Thread: Belly Dancers Of Color Association Fest

Who's going this year?

I get there Friday. The show is Saturday night for those who want to see some great dancing. I'll be performing with Khalidah's North African Dance Experience.

You can get tickets to the classes and the show at BOCA * Bellydancers of Color Association - Bellydancers of Color Association

I hope to see some Bhuzzers there.

I wanna go, I wanna go! ..cr.: ..cr.: ..cr.:

sigh.

i want you to go too. i just love Boca Fest. I look forward to it every year.

I'll be there, with the NDC! Lotus is teaching workshops on Saturday and Sunday, so we're always on hand to help her out. And we dance in the Saturday show. Hope to meet you!

Makeda

OOooh Me,me!! I'm going!! I am so excited!! Can't wait!! It stinks I wil be going by myself, (you know things are always more fun when you have your girls), but..... Still extremely excited to be able to make it this year!! I will make it down there just in time to take the 4-6 with Tarik. I won't be able to stay for the barefoot breakfast :-(, but maybe next year!

Does anyone know if they have a jam in the evening at the hotel on Friday or Saturday night? Or does everyone go home and go to bed to be fresh for the next day?

Nope, not this year again...I'm just so horribly broke, it's appauling really...Next year I'm there fer sher!!!

I need to have a calendar with all the stuff I wanna do on it and how much it will cost and what I need to do to save up for it.

Originally Posted by ejaghana

I need to have a calendar with all the stuff I wanna do on it and how much it will cost and what I need to do to save up for it.

Amen to that!! I started doing that! I pencil all my events in my calender and budget out what I need to save to make sure I get there, and have money to eat!!

BOCA was a surprise, I didn't know I was going to be able to make it this year, but it just so happened that my cousin is going to graduating from the naval academy in Anapolis, MD. And I just couldn't let this opportunity pass me, since I am going to be right there!! So I scrambled up what I could, and signed up for as many workshops as could afford. Wish I could take a few more, but I am just happy I am going to make this year for the first time!

Originally Posted by Sanaan2

OOooh Me,me!! I'm going!! I am so excited!! Can't wait!! It stinks I wil be going by myself, (you know things are always more fun when you have your girls), but..... Still extremely excited to be able to make it this year!! I will make it down there just in time to take the 4-6 with Tarik. I won't be able to stay for the barefoot breakfast :-(, but maybe next year!

Does anyone know if they have a jam in the evening at the hotel on Friday or Saturday night? Or does everyone go home and go to bed to be fresh for the next day?

Come hang with us. Friday I don't think there's anything but Saturday is the show. Truthfully every year we just go eat and go to sleep because we're so tired from dancing all day. This year i'm not taking as many classes tho so I might kick it afterwards.

I figured, eating and sleeping might be the plan, but I thought that I would ask since this is my first year, and I am not staying in the designated hotel. (I don't want to miss out on anything) I am only taking one class on Friday, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. Usually when I go to events like this, I try to dance from morning till night, but "the finances" don't permit that at this time!
Definately going to the show!!
Can't wait to meet, hang out and dance with everyone!! Shimmies and Snakehips till then!!

I am looking forward to meeting you guys. I am a member of The NDC as well.

Well it's over. It was great again. I only actually took two classes this year but it was still great. I did see you Jahzaal backstage but I don't think I saw Sanaan. I looked for you but there were so many sisters with locks that, I just didn't know. What did you think?

I totally understand, I found myself trying to figure out faces myself, but felt silling asking people "Are you on bhuz?" I took the "Entrances workshop with Tarik, "Sexual Kung Fu with Dr. Sunyatta", The "oriental choreography with Tarik on Saturday, The drum solo with Lotus, the Hip hop bellydance and Shimmies and egyptian choreography on Sunday. Which workshops did you take?
I loved Dr. Sunyatta's Sexual Kung Fu, it was excellent, she is very knowledgable!! I enjoyed Tariks workshops, he is too funny, and I loved alot of his foot patterns, and his choreography was good! And can I just say "The boy is bad on the zills!!" Lotus is just all kinds of fierce, and shared alot of helpful information, I loved every second of both of her workshops, and that drum solo choreography was tooo hot! I am going to be real honest and say that I was a little worried about the Hip Hop Bellydance workshop after seeing the instructors performance, which I felt lacked the control I am accustomed to in bellydance, but ended up being very pleased, and having alot of fun in her workshop, and really enjoyed her energy!

Now the show...... Let me start by saying BOCA as a whole was FANTASTIC!! But the show could use a bit of tweeking! It started off wonderful, and then (as it moved towards the second half and on) my eye brows raised a little, then I was a little confusion, then my mouth fell open, but Amira Bey did a little bellydance CPR, and ended the show well. I will say, not all my issues where nessasarily "bad dancing" some where good dancers, but there were some things going on that made you clutch your pearls or drop your jaw. And maybe no one else felt the same as I did, this is just my opinion.

But all that being said, I will be back next year! ~Sanaa

Glad you ladies had a great time. I hope to go next year!!!

Hello Ladies. I'm glad you enjoyed BOCA. Now I have a bone to pick with you two :o)
Rak Girl how come you didn't say anything to me? Oh that goes for you too Sanaan. I asked Makeda (Toya) if she had seen you two. She said she no. We looked in Lotus' drum solo class. I felt like you Sanaan. I didn't want to walk up to people saying are you on bhuz? I was looking for the two of you all weekend. These pics are so tiny on Bhuz, that was no help. I just thought you guys didn't show. Maybe next time. I really was looking forward to meeting you ladies.
Sanaan I agree with you about Tarik. He really impressed me. I am now a fan.

Jah - We did meet Sanaa! We met her after Lotus' "Captivating Combinations" workshop on Sunday. I know because I opened her pictures and I just realized she was the lady in the awesome army green/khaki colored halter top with matching hip scarf and black flare leg pants! It was awesome meeting you, Sanaa!

Rakgirl - I wish I'd been able to meet you, too. (Then again, maybe I did and just didn't recognize your face from the avatar pic. )

Makeda

OHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH That was you!!!!! (LOL) I didn't realize it. I missed the introductions. I walked up when you were talking about your halter top and hip scarf. I still wish I would have known then. Sorry about that. It was a pleasure meeting you Sanaan. Ok. See these pictures are too tiny. I had no idea. I'm sorry. OK so my only bone I have to pick is with you Rak Girl :o)

I know, I was looking forward to meeting everyone too. I felt like I definately should have seen at least the NDC girls at the first workshop, because I know she had you ladies demonstrating, but the only one I ended up actually getting to talk to is her Lotus's neice. I did get to meet Toya and her cute little daughter, finally at the workshop on Sunday before I left, and we were talking about having locks and not being a "tribal dancer", because many people assume that because I am a woman of color and I have dred locks, I must be a tribal dancer, and she was telling me that there are actually very few black woman who are tribal dancers.

(The crazy thing is we probably walked past each other 20 times or more!)

Oh, I know my user name says Sanaan2, but that actually stands for Sanaa and 2(my two daughters), my name is actually Sanaa. Sorry to confuse everyone!

It's so hard to try to figure out what everybody looks like from these small pics. Next time, we'll have to wear a flower in our hair or something!..l;,

Makeda

Come to think of it I believe we did walk pass each other quite a few times..l;, Well there is no excuse for me next time. I will be sure to stop and chat with you.

I like the flower idea!! It would have been nice to know I was talking to you to Jahzaal! It was lovely meeting you Toya, thank for the compliments! Hopefully we will meet again soon, Inshallah!

I'm sorry Jahzaal. Everyone was preparing for the show back stage. We were on the other side of the room by Zeh Zeh and NJedeka. The NDC looked so serious. I said hello to all but I didn't introduce myself. Lotus remembered me and spoke to me earlier during the weekend tho. Sanaa I was at the Tarik Entrances class. i think I know who you were. The problem with the avatar is that I have a wig on in it so i don't look anything like myself. I had curly/kinky chin length do and most likely some bright clothes on and I was in the front and right of the stage. The tall skinny one.

If you guys saw Khalidah's performance the company performed before her Khalidah's North Afrikan Dance Experience. I was the one in the orange dress. I didn't see the rest of the show but I can't wait for the dvd to be released. Have you all heard anymore about it?

Sorry I'm just getting back on bhuz. I've been super busy.

Sorry we looked "serious". We get in "dance readiness mode" right before a performance. I do remember you! Your costumes (your whole troupe) were so gorgeous! I was drooling over those dresses!

Makeda

yeah we should be more serious probably but we're always backstage kickin it before hand.
thanks I picked those dresses up at Mahmouds in Cairo last summer. Except Khalidah's that's one of her oldies but goodies. Someone asked to buy the skirt off of her after the show. How funny is that?

I think people wear their Bhuz buttons to avoid missing each other.

I'm just curious (and not in the Victorian way), how did they relate Sexual Kung Fu to Oriental dance? Or there is no relation and it is offered as something fun and different?

The BOCAFest isn't all about bellydance, actually. It's put on by the Bellydancers of Color, but there are lots of other kinds of classes available, including dance classes in other genres. And "sexual kung fu", which I've never taken, but the title is intriguing, isn't it?

Makeda

Dr Sunyatta is a Naprapath and so she relates everything to health. She relates belly dance to the health of the sexual organs. I've heard it from other dancers as well that al the rolling and undulating help tone the muscles in the abdomen and pelvice and give an internal massage to female sexual organs. So she relates it by saying that you can take that internal workout to another level. I think it's just that.