that for one of our haflis , I invited my troupe members to my home for dinner and to help me get the promotionalflyers ready for mailing . I would “ hand-write ” the master copy , include a photo of myself with it and have copies made at a local print shop ! I had a mailing list . We had an assembly line at the kitchen table . Some of the girls were folding the flyers , some were stapling them closed , others were addressing them , putting the stamp on them ! One of them said , “ Wow , you ’ re really going all out this time to advertise our event !”
To which I replied … “ Not really , I do this all the time by myself … it ’ s great to have help with the mailings !” And they insisted thereafter to help me each time ! I was lucky to find a professional husband-and-wife team who were videographers . I hired them for every hafli to take videos of all the performances and they handed me the videos at the end of the evening . I would watch my solo performance several times after I got home … in the wee hours of the morning … to do a self-critique of my performance !
When performing , I always have the announcer include these words in my introduction , “ Dorothea says … although I
Dorothea - 1990 - in Cairo , costume photo shoot
have enjoyed many experiences in performing dance , my most important performance is the one I am about to give for you .”
I am fortunate to have experienced some amazing oncein-a-lifetime-events that happened only because of my being involved in belly dancing ! Two trips to Egypt ( 1984 and 1990 ) and a trip to Greece ( 2017 ). The 1984 trip was organized by the famed teacher / performer from New York City , my “ since-then ” friend “ Morocco ”, Carolina Varga Dinicu , who was well-experienced in organizing group-trips to Egypt for dancers . My randomly-assigned roommate on that trip was “ Dhyanis ”, Dhyanis Carniglia , and we became and remain life-long friends since then . My trip in 1990 was with Dhyanis , during which we had the surprise of performing at an Egyptian friend ’ s wedding celebration in Cairo ! We had been told by that friend to be sure to bring a costume because they would certainly find us a place in which to perform … never even mentioning their wedding ! My trip to Greece included the unique opportunity to perform at a friend ’ s family christening celebration ! After attending the christening in the beautiful Greek church , I danced outside in the huge backyard of the family home - on a cement area beneath a sprawling grapevine – music by live
May 2021 � The Belly Dance Chronicles 47