( Friday & Saturday.Collapse )

Sunday: We got up early, showered, and jetted down to DC. Jason and his 'bike gang' biked down to Alexandria, and Liaa and I hit up the Takoma Park farmer's market, and S&A Beads (where, btw, they have some fabulous kuchi stuff). After that, we headed back to her place to chill and watch Labyrinth until our manly warrior-types returned from their trek. When they did, they were all sorts of creaky and worn out. We headed down to Tribal Cafe, where we secured the last available table (albeit in the back, where seeing anything can be hard... more on this later). By some miracle, we got our food before the dancing started.

As for the dancing... Rhythm & Cues. Well, it would have been nice to see them dance. Sadly, during the duets portion that comprised 2 1/2 of their 4 songs, my view was being blocked by their own dancers. The way Asylum is set up, there's an area where most of the dancing happens, and a corridor between the bar and a bunch of tables where we were seated. Usually, you can see fine back there, provided the aisle remains somewhat clear. However, the dancers who were not currently performing kept standing smack dab in the middle of that corridor, completely blocking the view of anyone behind them. Okay, so I know it's a small, packed space. No one in the back is going to have a perfect view-- that is not a reasonable thing to expect. But seriously, flatten yourself to the wall some so you're not blocking a significant portion of your own paying, tipping audience. One of the dancers did this part of the way into the second performer's set until she was gently asked to move. Also, my mind kept going to Asharah's reminder to wear a cover-up when not performing. But anyway, what I saw of the dancing was nice, but I really didn't see much. It was quite frustrating.

Na'la was good. I'd never seen any members of Shakra perform live, and I know what they do isn't specifically bellydance, though it does come from a bellydance background (from what I've heard; correct me if I'm wrong). Na'la's set was very much a fusion of performance art dance and bellydance, as it used some bellydance movements to tell a clear story. She was very expressive, energetic, fierce, and had great technique.

Romka was awesome. I loved the bhangra bits in the second song. I loved that both Belladonna and Mavi made it a point to dance in the back so we could see up-close, too. Jason has a huge crush on Bella now and got all tongue-tied when she said hi. Hee. :)

And I got to see tons o'friends. That's always good. We got home at around 11:30 and passed immediately out. A good weekend, overall.