Thread: What happens in Vegas...happens at the Bellydance Intensive!!!

Bwahahahahaha. Whoo hoo. I can't believe I survived the weekend. It was truly amazing. It's Monday at noon... and I still haven't even made it home yet. I just checked out of Palace Station this morning and am doing all the after-weekend follow-up!

I thought I'd start a thread where you could speak up and share your favorite "Vegas" moments. I know that I always have a moment here or there...where I say, "Wow, only is Vegas, baby!" Speak up here and share your stories...

I have several, but I'll keep it to just a couple for the moment.

1) Only in Vegas does one order custom-made gold lame thongs for making showgirl costumes. HEE HEE!! Seriously, Leyla Amir and I had an absolute riot making the showgirl costumes for Anglea and April. I know that one of you out there will post some pictures...

2) After Sat. night was all over, I was riding down the escalator when our "Elvis" planted a big kiss on me. All my directors were at the bottom of the escalators and let out a whopping cheer. Tee hee!! Kissing Elvis...now that is a Vegas moment!!

I know that Amaryllis has a couple of silly stories...

What's yours?

Bwa ha ha.

I loved stumbling into you and Elvis after the "after party" frivolity on Saturday night...

Karim's cane breaking during his performance, and his Improvised "Mizmar" solo with it afterwards.

Quoting Eddie Izzard at the hot tub last night! ;)

AND learning to say "HOT" in Arabic from Elvis. ;)

Spending time with all of the people that I love so much, in this community, and those who traveled for the event.


Samira, it was truly a wonderful weekend. I already can't wait for next year to see what 's in store! :)

*hugs*

Yasmin

How do we say "Hot" in Arabic then?
I loved Karim's mizmar too...loved all you gals - so friendly. I had so much fun in your town and I will definitely be back!
Some of my highlights...
Ava & Karim's drum solo...
The AWESOME comedian on Saturday night - that guy was just so cool. Also I loved Tabu's performance.
My favorite workshop, besides Ava of course, was Aradia's drum solo workshop - so much fun.
Even besides the workshops and the event, it was really wonderful to get away from work and be in a different place and spend quality time with friends...not to mention being surrounded by people who love the same thing I do.

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

How do we say "Hot" in Arabic then?
I loved Karim's mizmar too...loved all you gals - so friendly. I had so much fun in your town and I will definitely be back!
Some of my highlights...
Ava & Karim's drum solo...
The AWESOME comedian on Saturday night - that guy was just so cool. Also I loved Tabu's performance.
My favorite workshop, besides Ava of course, was Aradia's drum solo workshop - so much fun.
Even besides the workshops and the event, it was really wonderful to get away from work and be in a different place and spend quality time with friends...not to mention being surrounded by people who love the same thing I do.

Thanks Nepenthe!! I applaud all the dancers willing to get up and do drum solo's at 8:00 AM ..l;,..l;, What a great weekend, there were so many fabulous dancers!! Loved Leyla Amir, Karim and Ava's drum solo, it was soooo saucy! All of our local girls rocking the house, there was so much good stuff I can't even list it all. Hmmm, Samira shall we change your name to Samira Presley???..l;,..l;, How cool to have a Lebanese Elvis!!

It was great to see our out of state bhuz members performing at the after party Amartia was just stunning and can emote serious feeling!! The first perfomer of the night, I'm blanking her stage name, Halima?? from Ohio, she was beautiful and had great veil work!!!

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

How do we say "Hot" in Arabic then?


The AWESOME comedian on Saturday night - that guy was just so cool. Also I loved Tabu's performance.
.

Well...this particular word for "hot" is actually (according to Elvis) kind of the "orgasmically steamy amazing HAWT!" I'm going to spell it phoenetically.

bit-hai-ish

We were exclaiming it all night. lol


Wasn't David a riot? He's so talented...he's our "barker"/"caller"/"tip getter" at Ren Faire too. :) Inara (of Tabu) is a lucky girl!!! ;)

I concur that Tabu was "bithaiish"!! i'm biased because I love all three of those ladies, but...they were really brilliant. :)

:)

The way that sounds to me is as if it's the words "I'm getting hot (for you)." Because usually "bit" seems to imply a verb conjugated in the first person. Can any Arabic speaker confirm that?
like bitkalam, bitgannen...
cool....more words! :-)

Originally Posted by Aradia

Hmmm, Samira shall we change your name to Samira Presley???..l;,..l;, How cool to have a Lebanese Elvis!!

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! He's going to love hearing that one!!!! Did you see him pick up the drum at the tail end of the after-party at Royal Persis? Yasmin looked at me and mouthed "OMG, and he can drum too??!! He's a keeper!!" SQUEE.

Ghassan (which is his name when he isn't Elvis) was completely floored with the whole event. He said that it felt like he was home in Lebanon and that he had no idea there were Americans who loved his culture so much. AWWWwwwww. That made my whole night (well....that and a few other things.....g.:).

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

The way that sounds to me is as if it's the words "I'm getting hot (for you)." Because usually "bit" seems to imply a verb conjugated in the first person. Can any Arabic speaker confirm that?
like bitkalam, bitgannen...
cool....more words! :-)

He said it was kind of like the ultimate in getting hot. That it was like an explosion about to happen. It was good enough for us...bwahahahahahaha.

Originally Posted by Aradia

It was great to see our out of state bhuz members performing at the after party Amartia was just stunning and can emote serious feeling!! The first perfomer of the night, I'm blanking her stage name, Halima?? from Ohio, she was beautiful and had great veil work!!!

Oh goodness, yes!!! She was so beautiful. Her hair was so delicious! Wow. HAWT!!

I think that Sara Shrapnell is also a Bhuzzer. She was the one from the UK. It was stellar to have her come from so far to join us in Vegas.

Other moments...

Hanging out in the hot tub at the after-after party and trying to find stars in the sky despite the lights of the Palace Station sign looming over us. Da** hard to find stars in the Vegas sky with all the lights. hahahahahha.

Good heavans, Yasmin! I didn't think you guys could keep me awake as long as you did. I can't believe I saw 2am after the whole weekend.

I also really loved watching DeLois LaDelle do her stellar belly/tap fusion on Friday night. BWahahahahaha.

I have some pictures here, though strangely enough you'd never know I was at a bellydance intensive as I didn't take pictures of any bellydancers (I either forgot my camera for the workshops, or I didn't get any clear pictures of the dancing at the shows.)

Las Vegas Bellydance Intensive 2008

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

I have some pictures here, though strangely enough you'd never know I was at a bellydance intensive as I didn't take pictures of any bellydancers (I either forgot my camera for the workshops, or I didn't get any clear pictures of the dancing at the shows.)

Lizzy and Alexandra were at the hot tub at the impromptu after-after party...with Danya, Shirley, Marjhani, Yasmin, "Elvis" Ghassan, and me. What a treat to meet everyone.

Don't worry about missing out on too many photos. Our official photographer told me this morning that he took over 3000. I will post a link as soon as they are processed...which might take some time...LOL.

Originally Posted by Samira_dncr

Lizzy and Alexandra were at the hot tub at the impromptu after-after party...with Danya, Shirley, Marjhani, Yasmin, "Elvis" Ghassan, and me. What a treat to meet everyone.

Don't worry about missing out on too many photos. Our official photographer told me this morning that he took over 3000. I will post a link as soon as they are processed...which might take some time...LOL.

don't forget Barrett. ;)

lol

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

The way that sounds to me is as if it's the words "I'm getting hot (for you)." Because usually "bit" seems to imply a verb conjugated in the first person. Can any Arabic speaker confirm that?
like bitkalam, bitgannen...
cool....more words! :-)

Sounds about right to me.

;)

And it WORKS for me too! lol

Originally Posted by yasmindiab

don't forget Barrett. ;)

lol

So sorry. I am also missing the guy that was part of Marjahni's group. I don't remember his name. i was a bit distracted. hahahahaha ..l;,..l;,

I saw a $5,000 tiny crystal purse that was pretty at the hotel that has the water show OMG!!

I was in the hot tub and pool at 4:45 a.m. Saturday night.

I spent $1 gambling and lost it. (my friend Dawn spent $1 too but she came away with $2.25).

I had the time of my life. Are all workshops/dance events like this? (I only been to Jasmin Jahal's and Dahlena's)

Ezma - I've been to a few weekend workshops in my time, even travelled for some - but this was the MOST FUN.
It almost makes me wish I wasn't trying to get pregnant this year (the only reason I didn't immediately sign up for next year is that I think I will either have a small child at that point or will be near enough to pop).

Originally Posted by Samira_dncr

So sorry. I am also missing the guy that was part of Marjahni's group. I don't remember his name. i was a bit distracted. hahahahaha ..l;,..l;,

;) lol NO worries. ;)

The guy with the long hair is Drew, or Azah. ;)

Originally Posted by EzmaSiddiqah

I saw a $5,000 tiny crystal purse that was pretty at the hotel that has the water show OMG!!

I was in the hot tub and pool at 4:45 a.m. Saturday night.

I guess the real question is...did you make it to any of the Sunday workshops...hahahahaha.

I spent $1 gambling and lost it. (my friend Dawn spent $1 too but she came away with $2.25).

Bwahahahahah. $1? That's it? You have a lot of restraint. But I suppose all the goodies at the vendor tables were better than the poker tables, eh?

I had the time of my life. Are all workshops/dance events like this? (I only been to Jasmin Jahal's and Dahlena's)

I think all events have their own unique feel. We have an "edge" on the fun angle because it's Las Vegas. I know that I've had an absolute riot at the other events that I've attended. ..l;,

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

Ezma - I've been to a few weekend workshops in my time, even travelled for some - but this was the MOST FUN.
It almost makes me wish I wasn't trying to get pregnant this year (the only reason I didn't immediately sign up for next year is that I think I will either have a small child at that point or will be near enough to pop).

No worries. The Intensive will be around for you to come back to another time. It's good to be a mommy too! I have 2 of my own...ages 3 and 8. My 8 year old daughter came to the show on Friday night. She said that she kept trying to yell at me to get my attention when I was on stage being the MC...hee hee. My 3 year old wasn't allowed anywhere near the event.

Hey ladies, I just wanted to take a second to ask a favor.

I just got a "thanks for staying" e-mail from Palace Station. In the e-mail was the GM's e-mail address, and he said, if you have any comments/concerns, to please e-mail him and let him know.

Now, speaking as someone who works in the hotel/casino industry, I can tell you from experience that for every 1 Positive Experience call/email, we used to have 50 Negative Experience calls. And this was at the Bellagio.

If you had a great experience this weekend, if you have a story about a staff member going above and beyond, or if your room was spotless...please send an e-mail and let them know what a great job they are doing. (this is for Hotel staff only, not volunteers/teachers/directors from the Intensive....that you can do right here! lol)

Such an amazing weekend Samira! It's always fun to be in the hussel and bussel of Dance. Las Vegas can certainly put the spark into the event!....g.:

Next year ..your lucky #7... will be over the top! Especially after we come back from Cairo.

Doing the showgirl costumes with you was lots of fun! I just wish I fit them the same way. Can't wait to add more feathures for next year!

Thank you to all the students who attended my class..Your enthusiasm and joy for the dance inspired me.

Alf Mabrook Samira!!!!!!on a job well done by you, your dedicated directors, volenteers, dancer friends and husbands. I know all the hard work it takes for such a production!

Can you tell ...i'm having fun with these little guys,r:;

Time for my nap to re-energize,s::

Yours in Dance
Leyla Amir

Egypt National Tours

Originally Posted by LeylaAmir

Such an amazing weekend Samira! It's always fun to be in the hussel and bussel of Dance. Las Vegas can certainly put the spark into the event!....g.:

Next year ..your lucky #7... will be over the top! Especially after we come back from Cairo.

Doing the showgirl costumes with you was lots of fun! I just wish I fit them the same way. Can't wait to add more feathures for next year!

Thank you to all the students who attended my class..Your enthusiasm and joy for the dance inspired me.

Alf Mabrook Samira!!!!!!on a job well done by you, your dedicated directors, volenteers, dancer friends and husbands. I know all the hard work it takes for such a production!

Can you tell ...i'm having fun with these little guys,r:;

Time for my nap to re-energize,s::

Yours in Dance
Leyla Amir

Egypt National Tours

Leyla, just thought I'd tell you again that you were LOVELY on Sunday night at the after party. :)

Originally Posted by Aradia

It was great to see our out of state bhuz members performing at the after party Amartia was just stunning and can emote serious feeling!! The first perfomer of the night, I'm blanking her stage name, Halima?? from Ohio, she was beautiful and had great veil work!!!

Hi! Yes, was me and WOW what a weekend! My head is still spinning. I had an awesome time - all the classes were great, and I LOVED your drum class, Aradia!! My friend has some amazing pics of Amartia performing - as soon as I get them will send to her to (hopefully) post here!

it was so great meeting everyone! i took Aradia's workshop at 8AM and it was SO WORTH IT! she is an incredible dancer and a sweetie to boot! so is her mom! :-)
thanks for all of the compliments on my dancing guys- you're making me blush!
it was great meeting some of the bhuzzers, squinting trying to reconcile the pictures with the person. yay!

here are my additions:
only in vegas is it totally normal to try on a bellydance costume underneath of your evening dress and take pictures of it in a parking lot.. ahem.. tanya,ahem ahem

and saturday night, ali baba, southern panty droppers.. nuff said

Originally Posted by latriamou

it was so great meeting everyone! i took Aradia's workshop at 8AM and it was SO WORTH IT! she is an incredible dancer and a sweetie to boot! so is her mom! :-)
thanks for all of the compliments on my dancing guys- you're making me blush!
it was great meeting some of the bhuzzers, squinting trying to reconcile the pictures with the person. yay!

Thanks Amartia, I give credit to all the dancers that drug their butts to my
8 AM drum solo workshop!!! That is so not right !!..l;,..l;, My Mom and Masala really liked you as well.
Sounds like I left Ali Baba's at the right time, ..g.: Heard the customers became more unruly as the night went on!!

One man became very agitated. It was a drama. My girlfriend Dawn tells everyone the story of the man who yelled "YOU ******* *******! Call the police!" (over and over)

You are a wonderful dancer, and have taught your troupe well. Enjoyed your show!

Originally Posted by Samira_dncr

So sorry. I am also missing the guy that was part of Marjahni's group. I don't remember his name. i was a bit distracted. hahahahaha ..l;,..l;,

His name was Drew....trust me, I will NEVER forget....!!!!!..g.:..g.:..g.: