An open letter to the Buffalo Bellydance Community

It has come to my attention that misinformation has been spread regarding the Durga Tour stop in Buffalo on June 13th , unjustly impacting the event and I feel the best way to deal with it at this time is to take the matter to the larger community and clear the air. I ask you to take a few moments to read the following to help clear any misunderstandings.

The Buffalo Durga Tour stop will take place on June 13th at The Bellydance Academy, and features workshops in the day with myself (Tempest), Asharah, and musician Tim Rayborn, followed by a show in the evening. This will be the second time the Durga Tour will visit Buffalo – the last being in 2006, which was a great stop for us, so we’re looking forward to coming to you again.

The Durga Tour was created in 2006 to bring Gothic and Experimental/Fusion bellydance workshops and performances to cities all across the US. We did 25 states in 40 days. The 2009 tour expands on our base concept even further, focusing on fusion bellydance with integrity, community balance and growth, and musical interaction, and spans over 30 stops from May 1st – June 16th. It is designed to be accessible to ALL styles and levels of dancers, and for communities to work together, putting drama aside in favor of benefiting our beautiful art. From the beginning planning stages, sponsors for the tour are specifically asked to work together with other leaders, teachers, and troupes in their community and beyond – to put aside personal and stylistic differences to make an event possible that benefits all.

Putting together a tour of this scale is not an easy task. It takes an enormous amount of coordination, mapping, planning, and negotiating – not only between myself and the sponsors of the stops, but also with the guest artists who come on the tour with us, and local dancers/performers and musicians – spanning nearly a year of preparation, with the months leading up to the tour being a constant rain of communication with literally hundreds of individuals. But I believe it is all worth it, for the experience and opportunity of being able to bring our ideas and art on a smaller, more affordable scale to towns and cities all across the US – especially to dancers who can’t make it to the bigger festivals. Their appreciation and gratitude is simply astounding and a constant reminder that we’re on track, especially when one is used to a community that has a lot of resources on hand.

But there’s also a lot at stake, and again, being on tour is no easy task. There’s a lot of money involved in keeping the van running and full of gas, honoring contracts and time commitments, functioning on a lot of fast food, long hours on the road, and minimal sleep. It takes a huge amount of effort not only on our part to make every stop successful, but also requires the community as well to take part and take responsibility, in order to make it successful for all involved.

So getting the reason why I’m writing this letter to you. I have read firsthand accounts of libelous statements being made against myself, the event sponsors, and the tour, and heard direct accounts of similar slander from numerous community members, which are impacting the success of the stop, essentially satisfying the intent of the misinformation and ill-will being spread. Now, personal opinions in private blogs are one thing, but when I have other professional dancers and friends around the nation coming up to me going “What the heck is going on in Buffalo!?” that is not only something for me to be concerned about, but YOU as well. Issues between local dancers are sadly the norm everywhere, but your national reputation is being impacted.

In a nutshell, I refused to get involved in an un-related business conflict between a studio owner and troupe, who were working together to make the Buffalo stop happen. I asked both parties to please do their best to work it out, and not to bring myself or the Durga Tour into the disagreement. Previous to their disagreement, the contract for the stop had been signed with the studio owner, and deposit secured for it, securing the stop in the Durga Tour schedule. The issue was escalated emotionally, and I was urged by the troupe to cancel the stop, which at that time in late April, was not feasible, reasonable, or frankly, professional on my part. I don’t cancel stops due to drama, regardless of who is involved, especially when a stop concerns several other individuals besides myself (Asharah and Tim Rayborn). That is simply not good business. Both the studio owner and I separately encouraged the troupe to still participate and be involved in whatever way they wished, putting other issues aside for the spirit of the Durga Tour and community. And as I departed for the tour, that is where things were left from my perspective, and I sent another request for cooperation and working things out. Being on tour now since May 1st, I have had little time for anything else, besides a few moments online here and there when I can snag it, but yet still I have received rumblings of sabotage because I refused to get involved in drama. This is mind-boggling to me – I simply don’t understand this sort of behavior, and while I can withstand a great deal of pummeling when it comes to me personally, this affecting more people than just myself. It is affecting other members of the tour, your local community, and again, your reputation in the larger bellydance community. If this stop is ultimately cancelled (something I am working hard against preventing, taking extra energy out of the touring schedule to put towards this), the repercussions will be far greater than just one event that didn’t happen. It will be a lot harder to get artists outside of your community to come back – and this is not hearsay or a threat, but what I heard directly from other dance professionals at festivals and events taking place in the last month. And that would truly be a great detriment to any bellydance community.

So I ask of you, members of the Buffalo Bellydance community, to be above the drama. Please don’t let misinformation make YOU miss out on a special opportunity. And I want to make it very known that EVERYONE is invited to participate in the events on June 13th, but only if you’re willing to leave the drama at the door and get down to some serious celebration of our dance.

Thank you for your time and consideration

Blessings,
Tempest