Central Coast Belly Dancer Mary

Norooz, also spelled Noruz, Nowruz or Nurooz, is the Persian New Year celebration. It is celebrated in various countries of the Middle East and around the world including: Iran, Afghanistan, Albania, Iraq, India, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The date of Noruz changes each year to correspond with the first day of spring. This year, Noruz falls on March 20, 2012. 

What is Norooz?

Norooz means “new day” and is a time to celebrate the end of the previous year and a time of rebirth and renewal in the world.

How is it celebrated?

Norooz celebration preparations begin several days to several weeks before the actual holiday. Homes are cleaned thoroughly and prepared for visitors. It’s traditional for friends, families and neighbors to visit each other if they live nearby. Other families plan large celebrations that bring everyone together instead of making individual visits to each household.

Food

One of the most important aspects of the Norooz celebration is the Haft Sin (or Haft Seen). A table of traditional celebratory foods all beginning with the letter “Sinn” or “S”. Per Wikipedia, the traditional items included in the table setting are:

• sabzeh - wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish – symbolizing rebirth
• samanu - a sweet pudding made from wheat germ - symbolizing affluence
• senjed - the dried fruit of the oleaster tree – symbolizing love
• sīr - garlic - symbolizing medicine
• sīb - apples - symbolizing beauty and health
• somaq - sumac berries – symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
• serkeh - vinegar - symbolizing age and patience.

Other items on the table may include:

• Sonbol - Hyacinth (plant)
• Sekkeh - Coins - representative of wealth
• traditional Iranian pastries such as baklava, toot, naan-nokhodchi
• Aajeel - dried nuts, berries and raisins
• lit candles (enlightenment and happiness)
• a mirror (symbolizing cleanness and honesty)
• decorated egs, sometimes one for each member of the family (fertility)
• a bowl of water with goldfish (life within life, and the sign of Pisces which the sun is leaving). 
• rosewater, believed to have magical cleansing powers
• the national colors, for a patriotic touch
• a holy book (e.g., the Avesta, Qur’an,or Kitáb-i-Aqdas) and/or a poetry book (almost always either the Shahnameh or the Divan of Hafiz)

Valentine’s Day is nearing, the stores are filled with red and pink and many of you are probably planning something special for that special someone or – if you’re spending the day solo – a fun treat for yourself.

I’m going to be honest… I’ve never really been into the Valentine’s Day thing. My husband and I stay in and cook to avoid restaurant madness, we don’t exchange gifts, and only every few years does one of us buy a card for the other. That being said, I’ve seen many other couples plan beautiful, meaningful and delightfully personal little celebrations to mark February 14th, and I think that’s really cute and sweet.

This year, instead of writing an article with Valentine’s Day celebration ideas for couples or singles, I’d like to share a few Arabic love songs I think are beautiful. As a lifelong musician and as a dancer, I believe music is one of the most powerful tools for communication we have. It transcends language, borders, distance, time, and moves us in a way nothing else can.

1. Amr Diab  - Tamally Maak (I Am With You)

Find it on Amazon: Tamally Maak

Shira has posted the lyrics translation on her site, HERE. Excerpt from the chorus: “Even if the whole universe is around me, I still need you”

2. Nebtidi Mnain el Hikaya – “Where Does the Story Begin?” – This is hands down one of my favorite favorite favorite love songs. The music speaks to me and the song is literally about a love story. One lover talking to the other about the journey of their love and how they remained together through it all. The full translation can be read on this Arabic Song Lyrics website.

  — Download the mp3 on Amazon

3. We Daret el Ayam – “And the Days Have Gone By” – Every relationship has its rough patches and there’s something very special about the moment you realize you two mean too much to each other to let your relationship go. This song is about just that very moment when a love one thought was lost and gone is rediscovered and even more beautiful than before. Full lyrics translation here.

 – Find the mp3 on Amazon
There are many many beautiful Arabic love songs – I personally recommend looking at the catalog of Om Kalthoum as a good starting point. Her works are a treasure and she sang many beautiful and powerful songs about love. Other favorites not listed here are El Hob Kollo, Enta Omri and Alf Leyla Wa Leyla (1001 Nights).

Many happy wishes as you plan your unique Valentine’s Day celebration with that special someone (or well-deserved “you” time).

Who doesn’t love a birthday surprise? If you’re like me, you love planning a surprise as much as receiving one, so when Lynn contacted me to help her friend Linda plan a birthday surprise for Linda’s husband Matt’s 55th birthday, I was thrilled. Linda and Matt were coming to town to visit friends for Matt’s birthday and enjoy a little get-together in his honor Friday evening. Little did he know what was in store!

The event started early in the evening and my performance was to occur just after dinner and in time for dessert (you’ll see why in a bit). I drove out to a beautiful home in Vandenberg Village and sent a text message to let Lynn know I’d arrived. She quickly slipped out of the party, alerting a few key guests to create a visual distraction so I could remain out of sight in a guest room until the performance.

Tip #1: Have a plan for the performer to quickly alert you, or a contact person, when they arrive. This decreases

Photo by Ellen (guest)

the likelihood of the dancer being spotted.

Maria, the party’s hostess, described the performance space to me and let me see the layout as best I could while remaining hidden. She clearly described how to enter the room, the audience layout and the location of the birthday boy. I then had a few minutes to put together the last few touches on my costume, say hi to a few guests who stopped by, and wait for the show to begin!

Tip #2: If at all possible, give the performer a chance to view the space in advance. This will help her navigate her entrance and deliver the best performance possible. It’s also great to point out the guest(s) of honor so she can greet them during her entrance and give them a little extra attention during the show.

Since all the guests (except Matt), knew about the surprise, everyone knew the show was about to start when Maria asked everyone to quiet down so she could say a few words. She wished Matt a very happy birthday and then told him there was one more surprise… cue music and on with the show!

Tip #3: If possible to accomplish without making the guest of honor suspicious, move them to a seating area where they have an unobstructed view of the performance. This doesn’t really have anything to do with the dance, but it’s a nice touch to be sure they enjoy the show.

The audience filled the room with a wonderful energy and it was just FUN to dance for them. Matt was a good sport and got up during audience participation to show off some excellent hip drops – how’s the shimmy coming along? A few of the ladies got up to dance and Linda even showed off a few veil moves for her hubby (rawr!).

Tip #4: Keep it casual! Once the show starts, relax and enjoy it. A quality performer will be able to read your crowd and will absolutely do her best to make sure everyone enjoys the show. Sometimes the guest of honor may not react exactly as planned, but in those few and far between situations, the professional dancer you hired has the experience and know-how to adjust. If you’re having fun, everyone else will too!

To finish the show, we had one more surprise… presentation of the birthday cake!

In my early days, I danced at a restaurant with a room slightly off the main dining area that sat mostly larger parties. One night, a group was there celebrating a birthday for a young girl. I had passed through the room earlier that night and danced for them and they really enjoyed the show. I happened to catch a waiter heading out of the kitchen with the little girl’s birthday cake and thought, “I bet I could really make this special for her!” I asked the family member who had stepped out of the room to request the cake for permission to proceed with the idea, took the cake from the waiter, and danced into the room while the family sang Happy Birthday. Did I mention it was balanced on my head? Before the end of the birthday song, I brought it down to table level so the birthday girl could blow out the candles. She was THRILLED – and Mary’s Marvelous Birthday Cake Presentation was born.

The cake at this party was only balanced towards the end of the song. It was on a beautiful cut glass platter, and accidents are not part of the act. It didn’t matter though, it added a very nice touch and even the guests who knew about the performance in advance seemed delighted at the finale surprise.

Tip #5: Communicate any special requests with the dancer in advance. Whether it’s music, prop requests or special presentations, we want to make our performance at your event memorable (in a good way)!

A belly dance show can be an exciting and fun surprise for a birthday or other special event. For more tips on planning a surprise show, please visit my friend Carrara Nour’s blog post on this very subject!

Can you keep the surprise? Happy planning!

Last Saturday, I took a jaunt up to San Luis Obispo for the annual belly dance extravaganza, Tribal Fusion Faire (http://www.meddevi.com/tribalfusionfaire/). What, you may ask, was a classic-style belly dancer doing at a “tribal” event? Learning of course! Far from being a style-exclusive event, Tribal Fusion Faire tries to include something for all styles of belly dancer. Shopping, shows and an excellent lineup of top-notch instructors – what more could a girl want?

This year’s instructor lineup included Amel Tafsout, an internationally beloved specialist in the dances of North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Mauritania, Libya – also known as the Maghreb). Saturday afternoon, Amel taught a workshop on dancing to Rai music. I first discovered Rai when looking for new music to add to my repertoire. The music I found was fun, upbeat, and great to listen to; I never used it because I was unsure of the “rules” and cultural context of the music. This workshop was a great opportunity to learn more.

Amel’s teaching style was very easy to follow, natural and informative. I particularly appreciated her attention to sharing cultural information and context of the Rai style of music and its development and influences over time. We learned some general movements suitable for dancing to Rai, posture for the dance, and part of a choreography. Every student seemed to really enjoy the class and I think Amel inspired many to go out and seek further information. Being that learning more folk dances, is always on my “student list”, I felt the workshop was very worthwhile of my time and would even take it again were it offered at a festival I was attending.

When I wasn’t in class, I had the opportunity to watch some performances by bellydancers from Santa Maria, Monterey, SLO, Los Angeles – everywhere! I also had the chance to do some shopping. There was a dazzling array of vendors, but since I’d finished holiday shopping early, I was good and only picked up some adorable hair accessories from a lovely vendor whose name escapes me. My intuition tells me that my darling husband wouldn’t appreciate an additional gift if it were of the bedazzled variety.

Overall, I will say that even though I was only able to attend the festival for a brief time I enjoyed myself and am looking forward to next year. Thank you for all your hard work Wendy and everyone who helped plan Tribal Fusion Fair 2011!

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Mary is a professional Middle Eastern dance performer in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo. When she’s not dancing, she likes to pretend she can write CSS code and accidentally delete the comment feature on her website blog, much to her web consultant’s chagrin. Once we work through the technical challenges, they’ll be back! In the meantime, socialize with Mary on a platform where she can’t play with the coding – Twitter (www.twitter.com/maryraks) or Facebook (www.facebook.com/marybellydancer) 

If you’ve ever planned a wedding – or know anyone who has – you understand how overwhelming it can feel to find the right vendors for your day. I understand because I felt the same when I planned my own wedding, which is why I’m so excited to be a part of the Central Coast Bride Fabulous Fall Expo on Sunday October 16, 2011 at The Madonna Inn in San Luis Obispo.

Any wedding and event service provider you could ever imagine will be there with fantastic booths for you to visit, helpful planning tips and information and even prizes!

I hope you’ll stop by booth D6 and visit Dolce Productions (me) and Noveau Cabaret. There will be dance demonstrations throughout the day and you’ll be able to book exquisite belly dance performances for your Central and Southern California special events (San Luis Obispo to San Diego!). Additionally, we’ll have a selection of statement jewelry for you stylish brides who want something a little more glamorous than the usual offerings.

You’ll also want to look for this…

There will be a drawing for a Shimmy Party! A Shimmy Party is a 40-45 minute lesson for the bride and her best friends. Then, the ladies get a chance to enjoy a short show and the bride gets to keep a coined hip scarf as a gift.

If you have any questions before the show, or want to make an appointment for a personalized consultation on October 16th, contact me (805-323-6449 or maryraks@gmail.com).

Get your tickets online before the day of the show for a discount. I can’t wait to see you there!

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 Mary is a Middle Eastern dance artist based in the Santa Ynez Valley. Offering unique wedding and event entertainment from San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara, Mary brings the charm of classic Middle Eastern dance to the California Central Coast!

Don’t forget to “like” Mary on Facebook and “follow” her on twitter.

A group of colleagues and I were discussing belly dance branding and one brought up comedian Denis Leary’s bit about “coffee flavored coffee” and the thought has been ‘brewing’ in my mind ever since.

When working with clients, I’ve found many at some point ask “What happens during a belly dance show?” Many may have seen dancers before, but are still confused as to what exactly a belly  dance show entails because of the various ‘flavors’ of belly dance out there. All are quite different, but all use the term ‘belly dance’ which can be quite confusing for event planners looking for a belly dance show for a party!

Just looking around the California Central Coast, one sees a perfect example of this variety. From San Luis Obispo to Santa Barbara, there are all sorts of belly dance styles represented, but most are along the lines of “something” belly dance, be it tribal, tribal fusion, world fusion, Bhangra fusion, flamenco fusion, etc. There’s nothing wrong with fusion and variety, but when I was thinking about my own dancing and style, I was at a loss to find a modifier.I’m a belly dance ‘flavored’ belly dancer, Middle Eastern dancer, Oriental dancer, raquissa, whatever you choose to call it.

To help guide you through the selection process, I have put together a reference card for you to print, carry with you and use when ordering your next special event’s belly dance “fix”.

How to Hire a Belly Dancer - Quick Reference Card

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 Mary is a professional Middle Eastern Dance artist in Central Coast, California. Add the artistry of classic belly dance to your next special event by booking a belly dance show – performances available for events from Santa Barbara to San Luis Obispo. 

Mary’s coffee drink: short, double shot, nonfat milk, no foam latte

This morning’s musings over tea somehow found their way to the concept of “the good old days”. At some point or another, we all find ourselves looking to the past through rose-colored glasses for any variety of reasons – nostalgia, celebration, wistfulness.

In the dance community, I feel there’s been a lot of “looking back” in recent years. Vintage costumes, Golden era dance stylings, older music, all are experiencing a renaissance in Oriental style bellydance and even fusion belly dance and belly-dance-inspired dance styles are using a lot of vintage inspiration in costuming, makeup and music. While I adore the trend because I am a fan of both the older and newer styles of Middle Eastern dance, I hope professional artists don’t forget to look towards the future as well.

Last weekend, Santa Barbara celebrated Fiesta. In my opinion, this is a great example of celebrating the past while looking to the future. The Santa Barbara Fiesta is an annual tradition that brings the entire community together. It began as a celebration to honor the early settlers that came to the area and built the foundation upon which the city and surrounding communities have grown. Celebrants come from all around: Solvang, Santa Ynez, Buellton and even Lompoc to shop at the mercados, enjoy entertainment and take in the festive atmosphere. I bring this up not because of the celebration, but because of my respect for the Santa Barbara Fiesta planning committe. They do an amazing job of expressing that the Fiesta is both a celebration of tradition AND a bright future for the area.

I hope we in the dance community can follow the example of events like the Santa Barbara Fiesta and honor the past while not losing sight of the future we are building for ourselves and tomorrow’s artists.

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Mary is a belly dancer in Santa Barbara County and offers performances for elegant, family events from Santa Barbara to Santa Ynez and San Luis Obispo.

I hope you’re all enjoying a beautiful 4th of July! Here in the Santa Ynez Valley, it’s been a hot weekend full of celebrations, family parties and many (many) barbecues.

This year has found me in a rather reflective mood and with this year marking a decade since the September 11th attacks and an increased ‘involvement’ in the Middle East, this week I’ve been reflecting about the life and times of the American belly dancer.

Belly Dance (or bellydance, raqs sharqui, Middle Eastern dance, Oriental Dance, Danse du Ventre, etc) is an oft misunderstood and even more frequently misrepresented dance. Even in the cultures on whose folk dance this form is based, there’s a love/hate relationship between society and dance. They are proud of their high profile performance artists, but would be horrified if their daughter chose the same path for herself instead of choosing a “real” career or becoming a homemaker. Here in the United States, the question of “What is bellydance?” gets even more complicated with the addition of fusion and American tribal style, and performers (even professional dancers with another profession in a different field) STILL deal with negative cultural stigma here. All this, though is information for another set of blog posts.

This week’s musings have been regarding dance and patriotism. I am an American, as are many of the dancers I know, and our involvement in Middle Eastern dance doesn’t make this any less true. In fact, it may make us even stronger patriots and before you stop reading, let me explain why.

Women in the Middle East and in many non-Westernized countries, are currently not afforded many freedoms. They do not have the ability or the *right* as we do here in the States to choose our careers and how we spend our leisure time. Does this mean ones choices are not still subject to judgement by families? Absolutely not – but it’s the same judgement someone from a family of lawyers would face if choosing to go to business school instead of law school.

So this 4th of July, I’m celebrating my freedom as an American woman to choose. I was able to choose whom I married (and I adore him), where and what I studied, the career path I choose to take, and the ability to study dance. This weekend, I’m celebrating this country as a bellydancer and a very proud American.

Enjoy!

… and that’s really quite a shame. Bless your heart.

I’ve been working on my “Business School for Bellydancers” recently and conducting a bit of market research and I’m really appalled at this “unique but totally interchangeable” trend I’m seeing. Can we colletively get over the “we are all so different but still manage to have a bad case of groupthink” thing that’s so disturbingly prevalent?

For both personal (my sister’s engaged) and professional reasons I’ve been researching the wedding industry. Take a good look at a lot of the pictures featured by photographers, planners, venues and then – take the faces away. Can you really see a difference between one event and another? I’m talking about a real difference – one where you feel the vibe of the couple and hear their voices and know that this was really an expression of their personalities? Probably not, with few exceptions.

It’s not just weddings though, it’s business practices, fashion, art, politics, a myriad of other things where society (or something) dictates expected or not and people either don’t know themselves enough to have an opinion, or they’re just not brave enough to voice their own. Sad, really and so contrary to what I feel this life is about.

I am a Christian (yes, belly dancers have beliefs – or not. We’re an interesting cross-section of society) and was taught that we were made in God’s image. Where that says we became carbon copies of each other, I can’t tell.

I can see that ‘we’ spend a lot of time walking around viewing the world through blinders and letting other people’s opinions dictate how we live our lives, spend our money, choose our careers, hobbies, vacations, etc. In this way, we will never be able to get past our prejudices, misconceptions and biases. That’s not living.

The truly unique in life isn’t carefully crafted and created; it’s discovered when we open our eyes, stop looking at those next to us and look forward to the path we are called to follow.

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This post brought to you by “Mary – Uncensored.” There will be no bio schpiel here today. Ya’ll know who I am, what I do and how to contact me to find out more.

Much love until next time…

Mary

Professional Belly Dancer. Musician. Entrepreneur. Mathemetician. Marketer. Foodie. The girl-next-door with opinions. Me.

The first video I planned to share since our move to the Santa Ynez Valley was going to be glamorous. I envisioned a professionally recorded video taken on a stage while dancing in full costume with impeccable makeup and hair. I have that video footage thanks to Rob and his team at Candlelight Productions filming at Cairo Caravan last weekend, but I’m not going to share it. The costume was there, the stage, the look was right and the quality is great – but the heart that is so much a part of my dance disappeared for part of the performance. I was so worried about making sure I had all the details right to get the “perfect” video, that I forgot the most important part – me!

General marketing wisdom would suggest I keep this to myself and wait until the next opportunity to share the “complete package” but this video footage sparked a thought process that inspired me to share. I think many of you can relate to how I felt. It’s so easy to get caught up in the details of life we sometimes forget to be present in the moment and focus on what’s important.

There’s more to being a belly dancer, or entertainer, or human being for that matter, than the details and external trappings. They’re important, but lack depth and real interest if there’s nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

So, instead of sharing a less-than-Mary video in its entirety or an edited version that only shows the parts that look like me, I’m going to share a different kind of video because I want to. No costume (you can see those around the website, on my facebook fanpage and, naturally, at all events where I perform), no stage lighting, no choreography.

It’s just Mary, dancing to a song I picked out 5 minutes prior and completely improvised.