pics of dance show

[icyaurora8]

Here are a couple of pics I promised a friend from my photo shoot right before my bellydancing show in November. lj-cut text="Click me to see!"


I'm the one in purple (the younger blonde is my sister, the older woman is my mother). The last pic is my fiance' and I on the night of the show, after we got done dancing.








Also... if you want to watch the video of the opening dance, you can go here. It's really crappy quality and sound, I know, but it was taken with a digital camera, not a video camera. My sister hasn't gotten a Director's account yet, so we can't upload the good videos cause they are too big.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=LGDA3MhYfaE

Comments

[silentauror.livejournal.com]

I can't believe I didn't comment on this post before, when I first read it! My bad, so sorry! I love the pics, btw. I've had friends who were into belly dancing and I've always loved watching it. :) Very cool!

Anyway, I'm just responding to your comment from the harrydraco comm over here, so as not to clog up the original post. :)

Do you mean that it's not a good time to visit the Middle East in terms of weather or politics? Politically speaking, I would say that it's rarely a good time for North Americans to be there (particularly Americans, unfortunately), but if you dress appropriately and try to respect of the right things, I would say that you should be fine. It's handy to learn a few phrases of Arabic before you go, but you can likely get by with a fair bit of English. Damascus is also a good bit less sensitive than, say, Jerusalem or Tel-Aviv or Hebron - Israel and the Palestinian Territories in general, in other words. On top of that, Syria is something of a police state, which means not so good to live in, but usually good for travellers, because crime rates are so low. In fact, when I went in 2000, I was told that it's one of the safest countries in the world to visit. Rule of thumb for dress is no bare knees or elbows, and skirts are preferable for women. You don't have to, and there will be women who don't, especially if you stay near the Christian quarter, but I would recommend it if you're nervous.

Weather-wise, yes, less ideal, but probably still quite lovely. It gets extremely hot in summer (120 F and the like!). I was there in October, and it was still high 80's to high 90's! And if you can't go now, then maybe you could plan on it for May or October or something like that? I hope you have a chance to go someday! It's a whole different world, and so beautiful. I'm a history buff, myself, and I couldn't believe that I was, for instance, actually seeing the place where Salah al-Din was buried. In the Umayyad mosque (which is, for the record, the fourth holiest place for Muslims, after Mecca, Medina, and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem), they also claim to have the head of John the Baptist (although at least three other places also claim this). Pretty cool. :)

Damascus' Old City has a Christian quarter, where the apostle who looked after Paul when he was blinded on the road to Damascus (Ananaias) lived. You can still go into his house and everything - it's on Bab Hanania, or Ananaias street. :) Also, to get there, you would enter through the same city gate that Paul would have gone through. Damascus also has a Jewish quarter. I'm not sure what percentage of the city's population is Jewish, but I believe that it's about 13% Christian, which would be pretty much all Syrian Orthodox. Syrian Orthodox services are conducted about half in Arabic and the rest in Aramaic, which is the language that Jesus spoke, if you believe in such things. (I do, and it's fine with me if you don't, but I thought you might find it historically interesting!)

(cont'd!)

[cyn-ful.livejournal.com]

pretty piccies!!