It's the first big holiday weekend of summer. Lots of stuff to do, fests, family & friends spending time together, BBQ's, fresh cut lawns, beautiful flowers, kids playing, and lots more. It can be a great time for everyone. Please be safe and courteous. Have a great weekend! :-)

I just found out that one my favorite places for good Moroccan food and bellydance performances and just all around great ambiance is now closed. I'm so sad to see Tizi go. I have performed there myself in the past and it was a great place. Their fire roasted mussels were amazing! Here is the link to the story http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/thestew/2010/05/tizi-melloul-will-close-its-doors-on-sunday-.htm. Unfortunately this past weekend was their last. However, I spoke with them and they are hoping to run their mussels as a special at Pork Shoppe at 2755 W. Belmont, Chicago, IL 773-961-7654.  It's sad to loose Tizi but at least we can still enjoy the fire roasted mussels.  

I was in the city for 5 days in a row either performing or attending some great dance events.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday I was a guest dance artist at the Number's show produced by Sarah Heston of The Luna Dance Troop in Chicago. The show was held at Hamlin Park Auditorium. It was a great show with some of the most amazing dancers I have the honor of sharing a stage with. The creative show consisted of choreographies by Sarah Heston (Luna Troop Director). Modern, ballet, jazz and then there was me. ;-) I had fun with my veil, zills, sword and even some gypsy skirt. Hey, the show was called Numbers, so my part was props in numbers. lol. I performed two time in the show, first half and second half, so unfortunately I only got to see bits and pieces of the show. Can't wait to see the DVD since I heard many great comments from the audience. It brought back memories of my former dance life. If you don't know, I have danced in tap, jazz and ballet my entire life. My last dance competition was when I was 22 years old. Shortly after that was when I found Bellydance.
On Saturday afternoon I taught a zills workshop for a wonderful group of ladies. We had so much fun. I love to teach bellydance and I especially love to teach zills. Sadly, it is a dying art and I refuse to let that happen. After the workshop, two of the ladies invited me to dinner. It was lovely. We checked out a new restaurant and had great conversation in great company.
Saturday night I attended Sonya's in house hafla. I tried Nutella for the first time (the little kid in me loved it), I saw some great performances by some of the students of her studio and a beautiful flutter fan performance by Sonya.
On Sunday I attended the open house for the World Dance and Fitness Studio in Chicago. Alexandria & Sabah put together a great open house with great food, drinks and atmosphere. They had demo classes of some of the classes that will be available at the studio. There was a hip hop demo class, which I wasn't sure I'd be able to do but the instructor (Regan) explained everything very well, kept it up beat and fun. Then there was a high energy Bollywood demo class by the lovely Phaedra. Followed by a bouncy, upbeat Turkish demo class by Laila Aziz.
I will be teaching workshops (and look forward to it) at the World Dance Studio in the near future and will keep you all posted on when those have been scheduled.   
All in all it was a busy and fun weekend for me. :-)

Wow! What a great show and a huge turnout! It was so much fun. I want to thank everyone for coming. The vendors had lots of wonderful items for sale, the dancers all brought their "A" game and the audience was fantastic! Let's not forget the drummers. WooHoo! I had so much fun. So, I am now searching for a bigger venue. There was such a large, wonderful crowd that it was standing room only and I'd like to be able to have a seat for everyone for the next one. Once I have it all set I'll be sure to let ya'll know. ;-) What a great way to celebrate World Bellydance Day!

Welcome to Mahira's Blog. This is my first post. Yay! I had been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a long time. I finally figured I'd give it a try. This blog will and can include anything and everything about bellydance. I hope you enjoy reading it and I look forward to your comments. :-)