call you)

chiaki is awesome for always finding out info for me, reminding me of how not to lose my shit (as in my mind) and always being there to help and talk when i'm stressed.

i want to put all my friends in my back pocket...

and sit on them.

2008-10-08T00:13:00.000-07:00

i know i've said this before, but no, really this time.

last night i laughed harder than i have maybe ALL year. the kind of laughing fit where i actually fell onto the floor and was lodged in between the couch and the coffee table in bubby's apartment. where all i could do was involuntarily kick my legs and cry big tears and surrender until i could be released from the fit. me and gianma were making fun of something poor bubby was wearing. sorry bubby, but thank you for wearing that, we needed that laugh.

this morning i was sadder than i have been maybe all year, though. i sure miss my monkey and can't wait to see him again.

we're both excited for me, though.

here goes!

2008-10-04T12:12:00.000-07:00

i forgot to take photos with my new camera of last nights' deliciousness.

we had a family dinner at our house last night. damn it was yummy! nick made his famous stuffed peppers. everybody got real quiet eating them. mom said they were the best stuffed peppers she'd ever had in her life. they were amazing.

gianma made his delicious shrimp skewars, bruschetta, grilled eggplant (my new favorite) and grilled peppers.

nick also made some special Bulgarian dipping sauce.

bubby helped cook and played guitar.

mom made blackberry cobbler.

me, sara, robin, aunt pete and uncle jeff chilled, listened to some tunes, made a puzzle, drank red wine and took care of the eating. :) :) :)

2008-10-01T13:57:00.001-07:00

chi chi's latest work of art. herself, butter, yonas and me about to eat up on a flying pig and accompanying buns.

ding ding ding

2008-09-30T18:52:00.000-07:00

Cafe Japone wins for shrimp shumai in DC.

they also win for tuna tartar (for me).

we have moved on to the search for the best pork buns.

tomorrow we will be sampling Chinatown Express.

on a side note, Gianma made up some fake ass story about how they serve pork buns on the chinatown bus to NYC. it was so weird that me and Janella believed him for like one minute...

until he started pushing an imaginary cart and yelling "POKKKKKK BUNS" as we made our way through Adams Morgan.

*sigh*

"forever? forever ever? for ever ever?"

2008-09-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

i am happy to report 3 things.

first, monkey proposed last week, and i agreed to marry him. he asked me on the park bench where we sat on our first date. he presented me with a ring that his father gave to his mother when they were teenagers. it was really sweet.

second, in about 2 weeks i'm going on tour with the Bellydance Superstars. for about 2 months i'll be dancing up a storm in the UK, Spain, France and Canada. i'm way excited.

third, Sweetgreen has the best frozen yogurt in dc. i think i've been there 3 times in less than a week. i'm happy to report that they are the winners. (i discovered it on the night that monkey proposed...but monkey don't like frozen yogurt).

here's are the tour dates.

2008-09-16T13:28:00.000-07:00

i'm dedicating this youtube video to myself.

i think i've usually been a good judge of when i should speak up and when i should just let things go.

usually.

here's hoping that i'll always practice good judgement in picking my battles and dealing with them in a...productive way.

good lookin' out dave.

2008-09-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

dang. gianma can make the hell out of all kinds of delicious pasta with sumptuous fresh ingredients. i mean, he can COOK.

so how is it that he managed to jack up a can of Campbell's chicken noodle soup?

he did buy the complete collection of the Dave Chappelle show (including the lost episodes) for me to watch while sick, though. i've been laughing and coughing.

last night, bubby came up, monkey prepared us a three course meal of salad, pasta and steak and we watched this wack ass movie called Cloverfield.

2008-09-14T18:41:00.001-07:00

horror of horrors. i have the flu and missed the annual Adams Morgan Day festival. it's only my favorite festival of the year. :(

2008-09-12T13:21:00.001-07:00

photos from our annual blissful pilgrimage to Pura Vida Spa in Costa Rica.

the beloved lychee fruit that we horde at every meal.

me and ami learned from monica how to "short sheet" a bed. so we did rachels. "short sheet this shit up!"

me and ami decided to offer our own "wellness spa menu". it includes things like voodoo and "what's gon happen" (ie. fortune telling)

new friends from japan. i made them a teru teru bozu. they were quite surprised :)

making origami frogs and swans!

getting people to help me make a fake thunder storm at the talent show.

beautiful dancers :)

as usual, we were really reluctant to leave Pura Vida, ever. it seemed harder to leave this year. more than in previous years. can't wait till next august!

2008-09-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

last night monkey accompanied me to mr yogato. it tasted better than tangysweet, but it still had the icey, grainy texture that i do NOT like in frozen yogurt. on to the next!

yonas, ami and i have also begun touring DC in search of the perfect deep fried shrimp shumai. ami has declared that the best place is in NYC in the basement of some Japanese department store (sounds mythical to me). we sampled Sushi Go Round in Chinatown yesterday. me and Yonas are sold, but ami "these are good...but..." on to the next!

we are also taking yonas out for his first lobster roll ever next week. yum!

here is the pinkberry, song. i LOVE it. i think the song sounds the way the yogurt tastes. it makes me dance in my seat. it makes monkey stop what he's doing, stare at me for a second and yell "what the FUCK?"

monkey don't like frozen yogurt.

the company i keep

2008-09-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

chicken: Last night i made a tomatoes and mozzarella salad, and added the basil just to make the italian flag

yoners: I didn't know that pickles were cucumbers...I thought they were their own vegetable

2008-09-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

last night i dragged monkey and bubby here to try to quench my craving. meh. not as good. it was thinner than pinkberrys yogurt and didn't have the same crazy flavor and creaminess.

on to the next...

2008-09-09T09:46:00.001-07:00

i am addicted to this and have no way to obtain any.

2008-08-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

i think i'm experiencing a tiny bit of what people call...stress? in my own little way i'm sure. and i even got a tiny version of what they call...a headache?

on the other hand, i have been laughing for 2 days straight. between deedee and chiaki and then gianma at home, i'm going to need to be institutionalized due to silliness.

summer birthday pictures - part 1

2008-08-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

pictures from my birthday party taken by yonas.

zoe-ness

2008-08-08T13:20:00.000-07:00

"i can say i hope it will be worth what i give up"

2008-08-07T11:42:00.000-07:00

Change, change, change,
I want to get up out of my skin
tell you what
if I can shake it
I'm 'a make this
something worth dreaming of

2008-08-04T10:54:00.000-07:00

my friends and i can be quite food obsessed.

exhibit a: picture of a burger that yonas sent me through IM last week

exhibit b: picture of noodles that chiaki sent via email last week

exhibit c: another picture that yonas sent me last week

and finally, exhibit d: the drawing that chiaki made of us eating noodles and posted on facebook

i guess we just really...like food. i recently had a noodle soup phase where i was eating noodles once or twice a day for a week and a half. i think that it's because for the last 5 years chiaki has said the word "noodles" to me almost every day. she looks all sweet and innocent but i'm thinking it was a total conspiracy. you should have seen how happy she was during my noodle phase.

also, you should see how violent yonas gets on IM if i don't want to go eat what he wants to go eat when he wants to go eat it. i've been threatened and called names and then treated nice again. i'm not saying that i'm blameless. just last week i IMed yonas that i was about to go "king kong up in this bitch and climb cubicles like they're buildings and rip shit down"...all because i was ready to go eat lunch right away and didn't want any delays.

birthday

2008-07-18T13:06:00.000-07:00

me and gianma at the wax museum.

gianma singing while i blow out my candle at dinner that night.

2008-07-12T13:20:00.000-07:00

one thing i love about my friends is that i can throw a handful of them together. having never met each other before they get on like they've been friends all along.

blah blah blah

2008-07-09T11:08:00.000-07:00

hey netflix...i don't wanna hear no more excuses.

all i know is you better give me my crack!!!!!!!!

new ebyness

2008-07-05T09:40:00.000-07:00

2008-06-24T11:38:00.000-07:00

dees waz funnn!

i did a new solo to a song that gianma picked by square pusher. i was super scared before i went onstage, but man what a rush once i got going. that was too fun. when i finished i was like "i want some more a that". like a drug, i tell ya.

2008-06-09T13:15:00.000-07:00

i just checked online and netherlands is beating italy 2-0...

not good. the boys have been super anxious about this game. they took off work and are at chickens house watching.

i tried calling them, but all their phones are turned off. dianna just sent me an email and says that when she walked into the house no one even looked at her. she says GM has been standing up for 20 minutes. poor boys. if italy loses they will be inconsolable.

sai and i went to the palace last night for some fire.

robin and i almost made it to starscape 08 but wussed out due to the rain. later in the evening the whole crew was at seba and sara's and i was wishing we had braved it, because it was perfect out by then.

i'm not skipping anymore damn festivals. it's just not right for me to do.

2008-05-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

ok. i have a new favorite bellydancer. last night i danced at palace of wonders and Eugenia blew my mind. she did some of the sharpest popping that i've ever seen on a bellydancer. and her stage presence is just...slammin. i've been seeing her dance for a couple of years now. but she is just busting OUT these days.

also? esthero left a comment on myspace page (squeeeeeeeeee)!

i sent her my video of me dancing to 'wikked lil grrls' and she happens to approve :-)

in case you don't know who esthero is to me. she sings my favorite song in the world called "superheroes". i love love love me some esthero.

2008-05-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

i kinda feel like this woman.

i got this excited today at work and took it out on sai and my mom on the phone. then later at home with gianma, who probably got scared.

on friday we (raqs sahara and sahara tribal) are gonna get together at rachels house and hang out and eaaaat fooood and watch the udm video. yaaay i can't wait. i love doing that.

then on sunday the girls (me, larry, cindy, seema) are having a girls date. we might get pedicures, maybe go to artomatic, have some eats, maybe some foofy drinks, but we are definitely...definitely watching the new Sex and The City movie. seriously, when i saw the preview in the theater i howled...multiple howls. i knew it was coming out, but i had forgotten all about it until that moment. i was surprised and made a lot of noise. sorry to the other people in the theater.

then! then! SAI IS COMING HOME! oh my god i'm giddy with excitement. sai is one of my best friends from school. we've known each other since 6th grade. he's like family to me. i went away to Syracuse and he went to John Hopkins. but, after graduation i came back home and we would hang out all the time. he lived up in Baltimore so i would go up alot or he'd come down. but, we'd hang alot...

then he said he was moving to California. and i remember just crying. what was i gonna do with myself? well that was many years ago and know he's coming back to the dc area for the summer. THIS FREAKING WEEKEND. oh my god, i'm already making plans in my head. we have to do all this stuff. fun summer stuff.

gianma is glad...he called sai an "angel from heaven". this is not because my boy was being sweet, but because with sai here he thinks he's off the hook for doing stuff like going to the zoo, or taking my mom on a trip to Hershey Park. well i got something for his ass. ebys rotating list of summer activites.

2008-05-20T14:38:00.000-07:00

Under A Desert Moon 6

2008-05-14T13:30:00.000-07:00

it's been a hectic and fun week of rehearsing and dancing. it's a time when we all sing "see you forever" to each other at the end of each long night and make jokes about bringing air mattresses to the theater. it's a also a time when we laugh the most and stress the most. but, less stress this year, and more giggles.

here's us (raqs sahara and raqs east)

we got raqs east in on the "din daa daa" battle and took it to the big stage. i can't...even..EXPLAIN how bursting with pride and excitement i was watching this from the wings every night. i still can't believe that people will let me realize my crazy ideas :) and do it even better than i imagined.

my B2 girls. aren't they lovely?

they did me so proud

well, i'm off to florida with monkey, chicken and dianna for some relaxing. *sigh* but i can still hear the show music in my head.

2008-04-30T14:11:00.000-07:00

our friend randy got married!

but i guess he's still a pimp ;)

we all got cleaned up like grown ups and came out to celebrate.

my long lost high school friends linda and (her brother) richard were in the band at the reception. we were cheerleaders together. i remember going to a club to see her sing back in high school. fun coinkidink!

2008-04-11T11:46:00.000-07:00

naoia, gianma and me went to the space last night.

it's a really sleek, loungey spot not too far from our new neighborhood. we went to see our friend, el nino, spin at an event called The Movement. it's a nice place to host a private party at. has a really nice outdoor lounge deck. after some drinks and chatting with peeps we hadn't seen since the cold weather came about we headed out to meet up with the rest of the crew at Modern in Georgetown.

i had never been to Modern before, but i can't even count the number of times people have told me that i need to hit it up on thursday nights since i really like to dance. i wasn't really that impressed with it. i did get some work done but it was just so crowded and at the end of the night someone dropped their drink on my ankle. well that killed it.

fancy weekend

2008-04-02T08:05:00.001-07:00

covered in cake

covered in tired.

it was fancy indeed. i've never danced for nine hours in one day before. this past weekend i was very inspired by the workshops taught by zoe, mardi and rachel. in the last couple weeks, being in the Fire In The Belly show and the Fancy show, i've realized how much work i need to do as far as personal practice in technique and just working on my own style...and *cough* costuming. but, it's important to make these realizations.

*photos complements of chi chi face

love

2008-03-29T09:51:00.001-07:00

lots of love to you forever natalia and fede.

2008-03-27T09:15:00.000-07:00

wow.

last night's show was the funnest show that i've seen, let alone been a part of, in a long time. it was a fabulous circus of of dancing, music making, poetry, and playing with fire. i was mesmerized. kaihea has some seriously talented and wacky folks who really care about her. we had a ball, the show sold out, and even at the end folks were showering and launching all kinds of money on to the stage in support of kaihea.

i pray that some of the photographers will share their photos so i can post them.

talk about being inspired :-)

2008-03-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

man, i been dancing my ass off.

the past week of teaching classes, raqs sahara rehearsal, teaching a 2 hour workshop, being "the bellydancer" at a couple of vodka promotion events over the weekend, and working it out at the gym left me sore and barely able to walk up stairs and...almost nodding off while driving. not complaining, though, it is fun, and i'm not really dancing my ass off, it is still intact :)

yesterday and today i get to rest, but it all kicks back in like a turbo booster tomorrow and at a higher gear. i got all kindsa work to do. including 3 days of getting my butt kicked by the indigo workshops.

i really need a vacation. by this time last year i had gone to vegas, grand cayman and was packing for winter music conference in miami. i got nothing, i need to GIT.

p.s - come to fire in the belly 2 at palace of wonders this wednesday. we are a group of dancers, fire artists and more performing for kaihea who is in a battle with cancer. not only is it a great thing to support, but this show is going to be crazy fun.

xbox and gin...

2008-03-06T13:57:00.000-08:00

...brings crazy fools into your house after 3am. what could i do but climb out of bed, put on my furry slippers and come down to play. i was so happy to see dem bwoys!

happy birthday chicken

2008-03-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

this weekend we celebrated the anniversary of mrs. cameli giving us our chicken. we celebrated with brunch at the new Ulah Bistro and then with cake and champagne in the evening.

we celebrated for a loooong time. by the time me, monkey and manel were driving home down Georgia Ave it was about 5am and the boys were hungry. we stopped at this dark diner over by the 930 club that i'd always wondered about. it always looked abandoned and kinda scary. we pulled over and peeked in the windows to see people eating. the place was like a time warp. the boys ordered 2 entrees each, ate it all up and wanted more. guess we'll be back.

that's manel at the diner. he lives in the basement apartment below our house. he's our bubby, now. hi bubby!

sleepover!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-02-29T11:13:00.000-08:00

the picture of chichi with grover is especially funny because, well, chichiface took one look at grover and called him ugly and scary. this baffled us all. who doesn't love grover? so i did what i had to do. i waited until she was fast asleep and took pictures of grover all over her. :)

2008-02-19T09:40:00.000-08:00

dancing here on friday

sundays annual SD student showcase

2007-12-20T09:12:00.000-08:00

ami's super cutie intro to tribal class waiting to step on stage for the first time. they made her proud.

raqs east made me want to be in raqs east again.

raqs west performed an urban fusion piece dreamed up by me. i'm so thankful and lucky that they're down for doing this fun and crazy stuff...

um, yeah, i made them..."battle". and they were like "sure, let's do this thing". and the crowd (including myself) went nuts for it. so fun!

this week in ebyland

2007-12-06T14:24:00.000-08:00

"who see justin levitatin' say yaaayUHHH (yaaayUHHH)"

sahara dance holiday hafla

it was tons of fun

more m.i.a love

2007-12-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

i did go to the second m.i.a show at sonar on friday and it was bumpin.

the line to get in went all the way around the block. it was then that i realized that i no longer have the spunk i had 7 years ago to choose a convenient spot in line and blend in. just couldn't. i ain't got it no more. stood in line and froze for an hour instead.

opening acts grated on my nerves so goddamn bad.

right before m.i.a went on i ran into my old friends walter and marni. i was so glad to see them. then i found adrian and ayo, too.

sonar was ridiculously packed and marni had the nerve to want to head to the front. "girl i been doing this for 15 years" she said, so i followed her.

m.i.a has some ROWDY assed fans. i did make it to the front, and lost marni and walter in the process. it was dangerous. the crowd would suddenly sweep 6 feet to one side, taking you with it, like water. people were not careful and i was sure that i'd leave with a black eye or a tooth knocked out.

once i got used to the crowd i ended up going crazy through her whole set. she just got us so animated. me and the girl beside me became best friends during the show. screaming the lyrics with our hands around each others shoulders, jumping up and down in unison, dancing together. it's so fun when that happens, when you meet some total stranger who is as impassioned as you are about what's going on at the moment. we had a blast.

i'm so glad i went. slept for 5 hours. then taught 2 fun hours of class.

below are the video's for m.i.a's song "bucky done gone" (which makes me go positively insane dancing) and "boys" off her new album (which is such a freaking HOT album...i mean godang, how many awesome songs can you have on one album girl? sick!)

how many how many boys are crazy?
how many boys are raw?
how many how many boys are rowdy?
how many start a war?

2007-11-30T14:08:00.001-08:00

urvashi dancing with her snake at tribal cafe at asylum bar in dc.

m.i.a last night at 930 club.

when i realized that the show was sold out i was not happy because i hadn't bought a ticket. then i found out that she'd added a show in baltimore. i promptly bought one. when i talked to gianma on the phone later that day and told him about the ticket he was less than pleased. actually there was awkward silence. then "whyyyy don't you JUST MIND YOUR BUSINESS AAAAABONNEEEE!!"

turns out the sweetie got us tickets and was going to take me to dinner and let me cry about how i was gonna miss the m.i.a show then surprise me.

so, i'm going again tonight...i think.

great show, for sure. here's an interview where she's damn tired of peeps not recognizing what they need ta recogniiiiize.

japanese/italian non turkey thanksgiving day

2007-11-23T16:14:00.000-08:00

unfortunately, i haven't charged my camera up for like a month. so i couldn't take pictures of thanksgiving dinner last night. this year marks my first thanksgiving dinner away from my family.

gianma and i headed over to the japanese house early yesterday evening. everyone was gathered in a circle around a low table that was covered by so many dishes filled with japanese food. in the center of the table was a huge steaming pot that was sitting on some sort of gas range. everyone was reaching with chopsticks and dipping things and eating things. i joined in on what i do best while gianma and naoia headed to the kitched and started doing what they do best, cookin' more food.

after an hour, gianma (clad in a pink cooking apron) served us a course of something damn good with some kinda breaded eggplant baked in cheese and tomato. godamn!

later, i served up some cinnamon rum buns that i bought at Giant, but said that i baked.

we danced off dinner at Chief Ike's while Ramon spun us some old school hip hop.

2007-11-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

okay, so he can cook...really well.

but i don't care! i don't want to eat italian food for thanksgiving dinner!!!!

*howllllllllllllllllll*

mama, come back hooooome! my boyfriend is a dang foreignerrrrrr!

2007-11-12T12:12:00.000-08:00

this is me and linda in our halloween costumes. she was a pirate. i was the cowardly lion, which is very fitting cause i'm scared of crap, but i try to pretend i'm not.

2007-10-30T14:10:00.000-07:00

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pictures from the fun and scary Belly Horror Show (brought to us by Bella Donna and Mavi) last weekend.

frogs, rollergrrls and candy

2007-10-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

yonas and i made a movie at work, want to see it?

here are some more pics from rollershimmy

chi chi's first pixie stix. no, they're not like chop sticks! there's candy inside.

chi chi's first candy necklace, at this point she still did not know it was edible.

saturday night...

2007-10-06T23:11:00.000-07:00

ROLLER SHIMMY!!!!

another reason i love summer

2007-10-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

festivals!

what can i say? i love them. in the last couple of weeks i've been to the adams morgan day festival, the arts on foot festival in penn quarter (mmm, yummy food), the H Street corridor street festival (mmm, bellydancers), fiesta dc parade conveniently held on mount pleasant street, and finally the annual crafty bastards fair (mmm, bboys).

the crafty bastards fair, for some, is the bboy battle with some crafts on the side. every year there are more bboys entered into the contest, and every year the crowd is way larger. i could not believe how many people were there this year.

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fiesta dc was also off the hook. batala washington started the parade. i had seen these women the day before. walking down the street in their uniforms with their drums. they looked so tough and so hot, i almost chased them down to say "me too! me too! teach me!". they rocked the parade. i looked at gianma in giddy excitement and he looked at me and said "god...damn!". after the parade i found one of the members of batala dc because i knew i had to join this brigade. she was super friendly and before i could ask, she said "you can join us if you want". my heart did a little snoopy dance. "rehearsals are saturday mornings from 10am - 1pm". oh no. that's when i teach. oh well. in another life.

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2007-09-22T22:01:00.000-07:00

my neighbors are JERKS.

why? because when the weather is nice they throw raging parties in their yard. they are INSANELY loud...and they never invite ME to play.

but then again, i don't even know who or where they are. they could be on my street or one street over, but we share an alley. their parties are loud enough to probably hear all over Mount Pleasant. when they have these frat-sounding-parties i'm usually in my apartment resting after a gig. (great falls, virginia is freaking scary by the way, scary-dark-woods-bears-wolves-chasing-my-car).

at the party, they just finished screaming "say it ain't so" by weezer at the very tip top of their drunk lungs. that did make me smile and sing along from my bed. i didn't know other people liked that song as much as i do.

JERKS...i should totally call the cops!

2007-09-14T11:22:00.001-07:00

it looks as though my vacation fun for 07 has come to a close (or has it?). this year i caught up with college girlfriends in the cayman islands, had fun in vegas with dianna and the italians, danced and beached in miami, danced some more in canada, drove along the coast of california (and attended my favorite wedding ever), saw my old friend emil get hitched in jamaica, and rested and laughed my ass off in costa rica.

on the beach in jamaica

view from the villa porch

some pics from costa rica

costa rica slide show (use the orange arrows)

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while i was in costa rica, sahleel baby turned three years old

while i was in boston for work, eleanora and beatrice (family friends of gianma's) from italy lived in my apartment. i got back in time to go to the adams morgan day festival with them. eleanora, beatrice, gianma, me, yonas, sara, dianna, gianfillipo and seba had a fun day together. the italian girls got new piercings. in the evening chiaki and alvaro brought their new doggies and met up with us for walking around adams morgan and then some dinner at a hooka bar.

yonas' photos from adams morgan day here

2007-08-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

last week i was in sunny and warm jamaica for emil and kadija's wedding. i shared a beach resort villa with two married couples who were college friends of kadija. very smart, funny and sweet peeps. the villa and the beach were great, complete with our own maids/cooks. the wedding was beautiful, as well. i almost lost it to tears watching my friend emil dance to "you and i" by stevie wonder for his first dance with his new wife.

after that all hell broke lose and hurricane dean came to fuck shit up. i moved to a villa with some friends from dc that was higher up and further from the beach. our windows were boarded up and the electricity on the island was cut off. for one whole day we listened to fierce winds and rains. we heard things fly through the air and hit the roof of our villa. we kept ourselves entertained with food, drink, and stupid human tricks.

my flight was bumped from sunday to thursday. which was realllllly not going to work for me considering i had a big week ahead of me consisting of:

1. a project at work due on friday
2. saharabesque was on friday and i hadn't started choreography
3. friday was me and gianma's anniversary
4. saturday i was to fly out for costa rica

long story short, i paid 800 additional bucks to get my ass OFF that dang island and get back to my life.

even still, chad and i got stuck in memphis for a night because we missed our connection. in memphis...we had to watch some guy vomit into his coke glass in a diner.

wed and thur in dc consisted of super long days at work and late nights of dance prep. on friday i finished my work project, packed up to move offices, had a nice lunch with my monkey, took a 15 minute nap, packed and headed to the theater.

the show was SPECTABULOUS!!!!!

afterwards, me, mom, yonas, gianma, robin, ami, deedee, and lisa sat around a table at the oh so classy Ruby Tuesdays and acted up all evening.

now i'm poolside at pura vida spa. ami and i are skipping morning yoga cause...yoga bums us out. (although, i'll keep trying)

this place is amazing, for reals. this is my dream vacation. yoga and ass-kicking dance drills all day (led by Rachel Brice), saliva inducing massages every evening, and playing and frolicking with friends at night. the compound that we're on is like tropical freaking paradise to me. even the FOOD is delicious and healthy. words cannot express where were are and how sweet it is to be here.

time for dance drills!

one reason i love summer

2007-08-08T15:38:00.000-07:00

summertime parties...and especially summertime birthday partiiiiies.

larrys bday dinner (jaleo, penn quarter)

oh, what to wish for?

too much cute for one bday girl!

after dinner seema, larry and i had drinks at IndeBleu. where we got drunk, got loud, cried, laughed, got free drinks, ya know, the usual.

my good friend from college, forrest and his boyfriend danny came to stay with me a couple days after i got back from California and just in time for my birthday weekend.

they have a cute puppy that i fell in love with. he ate my futon a little bit...but i didn't mind cause i love him...and i can't love a futon.

the night that i turned 31 a bunch of us were hanging at chickens house. chezere made us a special birthday desert. yummmmay.

on the morning of my bday, gianmaria made us a delicious lunch of whole fish with lots of yummy stuff to go with it, and of course wine. napping was in order afterwards.

birthday dinner at sette, a local favorite.

later that night...the lounge

seemas birthday dinner and afterparty

i wish i wish i wish i was super cute...oh wait...i AM super cute!

zengo (chinatown)

ebonys top 4 wack internet jamz

2007-07-31T10:44:00.001-07:00

okay, yonas told me to do this. so blame him.

i'm going to start with the BEST or the wackest internet jamz that i have discovered and enjoyed and then whittle down.

1. Why Must I Cry
by the ever talented rehdogg. the song is awful, yet catchy. i often find myself singing "whymusticrywhymusticrywhy". bonus is that rehdogg has included his deeply emotional lyrics in the comments section on youtube. super bonus is you get to see him showering with a loofa. super super bonus is that i swear at :30 he is washing his ass. needless to say, he has disabled comments.

2. Lay Your Body Down
by R-DE. the acting in this video is deliiiiciously funny. so is the fact that this R-DE has an extremely attentive body guard/chauffeur/butler. just you try to resist his sultry glances, grimaces and moves. you will be singing "lay your boday next to my bodaaayaayyy" in no time.

3. Chocolate Rain
by TayZonday. lord have mercy. one day i logged onto youtube to find that the front page had been hacked and there was nothing but Chocolate Rain and lots of parody's and remixes of the song. there was one with McGruff singing it, one with Darth Vader singing "Chocolate Reign", a white boy singing "Vanilla Snow" etc. this guys voice is really deep and he makes funny faces while he sings. the background music sounds almost like the tune from the Halloween movies. also check out Tay's karaoke version of Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up". good stuff.

4. Leprachaun
Okay, in order to find this funny, you have to have seen this. It's really funny, albeit in a slightly sad way. Things that put me over the edge was the guy who says "who else seen da leprachaun say yeah" and then grins at the camera in his special way, the amateur sketch, the "crackhead" theory, the special leprachaun flute passed down from "thousands of years ago by my great great grandfather"...Okay, now watch and listen to the song.

lots of pics!

2007-07-13T09:55:00.000-07:00

gianma and i are biggity bizack from cali.

the trip was even better than we'd imagined.

we flew into san francisky on a tuesday. checked into our private hostel room and spent five minutes rolling around on the floor - laughing at the room itself. it was ridiculously small and smelled funny. had a window that wouldn't lock, led out to an alley and to top it off had a ladder leading up to it from outside...PERFECT! let's get killed!

we spent late afternoon wandering the streets and alleys of china town. when gianma started getting cranky we slipped into a dark, cluttered bar full of drunken, rowdy chinese men and sat in a corner drinking too strong gin tonics - which turned us into loud mouths. we stumbled out of china town and ambled through little italy eating small dishes at any place that had something good.

we spent three days walking (and eating) the city. we love san francisky. i got to stop by the FCBD studio, gianma got to see a manga exhibit, we got to see live electronic music on two nights, and my favorite...being able to eat bibimbap at 11pm on a weeknight. i would BE in san francisco if they'd turn the heat up over there.

friday morning - we picked up our rental car and started our descent down the california coast on highway 1. i was nervous about driving the 1, but i'd do it again, for sure. there were a few scary times, but the beauty of the coastline outshines the scary. we stopped in santa cruz for lunch, then monterey (a city that my mother fell in love with in the 70's) for wine tasting, then snacks and drinks at the much recommended nepenthe in big sur.

we finally reached San Lois Obispo for the FUNNEST WEDDING THAT EVER HAPPENED IN THE WORLD (check out the photo gallery, it's pretty rad - photos by minwin). the hotel was every bit as goofy and magical as i thought it would be.

mona and craig's wedding was my kind of wedding, for sure. i'll sum up my favorite parts.

• the wedding was on 07/07/07

• the wedding invitation was a "golden ticket" ala the chocolate factory

• the ceremony was on Avila beach - the guests casually formed two lines (think soul train) and the wedding party walked and sometimes danced down the sandy aisle to totally non-wedding music

• Markus dressed up as a roman gladiator to perform the ceremony rites between Mona and Craig

• the wedding vows were like a Dr. Seuss rhyme - we laughed, awwwed and howled at some of the verses

• the whole ceremony lasted about 10 minutes and we drove back to the reception with strangers that we'd been assigned to get to know (this is how i met Pauly - me and gianma LOVE this guy)

• there was a bellydance performance! with a sword!

• Peaches (craig's sister) sang power ballad "don't stop believin'" by journey to the new bride and groom while the crowd screamed along and even held up lighters

• Mona looked sooo beautiful. her friend Janet the Planet (who also makes their burning man costumes) MADE her wedding dress.

• after the reception we after-partied into the wee hours in the madonna inn's cave rooms

photos above are by the ever talented MinWin.

yuuup, that last pic is the one and only Peaches. and i acted totally cool around her. i'm sure she was like "check out that girl. that girl ain't no crazy fan...she's just a cool cat...we should lay down some tracks together later..."

the next morning gianma and i started south again for LA, stopping in Santa Barbara to walk around the beach town and eat croissants and check out the Church of Skatan.

we spent sunday and monday in LA seeing the sites and catching up with my buddies Deo, Marlin, Hamady, Ken and Erin and making new friends - Doug and Cristina. i made Deo and Marlin take us to Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles. it is still SO GOOD. gianma is not so sold.

here is a slideshow of photos that we took ourselves:

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2007-06-28T14:27:00.001-07:00

2007-06-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

sooooomebody had some fun this weekend!

saturday was the Bebel Gilberto/Thievery Corporation/Manu Chao show at the Merriweather Post Pavlion. soooooomebody got to go backstage and meet Manu and hang out with the Thievery peeps because sooooomebody's boyfriend works for Thievery and shit. rooooooaaaar.

check out ma slide show.

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saturday's show was great. i probably hop/danced around for 5 hours straight. by midnight, tanya, robin, gianma and i were at IHOP...and horror of horrors gianma was eating a chicken fried steak.

i woke up early sunday morning feeling awful, rehearsed, dressed and headed to Taste of Morocco for a bellydance show that I'd be performing in - while gianma happily snoozed. the show was full of incredible talent. i realize that i don't quite know how to react to peoples' shocked reactions to me while i'm in tribal makeup, head gear and caftan and walking in public. ignore? smile and wave? evil grin? hmmm. tbd.

here are pics from the show, She'endra II courtesy of Roger Wood. i'm wearing white.

after the show i rushed home, showered, turned back into myself and headed to fairfax to have crabs with my friend Cindy. crabs, i love you guys...do you love me? ...awwwwww.

wish i thought of this first

2007-06-22T15:19:00.001-07:00

this is the song i put on when it's time to clean the house...

ends up being 50% groovin' and 50% scrubbin'.

super700

2007-06-19T13:43:00.001-07:00

photo by kazu

"let's put ourselves in the digital receivah
reverse the polarity and become a believah"

these guys are my favorite new band (live on kcrw here). if they don't come to the states then i'll go to berlin to see them. i'm not kidding, either. i've got directions and ollie still works, he can do anything. my girl marcia stays over there and i could stand to get the hell out of dodge.

2007-06-18T14:08:00.000-07:00

dancing and eating.

that's what my weekends have been full of. and not a little dancing and eating, but a lot of both. it's been tiresome and fun.

last saturday morning i woke up and taught two fun hours of class then i had one hour to turn myself into 'bellydance barbie ebony' and arrive at the Howard University campus to lead a demo for their health fair. upon arrival i was starting to feel nauseated because i forgot to bring food with me. i taught the 30 minute demo with lisa and jane assisting - to a crowd of both enthusiastic and participatory women and slack jawed folks who gawked at us in utter disbelief. then i had an hour and a half to shower, eat toaster waffles, turn myself into 'tribal fusion bellydance barbie ebony' and drive to Columbia, MD for Mianaja's annual hafla. this was so fun, and i'm so grateful to Mianaja for extending the invitation to share the stage with her and beautiful dancers like Lotus (my local favorite), Naima, Shadiyah and Nadira to name just a few.

after the show i was starving and exhausted so i checked myself into my moms house where she fed me breakfast at 11pm and let me watch SNL in her bed. i didn't leave until sunday afternoon. that night we had a family dinner at Tiramisu with gianma's mom who was visiting from Italy, raffi, jackie, gianma, my mom and me. i had homemade mushroom ravioli in sage and butter sauce...that dinner was soooo ridiculously good that we are still talking about it.

this past saturday i woke up and taught two hours of class, went home to eat a little and nap for 25 minutes, then dragged myself back to the studio to teach for two more hours. i went back home and ate again and started getting ready for my gig at Citron which was fun, as usual. after the gig i threw a caftan on top of my costume and took a cab down to Crostino where there was to be yet another family dinner including myself, mom, 2 aunts and 2 uncles - and gianma working the bar. of course i had the tagliata. i wish i had a dime for every time someone said the word 'delicious'.

yesterday was our resting day. gianma, gianfillipo and i headed down to sette for coldcuts, white wine and pizza. so freaking good. so was the impromptu nap that i passed out into on gianfillipo's couch. gianma and i finally drove down to the 'warf' to see what it was all about...fish. one day we're gonna buy some...and cook it. actually he's going to cook it, not me.

last night, though, i think was the best meal i've had in a long time. gianma made filet mignon with some kind of RIDICULOUS good shitake mushroom/white wine sauce. i couldn't stop stomping my foot under the table and saying "oh my..". he had also bought some really fresh bread and opened some fancy bottle of red. after dinner he busted out with some different cheeses and olives. oh my god, i never tasted cheese so good. i'm totally thinking about keying into his apartment tonight while he's at work to eat some more cheese...

2007-06-04T14:13:00.000-07:00

i've never taken two naps in one day before, but it happened on saturday. after teaching my two classes in the morning my body was stiff and sore and i was walking like an old lady. things aren't the way they were when i was in my early 20's. who knew that running for only 18 minutes on a treadmill, dancing outside at a drumming circle (probably less than 20 minutes), creating choreography for an hour, and teaching 2 hours of class the next morning would make me walk with a limp? ...just thought i was in shape or something. i guess now i know what's up.

i got to have some yummy crostino supper with my leeeeeetle brother and his lady. i got them to eat grilled baby octopus for the first time :)

this was so fun. i had so much energy from that second nap that i danced and danced...well...we all danced and danced until we were soaked. like for real. like 'did i black out and it rained in here?' i spent a delirious 15 minutes trying to mobilize people to find a swimming pool, somewhere, anywhere and lets jump IN it!!! my last resort was trying to convince gianfilippo that we should drive the 20 minutes to my moms house and break into the community pool there, no dice.

adams morgan terrifies me after the clubs have closed and the patrons have spilled out onto the street. i have to stop myself from breaking into a sprint up 18th street.

we settled at Seba and Sara's. they're always really generous...busting out with beer, wine, cheese, meat etc. around 4 i roused robin and gianma, on either side of me on the couch, from their snoring and we walked on home...

don't mess with us!!!!!!!!!!

2007-05-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

or 'you know what' will happen to you...

weekends with the boys

2007-05-23T15:41:00.001-07:00

couple of weeks ago dj spooky played a set at the Black Cat. gianma, robin and myself were the opening act. gianma was on the 1s and 2s, robin was on deck with his audio visual delights, and i danced onstage. here's some pics i took of the boys from the stage during one of my breaks.

hee harrrrr.

on sunday the three of us trekked down to...crystal city, va, cursing the whole way, to check out Artomatic 2007 on it's closing day. it would be an understatement to say that robin and i were less than impressed with this years Artomatic in comparison with the last. alas, we started drinking stuff as soon as we got there. eventually we stumbled upon a dark room occupied by a handful of interesting characters. they had put much effort into decorating their space and their art was impressive. we quickly learned that they were fun peeps to be hung out with and made ourselves comfy, at their insistence, in their little den. did we mini party? yes we did :)

marie's head, mariam and merry.

jay. passer around of the jamesons.

shoot (jay's air shooting device)

flinch

i mini partied until i had to give robin the keys to drive us back to the city. off we rode in search of red meat. our search landed us at bistrot du coin, which stays open till the wee hours to serve us delicious steaks and frites.

2007-05-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

i feel like eating everything.

i could start with some huge fluffy buttermilk biscuits...with some syrup to sop up with them. some scrambled eggs...with some fancy cheese in them. some bacon. some sausage. oooo, some homefries...with old bay on them.

then a couple of hours later, burgers and fries from five guys.

then, a couple of hours later, veal with black truffle sauce from Al Crostino. with them thin sliced oven roasted potatoes Nico makes. a bottle of red. and whoever is with me should get some of the homemade pasta. and that person should get really full after eating only a couple bites of their pasta. then i'd take over...

...i want some sushi...

*edited to add: i also want some crabs. again. 7 crabs.

recent pics

2007-05-09T15:04:00.000-07:00

above: the 'west side' at udm

i'm digging the slideshows, right?

here's some backstage shots from our seventh annual UDM (over 100 dancers, the biggest to date), and also some from a barbecue happy hour that alexis and i have decided to make our summer tuesday after work spot.

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goodbye for real this time

2007-05-03T10:14:00.000-07:00

buzz, capitol ballroom, sting, nation, cubic...whatever you ever called it...whenever you were ever into it is just about gone for good now.

i'll never forget the times i had there.
buzz is where i met one of the best people i'll ever know,
where i found out that dancing is my passion,
where i celebrated with friends,
made friends and acquaintances out of strangers,
met sketchy boys,
ran away from sketchy boys...etc.

i used to go because i felt like i belonged and that i could do what i love to do there.

photos are courtesy of Kathy Vitkus. more sad buzz pics.

turbo tabla weekend

2007-05-01T13:00:00.000-07:00

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this past weekend was our annual turbo tabla weekend. karim put on a fabulous show, and tribal remix, laura, myself, and the calmes triplets performed as well. afterwards the drinks started flowing and the party at Pasha Lounge was jumpin'. all of us kept saying that we need to do this more than once a year cause it was soooo much fun. i can't believe i took that many pictures, though.

on sunday karim gave a lecture and a workshop. both were phenomenal. karim is an excellent teacher.

countdown till UDM: 4 days.

tastes like crack

2007-05-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

i just googled the term "sushi addiction"...glad i'm not the only one. not by a long shot, actually.

2007-04-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

well, i'm off to toronto today for the International Bellydance Conference of Canada.

i'm really excited. raqs sahara is performing on friday night. see the small pictures on the bottom of the flyer? that's us in red third from the right.

four days of workshops with amazing teachers, gala performances, panel discussions (which i'm really hyped about), lectures, buying crap, making new friends. fun!

2007-04-16T14:13:00.000-07:00

yonas said that i should write restaurant reviews on my blog on account of me and friends frequenting the hell out of eateries throughout the city. however, yonas knows damn well that i'm bad at reviewing or summing things up. i fear that "wack" or "delicious" would be the extent of my descriptive abilities.

dining out in good company is one of the few things that i allow myself...or even want to splurge on financially. i could care less about cars, clothes, jewelry, makeup, tech toys, gettin' my 'hair did' or much of the other stuff that tends to swallow up cash fast. that leaves a' plenty for ridiculously expensive belly dance costumes, adventurous excursions, and...stuffing my face with my friends.

i can see you chiaki, reading this, saying "here here" and thinking "as a matter of fact, i am a bit hungry..."

so yes, i allow myself to eat anywhere and order anything that my heart desires. my hearts desires are usually reasonable. because i'm pretty damn busy (and cooking is for boys) i usually go out for dinner 2 or 3 times a week. however, things got out of hand recently.

last tuesday there was pizza and wine at sette osteria, where gianma and i are weekly regulars. wed - greek food in dupont with chiaki. thur - beer, oysters and lobster rolls at hank's with saphira, chiaki, alvaro, gio and baby luca. fri - 1230am visit to sette (praise them for serving pizza till 1am). sat -a brave endeavor of introducing gianma to Johnny Rockets, he hated it, and i wondered how i ever liked it either. sun - brunch at a trendy new french restaurant (name escapes) in Adams Morgan at the space formally known as Mantis.

so here's my review: all extremely yummy...except Johnny Rockets, which was just plain old wack.

slideshow

2007-03-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

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i am reluctantly back from my 4th winter music conference. i won't bore you with the tedious details of days on the beach, afternoons lounging at hotel terrace parties, and crazy nights of dancing and laughing, i have a travel journal for that.

okay, maybe a little...

yes, i stayed in an all boy room my first night at the hostel, but they turned out to be two very cool german boys...and one well mannered american who i learned had gotten stole in the face by my friend amir previously. however, trying to change clothes wrapped in a towel was a pain in the ass so i switched to a girls room which i shared with two sweet irish girls who slept alot.

the pics in slideshow above are of what went on during the day. i never took the camera out at night. someone needs to invent a camera small enough for me to go dancing with. maybe it can be like a ring...or a necklace?

some of my favorite moments of the week:

tortured soul at nikki beach. amazing live house music band. the lead singer plays the hell out of the drums and sings his ass off simultaneously.

meeting bassnectar at the OM Records party. he was just standing there by himself when i walked over to him. we took some pics together and he decided that he wanted to smoosh his face into my hair.

getting krunk with my little brother and all of his friends

hanging out with marcia all week and getting to kick it with mona

finding a waiters tray at a party and dancing with it for my friend emil (only he will get this)

getting to hang with amir and see johann again (and meet kea)

worst moment of the week:

getting a stomach virus on the last afternoon of my vacation.

2007-03-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

miami bound as of this evening.

unfortunately, i broke my camera on thursday night rehearsing for the show. so there were to be no photographic wmc memories.

...but then dianna offered me her camera. now tell me, would YOUR friends do that? volunteer their digital camera for your vacation? nope, didn't think so. one of the many reasons that dianna rules.

ciao!

2007-03-19T13:33:00.000-07:00

last week was crazy busy. 2 evenings of teaching classes (including choreographing for raqs west), 2 evenings of preparing for a show, one evening of troupe rehearsal - performing in a show - coming home at 130am to choreograph - getting to bed at 3 - and waking up at 8:10am to teach 2 classes.

by noon on saturday i was done dancing.

i spent the afternoon with gianma's family having one of those extended italian lunches that seems like 3 meals in one.

late in the afternoon i snuggled up on my couch with a pint of ice cream, a bag of doritos, and a blanket and watched Harold and Maude. then i took a delicious nap. pure heaven.

later that night, at chickens house, i found myself entwined in a very confusing conversation with seba. some of it was in english, some in spanish, and a few words in italian. eventually seba was gone, dianna was asleep on the couch, and gianma was singing to her and playing the guitar. then cougar and cobra were after me again and in a drunken whirl i remember trying to get away and then ending up on the floor with my arm hurting. once i shook that off, there was an inpromptu dance party. gianfilippo was wearing my winter coat on his head and doing a special dance while hovering over dianna (still asleep), and gianma was doing the most hilarious dance. i have not laughed that hard in MONTHS.

made it to bed at 4am and by 1pm we were up and out and buying sandwiches, chips, and juice to share with the gang at chickens house because some old cockamamie soccer games were going to be on all afternoon. dianna made bloody marys, we played a fun game of scrabble while the boys cursed at the television set, then we all broke out for a few hours to run errands.

that evening dianna made a delicious dinner for the four of us. we busted open the red wine and had had pecorino, salami, artichokes, olives and bread with oil. then, spinach and citrus salad with shaved parmesan. the main course was a beef short rib stew that she'd been cooking for like 3 hours. SO GOOD! then we had cheesecake.

i love food. food, will you marry me?

back from vacation again

2007-03-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

this time i went to vegas. vegas can be kinda lame if you're 18 and on a family trip with annoying little cousins and slow walking aunts and the main focus is scarfing at buffets. vegas can be a blast if you're 24 and up till 6am every morning with college buddies.

vegas is funny if you go with the gian's and dianna. we had a great time lounging at the pool, gambling away our money (i won't even go there), riding rollercoasters, and generally doing vegas.

the gian's and dianna got to experience their first buffet at the Bellagio. though dianna was very excited, the whole thing didn't go over that well with the gian's. i don't even know what i was thinking, i temporarily forgot how italians are about food. you can't take an italian to a buffet. you just can't. they won't like it...they can't like it.

the trip was too short. we were not happy to be leaving on sunday night. we still had tons more stuff we wanted to do and see. red square, red rock canyon, freemont street...*sigh*...and will i EVER get to see "O" again?

early on, the gian's started kicking around some cockamamie plan about taking dianna and i out to "dead valley" (meaning death valley) and killing us and disposing of our bodies in the desert. eventually, they became obsessed with the scheme and would not shut up about it. chicken saw a hat with a silver cobra on it in a gift shop and shortly thereafter disposed of the name "chicken" and insisted that we all start calling him...cobra. the monkey started to feel that he was more like a cougar than a monkey.

here is a slice of what it is like for me and dianna to deal with boys like this.

more cayman island...

2007-03-06T08:21:00.000-08:00

2007-03-02T15:27:00.000-08:00

the four of us had a little cake and champagne party for gianfilippo last night. dianna made a deLICIOUS cake. gianma bought some champagne that he said that all the rappers in Italy like to drink...

...i'll get in trouble if they see this...

awake for no good reason

2007-02-28T22:56:00.000-08:00

it's almost 2am and i'm awake. there is no good explanation for this except that youtube has me in it's death grip right now. i'm not even up finishing up the two movies (Talladega Nights and Marie Antoinette) that i watched only halves of because i passed out exhausted on both of them. (don't ask why i moved on to a new movie before finishing the first).

it would be more acceptable if i was doing something like what's in the video i will embed below...no, instead i'm on youtube WATCHING people do what i should be doing if i'm up at 2am on a work night. *sigh*

since it's 2am and i'm blogging. i will share that on my vacation...i snorkeled. for most, this is not a big deal, but check out this past blog post. it IS a big deal. i snorkeled! thanks to larry who held my hand through the beginning of it. i think i did end up hurting a nice sting rays feelings, though.

i'm not having post vacation depression either.

yesterday i went to work, bought a ticket to Canada for a bellydance conference i'll be attending with my friends in April, went to a spinning class, had a late dinner with gianma at Grill From Ipanema (yummy good), went for more drinks and to see our friends Sepi and Ruben at Tryst, went home and tried to tune gianma's non functioning new violin, passed out trying to watch Marie Antoinette (from the beginning, for the second time).

today, went to work, bought my ticket to Miami for WMC, went to Military Challenge class, danced at Marrakesh Palace, met with Chiaki for a late dinner (Thai, her favorite), got home at 11 and proceeded to waste time up until this point. night night.