Heaven Mousalem (CA)Drum Solo Champion
chichi restaurants and cafes (especially better coffee), art galleries and tourist
type gift shops, plus a beautiful promenade with a view – all found walking
to the Convention Center. Once at the Center, we discovered even more fun
places - parks, hangouts, more great food, clubs, and more touristy shopping
areas and realized we were now at the happening place in Long Beach. And
we were part of it. Yay! We were part of the “in crowd.”
At the Convention Center everyone at BDUC was the same – same faces,
same dancers – same vendors – same friends– same volunteers – but there
were also new and more dancers and vendors. And suddenly – instead of
BDUC being a mostly western states competition with a few dancers from
the East Coast, I found many of the dancers were international and many
came from overseas – from over both oceans. They came from China, Japan,
literally schools from Korea, Canada, Puerto Rico, Mexico, South America,
Europe, Turkey, the Middle East, Russia, the Ukraine…in other words, from
all over the globe.
One BDUC my friend Amy and I saw a Chinese woman holding a scrap
of paper looking lost. We approached her and found she had just arrived
from Taiwan and was entering the competition. She was originally from
Mauritius in the Indian Ocean off Africa. Well, we immediately bonded,
and by the end of the weekend she had plans to stay with my mother in San
Francisco. She has since then come and gone to Northern California and
also to BDUC to collect more trophies and she’s maintained a relationship
with my family and friends in San Francisco.
Ariatna
(Mexico)Little
Champion
To me, that’s what BDUC is about. It’s about fostering friendships and
feeling like you’re at home away from home. And it’s close enough to so
many other communities that it’s fun to plan food and shopping excursions
to the Long Beach Flea Market, Little India and Little Saigon. Japantown,
Farmer’s Market, Olivera Street, Grand Central Market, the Garment and
Fabric District and art galleries and museums in Los Angeles all can be
done with ease. It’s easier with a car, but I have done a lot on the light rail
and walking. In fact, I have taken the LAX shuttle direct to the garment
district and Santee Alley. Yes, all can be done without sacrificing any BDUC
time. Just plan on arriving LAX on Friday morning, leaving LAX Monday
evening and sleeping and resting when you get back home.
This year Atlantis also worked in a nice harbor bay cruise dance event. I was
lucky and got to be part of it. It was a romantic bay cruise so we all dressed
in red. My Valentines were Rose, Amy and Zelina, and I got to dance for
them and the rest of the love birds – including the featured St. Valentine’s
performers, Sadie and David. Atlantis and Vince, her hubby and Valentine,
were also in red…as in Big Red Hearts. It was too too adorable. I can’t think
of a better way to spend an evening on the bay than to dance on a boat as it
rocks and rolls. No need to drink, just walking from table to table made you
sway to the music and then some.
October 2015
The Belly Dance Chronicles
59