Alia's Adventures in Illumination

We stayed a little longer in NYC, long enough for William to go down to Baltimore to hear Obama speak (he was 8 feet from our new president!) and then to Washington to attend the inauguration.

I got to take class and have (a fabulous) dinner with Aunt Rocky. Rocky's warmup is the best, and Tariq was really on my case (in the gentlest possible way) about my arms, for which I was deeply grateful. We had roast duck for dinner, Rocky regaled me with stories of the film she worked on recently, and Karima Nadirah drove me home (plus they let me take the leftovers, so my whole family feasted).

I tried like hell to take a few other classes, but fate was against me. So once my Mom was well-recovered from her surgery, it was on to Baltimore, where we stayed with Noelle Zeltzman, a brilliant artist and family friend (in fact, we stayed with almost every one of her daughters as well!).

Baltimore was COLD! We got there on Thursday, 2/19, and went that very evening to take an excellent class with Shems. Even her beginner choreography was fun. In her advanced class, she presented the styles of famous old school dance stars. We did, I think it was, Nadia Gamal's taqsim beledi. Shems pointed out the dancer's signature movement patterns to the class. A really wonderful class.

Friday night I danced with Nina Amaya at her gig in a Zeeba's, a hookah lounge in Federal Hill. Then we huddled together for warmth for a few more days, and Wednesday evening I taught a pot luck workshop at Nina Amaya's studio. Then we were off!

We didn't get very far, as we stopped off to have lunch with Shadiya, a lovely dancer from Washington DC, who turned out to be best friends with Rom Deussen from Utah! (My God, this should really be called Alia's name-dropping tour of fame, but I met so many wonderful people. It really has been an incredible trip.)

Labels: Baltimore, New York City