The Bellydance Hangover

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Well, I’m totally exhausted and inspired from an AMAZING week in Seattle! My sister, Michelle, and I started our trip with a 14-hour drive including an audio book and lots of coffee! We left before 5am but it turned out to be a really good thing because we got to Seattle early enough to settle in to our hotel room and have a drink in the bar downstairs - they serve drinks in buckets!

 

Because we got to Seattle a few days before the festival we were able to be tourists before getting our butts kicked in dance workshops. :-P

We started our vacation with a trip to Pike’s Place Market where Michelle and I browsed through all kinds of unique shops, picked up a few treasures, and had lunch at a seafood restaurant overlooking the water. What we didn’t realize when we walked in is that it is the diner where Tom Hanks and Rob Reiner had lunch in the movie, “Sleepless in Seattle”. And the fish and chips were delicious!

Red placards say: "Tom Hanks sat here - Sleepless in Seattle" right; "Rob Reiner sat here - Sleepless in Seattle" left.

We had a lovely view of the harbour!

On our way out of the market we stopped at the Seattle Gum Wall and made our own contribution to it. It was pretty cool but I have to admit that I was sufficiently grossed out by the whole idea of it.

Since we were already near the water we went on the one-hour harbor cruise where we learned all about Seattle’s history, followed by a quick peek in Ye Olde Curio Shoppe where Michelle was fascinated by the real mummies, two headed cows, shrunken heads, and other gross things.

We finished off the day with a walk over to the Space Needle. Michelle went in to the outdoor observation deck but because of my fear of heights I stayed inside (the slanted walls freak me out!).

The second day was really exciting! We took in the Experience Music Project/Sci-Fi Museum where they featured a Nirvana exhibit. Since Michelle and I are pretty big fans of Nirvana (and that kind of music in general) so, of course, we ended up with a ton of pictures and spend most of the day in this part of the museum. The best part of the sci-fi part of the museum was the horror movie exhibit where they had on display weapons and props from various horror movies. They also had an Avatar exhibit but not being fans of the movie it was pretty lame.

Photo for the "Nevermind" album

"In Utero"

Kurt's sweater and guitars!

Axe from "The Shining"

"Mr. Pointy!"

Jason's mask and machete

In the evening we went on the Seattle Underworld Tour. This tour takes place underneath the sidewalks and buildings of Seattle and we learned all about Seattle’s seedy history – it was awesome! 

Cues & Tattoos Festival – the reason for our trip to Seattle – started on day 4 of our trip and my first workshop of the festival was with Carolena Nericcio of FatChance BellyDance and it was truly amazing! The focus of the workshop was on how to be an effective teacher and since I am a new teacher she answered all of the questions I’ve had swimming around in my head plus a whole lot more! After the workshop I saw Michelle coming out of her workshop with Kami Liddle - she was grinning like a lunatic and practically bouncing down the hallway! 

"Me with Adrienne and "Jack" of Troupe Hipnotica

My next workshop was with Troupe Hipnotica (the fantastic ladies who organize the whole event!) and they were a lot of fun! We learned some fantastic new formations designed for larger groups that I can’t wait to do with Silk Sirens Tribal and our tribal students!

In the evening was the Instructor Showcase where we were treated to solos and group performances from all of the instructors at the festival. I could not take pictures but I did take a few short videos on my phone. :-P

The second day of the festival was an exhausting one. I’m not sure why, but I thought it would be a good idea to take as many classes as my schedule would allow and not schedule any breaks for myself. So I drilled with Kami Liddle, then drilled some more with Lava (which included a lot of planking and hopping up and down), then more dancing with TribalTique. It was completely exhausting but I learned so much! So by the end of the day my body is aching, I’m dehydrated, and my thighs feel like jello – did I mention the elevator was broken so we had to walk up 4 flights of stairs to get to our classes?

In the evening we were finally able to relax, watch the student showcase, and shop – the vendors were awesome this year and I got a bunch of new jewelry.

Sunday I had only one class but I think it was the perfect way to end the festival for me. I learned the Moroccan Guedra blessing ritual with Kajira – so much fun, and Kajira really did a wonderful job of facilitating a positive and supportive environment for us to be a little bit vulnerable. <3  

Michelle and I did some last minute shopping, watched the rest of the student performances, and hauled our tired bodies to the car for our looooong trip home. 

While we were away I missed my husband and my cats terribly but I'm feeling so inspired and happy about everything I learned and about seeing old and new friends. Overall this was amazing and I’m so happy that I was able to share this experience with my sister and troupe mate. <3 I can't wait for next year!!!