Wednesday night I drove out to Worcester for my Tribal Improv class, then started the trek down to Jersey City to meet up with Ruthie and crash at her place before carrying on to Somerset, NJ the following morning. Traffic was uneventful and I got to her around 11pm or so. We stayed up and chatted way past our bed times, then woke up early the following morning to make sure we got down to Rakkasah Spring Caravan in time for our first class.

First class was the Moroccan Choreography with Rashid. While I found a lot of the history he gave us on Bal Anat (the dance troupe he was in with Jamilla Salimpour) and how they performed, the class didn't have the flow I was hoping for, and I found a lot of us stopping and starting to make sure we got the choreography correct, especially since the instructor had to make corrections to it as we went as well.
Next class was Belly Popping with Kaeshi of Bellyqueen NYC. A gorgeous petite Asian woman with an Australian accent, she walked us through pops and locks, some great combos, and a cute choreography to round things out. I felt much better at this point. She also did a wonderful follow up emailing of everything she taught us, priceless.
These two classes were 3 hours each, and we went and refueled for dinner. After dinner was the crowning jewel of the day, a class in the "Traditional Tribal" Jamilla Salimpour format. Jamilla is like the fairy godmother of belly dance on the West Coast, and her daughter Suhaila has taken on the wings and wand with a vengeance. We got our asses kicked, and in an awesomely good way. Her technique is 100% muscle driven, and it's such a reminder of ballet that I'm inspired to take her certifications just based on that fact, not to mention it's a well rounded curriculum dealing with zills (percussion) muscular control, and precise exercises and dance that are just incomparable.
That night we carb loaded and hit the hay. 2 Classes the following day!

Friday was Jamilla Al Wahid and her excellent class on Belly Locking. She had an amazing warm up that included traditional African dance, and led us through many exercises that all started out traveling, so there was no need to figure out.."how do I do this while moving?" The music she used was fantastic, and she was a pleasure to take class from, especially first thing in the morning. Fantastic instructor.
Friday afternoon was more Suhaila! We took a class on Layering (using multiple moves together) and once again got our asses kicked! She taught us choreography to a song she had written for her, and we sweated our way through doing this choreography over and over and over. While I know I didn't get everything right, I kept pace, remembered moves, and felt really good at the end of class. It's a good feeling to know you can remember a choreography. My favorite experience this weekend was realizing I could walk through the choreographies that I learned there, that I've learned for PURE, and keep them all in their little boxes in my head. I still have that! It was a great feeling.
Friday evening I spent helping out Hope at her booth called Travel Treasures. We got her all set up, and she even made a few sales while I was there. I got some lovely shinies out of the deal for helping her, and got to meet some fantastic people.
Back to the hotel and more carb loading!!
Saturday morning was class with Ashara. I can't say enough good things about this amazing woman. She took extra time for us, and really broke down her "Pops, Locks and Tick Tocks" in a way that I really understood. After taking several classes on this topic over the weekend I feel really good about integrating them into the future choreographies I do, and practicing them in drills!
Saturday afternoon we watched many performances and Ruthie photographed. Suhaila performed, as did her daughter Isabella who performed the choreography we learned Friday, effortlessly. I would have been jealous if I wasn't so impressed! Za-Beth, our local event coordinator up here in Boston danced as well, and got all the ladies to come up to the stage (and a man too!) She pulled us out one by one to dance with her, and I actually did my first bit of dancing on stage. I'm sure I looked silly, but it was fun! Then dinner, and back over to the festival for more Photog and socializing.Ashara performed, to a Neil Peart drum solo (the drummist from Rush) and took my breath away. Back to the hotel for a nap, then down to the after party for a little dancing. I got to play Zills on squeaky lobsters, and watch some beautiful dancers. Unfortunately, a lot of the drunken members of the reunion of the class of '88 were also watching the dancers, so we had a quick retreat after fending off some advances.
Sunday morning was Fan technique with Kaeshi. I loved this class. The fans were fun to work with, and she passed along so much information in a short amount of time. Again she sent out notes and info later on, and I feel that I got a lot out of the class. After that was a little more socializing, we packed up the car in the morning, so that was all set to go when we finished up classes, and we got on the road around 2:30. I spare you the tales of NYC traffic, thunderstorms with downed trees and signs that kept me on the road for 7 hours, but I had wonderful company from Naomi, and got home to my sweetie that night, and that was really all that mattered.
It was an amazing weekend. And I can't wait to keep practicing to retain all that I learned!