In some ways it feels like it was just last night... in others, it seems ages ago. But either way, it was an evening I will never forget!
I was so touched and impressed by the performances of my talented friends, and by the huge turnout of friends.
For the first two hours, we had standing room only (or people sat on the floor and along the side of the stage!), even as a few tables cleared out at intermission, more guests arrived to take their place.
In all, the event was a huge success, raising over $800 for PURE in cash donations, and over $100 more in online and other donations!
It looks like we will reprise the show at Columbia University in April 2009, so if you would still like to make a donation, please make a donation on the PURE NYC website.
So.... after the premiere of PURE Reflections, I began to think about how, since I'd gotten back into comedy, theater and improvisation, I had an extraordinary assortment of insanely talented friends whose paths might never cross otherwise.
Inspired by my Improvisation Theater group, Artistic New Directions, which bridges diverse groups in the theater community, I wanted to create a multi-discipline event and hopefully inspire these amazing performers to connect with other fields.
Knowing many dancers would come out to support PURE, and knowing that my non-dancer friends would come out for my Big Birthday, it seemed the perfect opportunity to create a little pandemonic fusion.
And I got pretty pandemonic myself, dancing, emceeing, singing and doing comedy at points throughout the evening.
Starting the evening, in full costume...
... I described my solo as "inspired by the elegant dances of Fred and Ginger" to a "classic song from the 30s..."
Cocktails for Two... by Spike Jones!!
For those who recall -- this is a reprise of my CringeFest dance earlier this year, demonstrating that bellydance could be a perfect fit for even the whackadoo soundeffects of Mr. Jones and his City Slickers -- Comedy-Bellydance Fusion. A ComFusion, if you will.....
Then my lovely friend Kisha took the stage...
... for a stunning veil dance in white-and-black.
Artistic New Directions' Scotty Watson followed ....
... with his infamous Ballet Routine.
Then the incomparable Moroccan musian/singer Rachid Halihal performed the first of three songs with drummers Brian Carter and Brad Mack.
Last year, Rachid was a guest teacher at one of Raquy's dumbek retreats, where he taught our stumbling tongues the words to a famous Arabic song, Ya Rayah.
To our surprise, I managed to learn the chorus by heart, and sung it with him... (!!!)
Then the sublime Thalia entranced the audience to Batawannes Beek...
... and that took us to about 8:40pm, with still so much show to go!
I'll post more photos as they become available (the lovely professional model-turned-photgrapher Cynthia Boucher has been sending in photos as they are ready).
Check my flickr set for updates: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tandavadance/4098282291
Ah, but th-th-that's not all folks!
In return for performing at my benefit, I agreed to perform at the benefit Scotty Watson was organizing the following week for Artistic New Directions -- making us truly Friends with Benefits (nyuck, nyuck).
The theme this year? Burlesque!
Now, I know for some bellydancers a few hackles are raised when these dance forms are combined -- but remember, quite a few bellydancers... um... go both ways :-D -- most notably, the divine Princess Farhana, but there are many others, including New York's Chicava and Masae -- both of whom agreed to do the benefit!
And what did I do?
Why, a sword dance, of course!
For more photos, go to my Flickr Set.
Or check out Janice Goldberg's full set on Facebook.
Lots more going on... stay tuned!
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