The San Leandro Community Center was the location for this year's version of the Belly Dance Fantasy Festival. The drive was long and the perils of traffic numerous, but in the end it was well worth the drive. The day we went was Sunday, we arrived on time, found a spot of parking in the shade and since we'd brought a cooler filled with goodies with us, we proceeded to munch our lunch. Upon entering the building I was pretty surprised to see this large auditorium, nice stage, and vendors set up all over, but hardly any people. I mean the place was almost empty. I was hoping things would pick up as time went on so that this event would be a success thus in my mind ensuring next year's event. Well we got ourselves comfy and watched the opening live band and several dancers before getting up to scope out what the vendors had to offer. There was a little bit of everything for sale from tribal goodies to Bollywood DVDs, and the atmosphere was really mellow. I got a kick out of the sign that said "No bad vibrations past this point". I guess that's part of Tatseena's catch phrase or something, but it worked and it really was an enjoyable day.

Some of the performers that really stood out are listed below. I don't know if a video was made of the weekend's performances, but some of the dancing we saw was unique and fun. Martha from Danville did a double sword dance, The Dancers of the Desert Troop included a young blonde girl who was really enjoying performing and was quite talented, Yolanda from Menlo Park had a great orange costume and included a nice veil dance in her line up, Delilah (Festival Instructor) whom I had seen dance before, did not disappoint with a good energetic performance, Troupe Tangiers performed with a variety of props including canes, jugs, and zills: The amount of stamina these ladies had was amazing and I really enjoyed their performance. One of the highlights for me was the performance by Lulu who was not only beautiful and was sporting a lovely costume, but the smoothness and fluidity of her style was just lovely to watch. I was just captivated by how she put everything together to look like she was born to dance and loved every minute of it. The red flower in her hair really set off her costume and was the perfect accent. Kasia, the "Ageless Diva" did a comedy/dance routine that had the audience in stitches, Nanna's performance was unique and enjoyable and her costume and beauty added to the over all appeal.

Monica from San Francisco was a nice change as her dancing was more refined and her black and silver costume and silver zills were very striking. Zari from Berkeley and Yosifah from Martinez were two other interesting performers. I was glad to see the happy faces of the Hala Dance Troupe and happy to see some more traditional Egyptian style moves.

Trekking down from Santa Rosa (besides us) were the Jewels of Cairo (Amara Ravanna and Theresa) and the Desert Dudes. I'm always glad to see them perform as I keep hoping it will inspire more men to join in and dance and I was glad to see that one other guy was game for the day. I only caught the last few minutes of the duet Naiya and Numa but I really enjoyed the brief ending of their performance that I did see. The live bands were enjoyable: KeKuja, Al Azifoon, and one more I didn't get the name of. They played long sets and as always, live music makes the event even more enjoyable. Props to all who put on the event and I hope to be able to attend again next year!