Gilded Serpent presents...
Fahteim in Vegas
by Neferteri

The Las Vegas 2006 belly dance season is off to a phenomenon beginning! We have scheduled workshops, visiting instructors, visiting dancers, haflas, and more. This season was kicked off by none other than the fabulous Fathiem.

Fathiem’s show was sponsored by our own blonde bomb shell, Azizza of Las Vegas. This year’s show was held at The Café Hookah. Fathiem danced to a sold out crowd! We had people lined up at the door trying to get in!

Our resident divas, Aradia and Ashtalea, opened for Fahtiem; what a wonderful performance they did! As always, Aradia performed a stellar, high-energy show, and Ashtalea’s unique, talented dancing kept the crowd leaping to their feet. The night was full of variety; one delight was an impromptu drumming from an unassuming woman whose name is Avivva. She is a little known talent, but she was awesome at this show.  When she played the dumbek, we could have heard a pin drop!

A male Bellydancer, Alfredo, was a surprise guest at the show. He came all the way from Oregon to perform for us and put on a great show. Alfredo sang, drummed, and danced. People from everywhere are coming to our town, and you never know who will show up at a Las Vegas show.

We had Mr. Harry Saroyan and the editor of The Chronicles, Ms. Isis, grace us with their presence. It was a pleasure to have two such distinguished guests in Las Vegas.

Our first community hafla was a success and kept the energy going. Samira sponsored our community haflas along with The Arthur Murray Dance Studio. (Additionally, Samira is sponsor of  “The All-Intensive Bellydance Seminar”).  As always, Samira provides a good forum for dancers, drummers; however, this hafla had a couple more interesting surprises:

• Our first surprise was a petite, exotic-looking dancer, Tiffany, who stopped in the middle of her show and sang an operatic number! Her voice was unbelievably beautiful! I imagine that I will be writing more about this amazing singer, as she is a unique addition to our Middle Eastern dance community.
• Our next showstopper was a five-year-old girl named Chelsea, who brought down the house! I hope Miles Copeland is paying attention, as I predict that this child will be part of the next generation Bellydance Superstar! She executed each move perfectly; she knew her music, and her facial expressions had us all enthralled. She had great rapport with the audience. Chelsea is a dynamo and a student of Ashtalea in Las Vegas.

There are several new venues here in Las Vegas, currently featuring some of our desert divas. It seems that the Las Vegas Bellydance community is both up and coming and is beginning to make its mark in the world of Bellydance. 

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