Well, I had a bloated blog entry all written out and it vanished into cyberspace...I guess my blog decided it wasn't good enough to be published   Let's see if I can give you the basic idea of what I wanted to say.

A few weeks ago I was invited to perform at a hafla Kan Zaman restaurant in Cleveland.  It's a really great hookah bar with live Arabic music and dancing every Saturday night.  The food is also excellent; very flavorful and authentic.  Also, if you're not familiar with the term "hafla" it literally means "party" in Arabic, but bellydancers use it to refer to a fairly informal gathering of dancers; everyone takes turns dancing to a song.  There were some amazing dancers there that night, and it's always fun to see all my dance friends in one place!

One of the attendees was kind enough to tape my performance for me, and she posted it to youtube so I could see it.  I think it's very important for every dancer to watch themselves on video so she can see what needs work and what's improved.  I have a camcorder in my practice area and tape myself at least once a week, but there's nothing like a live performance to really see how you're doing.

Here's the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gd2fI9ZF8eY

Obviously you'll notice that the drum solo audio wasn't all there...we had some technical difficulties so about 1/3 of it ended up in silence.  I was a little bummed but these things happen and part of being a pro is knowing how to deal with it.  Overall I was pleased with the performance; I can see progress and maturity in my dance and there are some things that need work (but that will always be the case—nobody on this earth is perfect!)

For more information, visit www.safiyahdances.com