onion , and shakshouka . Keep your eyes on my savory pies ! I list the restaurant and my dance classes on Meetup . com , Facebook , and NextDoor - although this is now restricted to your local area ; it used to be all districts in San Francisco , now you must pay .”
She thoughtfully closed our conversation with “ Go out and enjoy , don ’ t judge , don ’ t hold back , and wear a mask if you like .”
In the Belly Dance Chronicles September 2021 issue we learned a lot about Cover Girl Kaeshi Chai . Here , she brings us up to current and looks towards her future .
“ The pandemic changed many of us , myself included . I went from traveling four months a year from 2002 to 2019 to barely leaving my apartment . Covid lockdown allowed me to have more time to reflect on questions such as “ Who am I ?” and “ What is my purpose ?” The Bellyqueen School went online which opened up the possibility of not living in NYC full-time so when my husband was offered a job in San Francisco in early 2022 , I encouraged him to accept it . It does mean that now I bounce regularly between East
Kaeshi
Sausan , Photo by Carl F . Sermon and West coasts and my teaching is primarily pop-up in-person workshops and weekly online classes . I restarted my Djam NYC live music and dance events again at the Secret Room in midtown Manhattan and on Saturday Dec . 10 ( 2022 ) we will hold our very first Bellyqueen School showcase at Speyer Hall on the Lower East Side . From my experience , people were so excited to gather again in-person that now the attendance is considerably better than pre-pandemic .”
“ I cross-train regularly in Contemporary dance because for my body , I find it counterbalances Middle Eastern dance well and helps my joints , muscles and bones stay healthy . Quite unexpectedly I was invited at the tender young age of 48 years old to perform as a professional contemporary dancer with the Spector Dance company from Monterey , CA . While I performed at the outdoor Pittsburgh Renaissance Faire in 2021 , I noticed it was experiencing record numbers as one of the few “ safe ” places to gather . Coming up in December ( 2022 ), I will represent Middle Eastern dance at a Nutcracker reimagined show in an arts school in Connecticut and I will perform with the Gothic heavy metal band Sanctus at the Brevard Renaissance Fair in Melbourne , Florida on Jan . 14 at 7 pm .”
Photo by Monzeeki
“ As each year passes , I feel the urgency of the climate crisis more and more and I will continue to develop my PURE Globe project . My 2023 pie in the sky goal is to partner with the governments , arts councils , aquariums and museums to harness the power of art ( dance , music , design ) to share scientific knowledge and to raise consciousness for positive change .”
January 2023 � The Belly Dance Chronicles 43