Hello, ladies and gentlemen, dancers and drummers. Just wanted to thank everybody who made it out to Art6 last night and made it the combined art, dance and musical extravaganza that I was hoping it would be. I know it was hot and crowded and chaotic and claustrophobic and loud up there in the second floor gallery, but the dancers there shrugged it all off, put on a great show and superbly represented Richmond's Middle Eastern dance community to an gallery-going audience who had no idea what to expect.

Think about it ... every belly dancer had to have seen belly dance for the first time SOMEWHERE, from SOMEONE, and that experience planted a seed of interest, curiosity and imagination that sooner or later compelled that person to learn more, to take a chance, to sign up for classes and study and practice and attend workshops and do that first public performance and then the second and then the third and so on and to become a belly dancer herself. Members of the audience don't know it at the time, but watching dancers dance can possibly be a life-changing experience ... and YOU ALL were part of that experience last night! YOU will be the dancer that the tomorrow's dancer remembers when someone asks her why she ever started dancing. It might have been Shimmy Mischief's duet to 'Amari Szi Amari' ...or Johara's solo to 'Miserlu' ... or Anna Louise's IMPROMPTU solo to 'Garoon Garoon' (bravo!) ... or the class choreography to 'Moi et Toi' ... or Sarah's and LaVater's daring command of the dance floor ... or that first glimpse of the awesome Yvette and the darkly exotic Pyro Kitty ... but impressions were made and imaginations were fired and that torch was passed a little more along the way! Thanks to you all.

Thanks also to Chip and Lar for their musical contributions. It was indeed a BALKANIZE! / Min el Jbal el Zarr'a / To The Earth all-star ensemble. True musicians, you guys effortlessly slid into the groove and made it sound like we had been practicing and playing together all year! Long Live the B!MJZTTE All Star Band!

Thanks again, everybody. Let's do this again soon. Sooner than soon. Take care.

PS In case you haven't seen the picture of Shari in today's Richmond Times-Dispatch, check out page B-3 of the Metro Section.