said, “Habibi!” before turning the
camera off.
Shimmy Baby was a little
choreography performed via
video by two new moms. They
“wore” their babies in a front
harness to do the routine. It
certainly garnered the giggles
from the audience!
Amayaguena was originally
done in 1992. I used to do this
routine! Ok, I used to do a lot of
them. I remember having trouble
with the knee-lift with accented
hands – I don’t balance well on
one foot! The Kurrent Klass
dressed in red and black costumes
appropriate for the Spanish sound. If you’ve ever heard the
music, it is slow and stately, the routine mixed with tight hip
and arm movements. Then it suddenly speeds up! It’s a fairly
long routine that becomes quite fast until the end. Which
led directly to…
…Baila Maria by Alabina, which has a gypsy flamenco
sound to it. This was a fine mix of video and live dance. While
the three on-screen continued to dance at a purpose-built
party stand on private property near Bandera, our live dancers
cha-chaed across the stage and exited, then re-entered,
crossed the stage again, danced down into the orchestra pit,
picked up straw cowboy hats and came back on-stage. As
they exited the stage again, “they” continued the number on-
screen. The finale to this number had our gang downing some
large margaritas (on-screen, of course. The real thing would
happen AFTER the show!) MTV would be so proud!
Andah Alaik, from the Kollection for Karen CD was
choreographed ca. 1995. It was fun seeing it on-screen from
our first GBDAC at the Lone Star Brewery. Oh, look, there’s
skinny me! An oldie but still goodie – the routine, not me!!!
Barbara and Company begins with a still photo of
Karen at about the age of eleven, posing with her big sister
Barbara Edwards. With that, Karen ran onstage and posed
like the photo, followed by Barbara in her original pose. The
two disappeared off stage and a video ran of Barbara, in the
Karavan Studio, dancing to “How Much Is That Doggie in
the Window” with two of her granddaughters, Kinley and
Locklyn Edwards, ages 6 and 3, respectively. They aren’t
alone, as dogs show up superimposed onscreen – including
Rally, Karen’s black lab!
86
The Belly Dance Chronicles
July 2017
Brenda Gunn, Jeanna Driver,
Janet Lease, and Mercedes Foster
Former Students: Dru Hart, Shannon
Davenport, Jeanna Driver, Luisa Valdes,
Susana Valdes, and Sonya Miller
Lulu was in our 1995 GBDAC and is considered our
alma mater song. It’s a big favorite with our fans and general
on-lookers. Current students performed the first half, and at
the “break” of the routine, former students jumped in to join
and finish the number (me included!)
Meanwhile on the overhead video screen, we had
plenty of “help” with the routine: On-line students; Karen’s
husband; her brother; a woman with a baby on her hip; a
couple sitting on a couch; random strangers in the park; the
guys behind the counter at Demo’s Greek Restaurant and,
at the end, a guy with a box on his head with a sign that read
“Belly Dance Husband!”
Sunday featured soloists performing with the Byblos
Band of Houston which includes Ahmad and his brothers
Houssam and Rami Ghafour, and Ahmad Jamal. Special
guests were Georges Lammam on violin, Jabour Bakla lead
vocals, and everyone’s favorite oudist, Naser Musa. This was
the culmination of a year’s work that Karen and her students
put in with Project Band, where they work on the art of
performance improvisation. It’s not as easy as one would
think, but I’ve seen the yearly improvements with my own
little bloodshot eyeballs! Great job, girls!
Before the live music began, a video ran with Ahmad and
Karen discussing the students performing with the musicians.
Ahmad warned dancers, “The band will surprise you.” They’re
professional musicians and they like to mix things up. From
her long experience with dancing in Arabic nightclubs Karen
knows this better than anyone. She says, “Dancing with a live
band makes a better dancer; working with the students and a
band makes me (Karen) a better teacher.”