My friends took some pictures of me at this weekend's hafla, but I don't have my hands on them yet so unfortunately no pictures with this post. Look for them soon, I hope.

This weekend's hafla was a blast. It was hosted by Diana of Danse Orientale, and was held at the Ethical Society of St Louis. Turnout was great, the room was really packed. Standing room only. The food was tasty (What I had of it. I don't like to eat before I dance, and by the time I was done the buffet had been decimated)

With all those people in the room, it was crazy hot. Too hot for the audio equipment, it seems. We ended up frying something, the receiver, the amp, I'm not 100% sure. All I know is that the first time it went out... was during my set! (and I was glad that it happened to me instead of to a group of 3-month beginners who would have been much more discombobulated)

I had my set chosen: First, my "pretty song" to do my actual performance to, then a couple of Egyptian sha'abi pop songs for audience participation. My first song came on, and all was well. I danced fairly well, I think. My friends very kindly said that it was one of my best performances to date (I have been working hard to do less in my improv, to include more pauses, slower movements, and be less frantic-feeling - apparently it's paying off)

Things are going well, I'm feeling pretty good. The 2nd song comes on, "Bellydance" by Saad, and I start out with a little bit of dancing on my own, the audience is clapping along with the music, and am just about to start hauling people up with me - when my music drops from full volume, to a whisper barely heard by the front row. I was surprised for a moment, but what can you do? I certainly couldn't just stop dancing!

I decided to go with clapping my own hands to encourage the audience to keep clapping. Then, thankfully, a local dancer who also plays the tabla, picked up the drum she had with her (later in the evening, she gave a great performance dancing on top of the drum!) and played a simple rhythm for me. I danced through the rest of the song, and the audience was great! (Though my dancing was mostly hip drops and funny faces as my music would cut in for a few seconds and disappear again!)

The music continued to be  a challenge for the rest of the evening, but ultimately the solution ended up being to play the music on a little boom box, in front of a microphone running to the room's PA system. The quality was bad, but it was good enough to dance to, and that was the important part.

I'm glad I didn't stop dancing, walk off stage, or otherwise fall out of my "performer persona" - while I'm up on stage, I am the entertainer, whether I have music or not. Sometimes that means abandoning the plan and *really* improvising. In the end, it really was a fun challenge, and I feel like I really stepped up to meet it!