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	<title>Central Coast Belly Dancer Mary</title>
	<link>http://maryraks.com</link>
	<description></description>
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		<title>Celebrating Norooz &#8211; Persian New Year</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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, [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2012/03/celebrating-norooz-persian-new-year/</link>
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		<title>Favorite Arabic Love Songs</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Valentine&#8217;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 &#8211; if you&#8217;re spending the day solo &#8211; a fun treat for yourself. I&#8217;m going to be honest&#8230; I&#8217;ve never really been into the Valentine&#8217;s Day thing. My husband [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2012/02/favorite-arabic-love-songs/</link>
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		<title>Happy Birthday! Tips for Planning Surprise Performances</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Who doesn&#8217;t love a birthday surprise? If you&#8217;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&#8217;s husband Matt&#8217;s 55th birthday, I was thrilled. Linda and Matt were coming to town to visit friends for Matt&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2012/01/happy-birthday-tips-for-planning-surprise-performances/</link>
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		<title>Event Review: Tribal Fusion Faire 2011 &#8211; San Luis Obispo</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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 &#8220;tribal&#8221; event? Learning of course! Far from being a style-exclusive event, Tribal Fusion Faire tries to include something for all styles of belly [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2011/12/event-review-tribal-fusion-faire-2011-san-luis-obispo/</link>
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		<title>Shimmy in SLO! Fabulous Fall Bridal Expo Oct 16th</title>
		<description><![CDATA[If you&#8217;ve ever planned a wedding &#8211; or know anyone who has &#8211; 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&#8217;m so excited to be a part of the Central Coast [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2011/10/shimmy-in-slo-fabulous-fall-bridal-expo-oct-16th/</link>
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		<title>Coffee Flavored Coffee: Selecting Your Belly Dance Fix</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A group of colleagues and I were discussing belly dance branding and one brought up comedian Denis Leary&#8217;s bit about &#8220;coffee flavored coffee&#8221; and the thought has been &#8216;brewing&#8217; in my mind ever since. When working with clients, I&#8217;ve found many at some point ask &#8220;What happens during a belly dance show?&#8221; Many may have [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2011/08/coffee-flavored-coffee/</link>
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		<title>The Direction of Dance</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This morning&#8217;s musings over tea somehow found their way to the concept of &#8220;the good old days&#8221;. At some point or another, we all find ourselves looking to the past through rose-colored glasses for any variety of reasons &#8211; nostalgia, celebration, wistfulness. In the dance community, I feel there&#8217;s been a lot of &#8220;looking back&#8221; [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2011/08/the-direction-of-dance/</link>
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		<title>Happy 4th of July!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I hope you&#8217;re all enjoying a beautiful 4th of July! Here in the Santa Ynez Valley, it&#8217;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 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2011/07/happy-4th-of-july-2/</link>
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		<title>Be a unique and beautiful flower. Just like her&#8230; and her&#8230; and him&#8230;</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230; and that&#8217;s really quite a shame. Bless your heart. I&#8217;ve been working on my &#8220;Business School for Bellydancers&#8221; recently and conducting a bit of market research and I&#8217;m really appalled at this &#8220;unique but totally interchangeable&#8221; trend I&#8217;m seeing. Can we colletively get over the &#8220;we are all so different but still manage to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2011/06/be-a-unique-and-beautiful-flower-just-like-her-and-her-and-him/</link>
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		<title>Dance. Deconstructed.</title>
		<description><![CDATA[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 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://maryraks.com/2011/06/dance-deconstructed/</link>
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