.experimentation.

February has turned into the month of Experimentation.

I had my first Art Show.
I entered and won an art contest.
I started teaching dance again.
And I started a Third Friday Bellydance show night.

The impetus was simple - other than Tasso's, there's nowhere in Kansas City to go out and see good bellydance in that regular I know when the show is every month kind of way. There are sporadic bellydance shows (usually associated with workshops or student recitals), and there are shows with bellydancers in them, and there's Tassos. And don't get me wrong, I love Tasso's: the food is good, there's Ouzo, and Zaina is an amazing dancer (perhaps even a Kansas City Institution?). On the other hand Tasso's is expensive, and loud and crazy, and there are 42 people wandering around trying to sell you something: a rose, a polaroid photo (10$, and sometimes they take it before they ask), a plate to smash on the floor, money for a trumpet player covered in double sided tape...and they frequently group separate parties together on one ticket.
I love Zaina, but sometimes I want something different.
Or always I want something different, being an introvert and generally shy around insane loud parties.

So why not a bellydance ¡SHOW! - they've been doing it in DC for years, and more recently Ami Amoré in St. Louis has been hosting a monthly Urban Cabaret, but what about here?
The burlesque troupes have been fairly successful about it...why not bellydance?

I hemmed and hawed over it for a few weeks, and on a whim I started contacting venues.
And they were interested.
And I contacted dancers.
And they were interested.

And then it happened. Third Friday Bellydance show.
So weird.