Thread: Pacific Northwest Locations

Hi folks,

I deleted the other thread cause I wanted to focus my efforts in the Pacific Northwest for the moment, as the rest of the tour is pretty much set, minus a spot or two. The real issue is making the Pacific NW leg of the tour a reality.

We had many many requests for stops in the Pacific NW after the last tour, so we planned 4-5 days this time around it hit them all, but this is proving more difficult, especially in the bigger cities (as to why it's so much easier to plan a "small town" event than a big city with dozens and dozens of instructors/dancers, is somewhat mind-boggling to me).

The tentative schedule looked like this:
5/21-5/23 - Sacramento area,
5/24 - Ashland/Medford, OR
5/25 - Portland, OR
5/26 - Seattle, WA
5/27 - Spokane, WA

Ideally, we'd start traveling north after Sac (which is secured courtesy of Hot Pot Studios/Unmata) on the 23rd. Since we've run into snags, I am re-evaluating the schedule. We could hit very Northern CA on the 23rd (Redding, Mt. Shasta?), Ashland, Eugene, or Bend on the 24th, Portland or Salem on the 25th (again, we have studio space available to us in Portland, but we need a sponsor to coordinate the stop!), and then Washington is up for suggestions. We just need to get over to Missoula, Montana for the 28th.

Any recommendations for RESPONSIBLE/RELIABLE sponsors/contacts would be greatly appreciated. Style does not matter - cabaret, tribal, whatever! Just want good folks!

Thank you!

Tour info: http://www.meddevi.com/durga

For Ashland, OR try Emily from Circus Tribal:

Circus Tribal Bellydance: Belly Dance Classes and Performance in Ashland and Medford Oregon

If you're interested in Bend, OR you could try Bijou Project:

Home

There's also the medge which is the Middle Eastern Dance Guild in Eugene, maybe you can find something useful there:

medge.org

You are just so helpful! I need to send you cookies!
Been in contact with Emily - seems some folks are going down to BDoY, though I'm not sure how much of the population would be, so that's going to take some work..

Will check out the other recommendations, thank you :)

Taking the perspective on this that the universe is trying to direct us a slightly different way, and it usually works out better in the end...so just gotta breath :)

To be honest, about Portland I'm not excited about the date it is on a Monday night, which in my opinion is busiest for people going to their regular classes and we do not have a big Alternative community. So I'm reluctant to take the risk, otherwise I would sponsor. I would also be more likely to sponsor if it were on a weekend. Another obstacle is regular class attendance is down due to economy. So another risk in low turn out.

You say you have studio space I take that to mean Euphoria Studio's since you talked with Jane? I'm an instructor there the cost of the rental is expensive IMO.

This is also about a month after Saqra's showcase were there will be a large turn out and a lot of money spent in the vending areas and for lodging and travel for participants of the show case, and you have people saving up for BDUSA competition in June. Personally My opinion again the timing is just not right.

Sorry, but that is how I see things for Portland, but if your interested in doing something at a later date keep me in mind and I'm sure we could work something out.

Thanks for your input Angela!

Alas, due to how the tour works, not every stop can have a weekend date (which is also how we keep it cost-effective), but that Monday is also Memorial Day, which has its pro's & con's (regularly scheduled classes usually aren't taking place, can use more of the daytime, and folks have the day off, con's would be folks could be out of town, or just coming back). On the Mischief Tour (2007), we hit Tempe, AZ on Memorial Day at what used to be the old Domba! studio, and had a great turn-out, with folks driving in from all over the state, and gas was more expensive then, so who knows :) On regular weeknights, folks usually combine the workshops with their regular weeknight class, and that tends to work out really well as well.

Jane has offered use of her space, but I'm open to other options, or also other locations, like Salem, etc. Even with the space, I can't organize a singular stop while overseeing the whole tour, so if I can get a sponsor, it's up to them on where.

Hopefully there will be bigger weekend events in the future in NW, but it won't be on a tour schedule - though this is a good way for potential sponsors to test the waters at a much lower expense/risk.

Originally Posted by AngelaDiCaprio

To be honest, about Portland I'm not excited about the date it is on a Monday night, which in my opinion is busiest for people going to their regular classes and we do not have a big Alternative community. So I'm reluctant to take the risk, otherwise I would sponsor. I would also be more likely to sponsor if it were on a weekend. Another obstacle is regular class attendance is down due to economy. So another risk in low turn out.

You say you have studio space I take that to mean Euphoria Studio's since you talked with Jane? I'm an instructor there the cost of the rental is expensive IMO.

This is also about a month after Saqra's showcase were there will be a large turn out and a lot of money spent in the vending areas and for lodging and travel for participants of the show case, and you have people saving up for BDUSA competition in June. Personally My opinion again the timing is just not right.

Sorry, but that is how I see things for Portland, but if your interested in doing something at a later date keep me in mind and I'm sure we could work something out.

And as a general update - we're back on track with Ashland/Medford and Circus Tribal! And a new Seattle sponsor is in the works!

Ya Memorial day. ugh!!!!

PM me with all details. aratia@msn.com. I'll punch some numbers and consider it. no promises..

I'm polling my friends to see what level of interest there is....

UPDATE! We have revamped the NW section of the tour to accommodate a new stop! The schedule has changed slightly:

5/23 - SW OR - NEED SPONSOR!
5/24 - NW, OR - NEED SPONSOR!
5/25 - Tri-Cities, WA- hosted by Troupe du Soleil
5/26 - Seattle, WA - hosted by Skin Deep Dance
5/27 - Spokane, WA - NEED SPONSOR!