Tales from the Caravan...
Show: 7th annual Wild Things Safari: A Caravan through
Ancient Egypt at the Riverbanks zoo
Columbia, SC, October 10th, 2005
When I first heard about Palmetto Oasis of Charleston, SC ask us to
join them at Columbia Riverbanks Zoo for their annual fundraiser, A
Caravan through Ancient Egypt, I was elated, to say the least.
The adventure begins... Jeannie and Mari left North Augusta with the
Sultan on Saturday afternoon. I requested the Sultan to pick me up
in Aiken, and he complied as always. We stopped at Fuddruckers on
our way to the zoo for a bite to eat. I enjoyed the best cookies and
vanilla milkshake in the world, just my opinion. When we arrived at
the gate we realized that we were the first to arrive, families were
still making their way out of the zoo for their trek home. I think
that some of them were a little bummed, imagine, you leave the zoo
after a very exciting day and when you arrive at your car you see
bellydancers entering the zoo, I would be bummed that I couldn't
watch them dance. Well anyway, Jeannie had found some gold body
paint at Fatman's in Augusta and wanted to paint our arms with
Ancient Egyptian Heiroglyphs. Jeannie comes up with some great
ideas. After all the other dancers arrived I realized how different
we all looked. Thinking back I don't believe that Alchemy had any
sequins on our outfits at all. That is what makes bellydancing so
great it is all individual.
Upon entering the zoo after closing hours I got really excited. All
I could hear was the animals, no people, except those we were with
of course. It was as though you could hear the zoo breathe... On our
way to home base, or the room with the locked door with our stuff,
being a group full of women had a very hard time continuing on and
not stopping at every enclosure we passed. The monkeys did catch our
attention though, and one monkey was really showing off, like he
enjoyed all the attention he was recieving, reminds me of a small
child. After being assigned to our individual stations Alchemy made
their way to "The Nile". We were very excited to be dancing over
water, it seemed so fitting. We danced and danced and just had a
really great time. The zoo goers seemed very interested in our
dancing and in our costumes, I think they really appreciated the
entertainment to go along with their food and fun. We recieved many
compliments from everyone including other dancers, which happened
upon us on occasion just to see how we were doing, such care and
concern among bellydancers.
Making our way to the Auction to encourage biding and zaghareeting
for the winners, we caught the carousel, along with other dancers we
got to dance on the carousel while in motion, it may not have seemed
to interesting to some but to me it was a blast. Attending the
auction was great fun, the Sultan helped out by using his drum to
help ecentuate the biding, going once dom, going twice dom dom,
SOLD! YALLA YALLA! After a while we snuck out of the auction and had
a chance to enjoy the zoo at night, in my opinion the best time to
go. The Hienas seemed very interested that their were tasty morsels
walking back and forth infront of thier enclosure, made me a little
nervous. After seeing many different animals including, giraffes,
sleeping monkeys, lions, tigers, and bears, oh my! I know, cheesy,
but it has to be said, we enjoyed the music of Transglobal Millenium
Ensemble, and even danced a bit for them. I think that Mari really
enjoyed dancing improv to a live band.
Finally the moment I had been waiting for all along, the Reptile
House. I always wanted to see the snakes in their awake state, I
know that it is always more exciting to watch my own ball python,
Gypsy, move around at night, hunting for food. It was great, until
we entered the rainforest, you know where the alligators live. It
was dark, it was hot, and it was humid. The gators were sleeping
right up against the glass. In the words of my favorite belly
nazi, "This is a horror movie waiting to happen!"
We ate, drank, and danced the night away. Eventually we realized
that everyone was gone and we were having a really hard time leaving
the zoo animals, I think it is safe to say that we would have stayed
all night if we could. The ride home was pretty quiet, 3 sleepy
bellydancers + 1 tired Sultan = a very shimmyless vehicle. Thank you
for inviting us to your event, and we would love to do it all again.
We had a great time...
~Candi
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Greetings, Travelers,
What a wonderful and unique night! Imagine it: the
beautiful Columbia Riverbanks Zoo
lit up for their annual fundraiser, with "A Caravan through Ancient Egypt"
being the theme. Over twenty bellydancers were
stationed throughout the park to welcome and delight
guests as they wandered through the Zoo. It was a
sensual feast: live and recorded world music, the
sounds of exotic animals and birds, the babble of
excited voices, beautiful dancers, flickering lights
and torches, aromatic and delicious foods from all
over the great continent of Africa. It was magical.
After leaving North Augusta and Bellyquarters, we
headed toward Aiken to pick up Candi on the way. We
had LOTS of time before we were due at the Zoo, so we
stopped off a Fuddruckers. One word:YUM!!! I am still
enjoying the cookies I got at the bakery. We arrived
45 minutes early to our assigned gate where
we were to meet the coordinator, Kim Benson. We took
that time to touch up make-up and apply some golden
"heiroglyphics" to our arms to complete our
transformation into Alchemy's temple dancers. I have
to say, I thought our costuming was gorgeous and
fun! We looked completely different from the other
dancers who were dressed in sparkly beaded bedlah. As
always, Mari is our ambassador, and greeted the other
dancers when they arrived as if they were our guests. She
manages to make everyone feel right at home. No
wonder Alchemy has such great contacts in the dancing
community!
We met with Kim at the gate to get our instructions
and introductions. She then directed us to central
bellydance command to assign us to our dance
stations. Alchemy danced on the bridge "over the Nile," where
colorful seafood was being offered to guests
traveling through the park. We danced one third of the way
down the bridge, between the entrance and the food area,
welcoming guests to the Nile and wishing them a good
evening as they departed. In all, we danced for a
little over an hour, combining improv, choreography,
solos, group work, and props including zills,
baskets, canes, and veils. I'm very proud of Candi, who did
solo improv while balancing a basket. She carried
the entire song all on her own! FANTASTIC!
Of course, it wouldn't be an Alchemy performance if
we didn't have to overcome some obstacle to put on a
great show! This time, we nearly didn't have any
recorded music! For some reason, the power supply
for our music just wasn't working. At times, neither
were the lights! This meant we were dancing in the dark
to one drum. While it was mystical and mysterious, it
wasn't exactly what we or the Zoo had in mind! Soon,
the lights were working, but still no power. No
worries, under the talented hands of The Sultan, the
drum came alive and we improved while strolling up
and down the bridge. Try doing that with a boom box!
Soon, we had our recorded music, too, freeing Chris
up to give his fingers a break and even find us some
water. We were lucky, the night was very pleasant
and we weren't dying of heat stroke there on the Nile.
We took time out from the recorded music to walk among
the eating guests and bring the show to them.
Thoughout the night, we were honored with
compliments from guests, applause, and best of all, HUGE smiles
that tell you someone is really enjoying your
dancing. There is nothing like giving everything you've got
to your show and hearing someone whisper "beautiful" as
they walk by. Almost as terrific as that is being
told, "Wow! You are the best dancers we've seen
tonight!" Honestly, they probably said that to every
group they saw, but that doesn't make it any less
sweet to hear. :)
Finally, we started making our way toward the live
auction event. We stopped along the way to take a
couple of turns around the carousel. What fun! We
danced among the animals while the carousel spun,
took a lot of pictures with guests, and met some really
fantastic people. Thank you, Jack, Cathy, Jeannie,
and Floyd! It was GREAT to meet you all! Kim asked that
all the dancers help "herd" guests toward the
auction, then stick around to mingle with the guests and
encourage bidding. From the bids I heard, it
certainly worked! I'm so glad the Zoo has so many wonderful
patrons who so generously donated money through
sponsorship, donations, auction bids, or just
purchasing tickets to attend the event.
After the auction, we were left to see the sights,
sample the food and drinks, listen to music, and
just generally enjoy the zoo. And, we did! One person we
met and really liked was Ali. He was one of the
bartenders and one of the most genuinely friendly
and sweet people I've encountered. I'm sure he thought
we were just coming over to visit him for his beautiful
rum punches, but we didn't go to any other
bartenders that night. We just thought he was awesome! Thanks,
Ali!
We also met the band, Transglobal Millenium Ensemble. They
played an interesting mix of Carribean, African, and Middle
Eastern sounds on a huge variety of instruments. A
very friendly group of guys who I think loved seeing
the dancers enjoying their music as they danced on
the plaza. Thanks, Michael!
As we wandered, we got to see the aquarium and
reptile house, with its intimate displays. We also saw
llamas, cows, goats, barn owls, flamingos, bears, lionesses,
hyenas, and tigers going about their noctural
activities. It was a side of the Zoo most people
never see. It was a real treat for us. We can't wait to go
back for a whole day at the Zoo!
Palmetto Oasis of Charleston, SC
invited us to this event. They were very friendly and fun-loving. It
was great to see a group of cabaret dancers who not only
obviously loved each other, but welcomed other
dancers (especially us tribal-fusion girls) with open arms
and huge smiles. Thank you for including Alchemy in this
amazing event!
~Jeannie
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This show was a blast. We were able to donate our
talent and time to help raise funds to expand the
baboon exhibit at the zoo in conjunction with other
area dance troups such as Palmetto-Oasis
, Veiled Impressions,
and Tasma of Savannah Winds. This was the first year
that the zoo had picked a theme other than wild
safari. As anyone who knows Alchemy can vouch for, we
are ALL ABOUT going all out with themes. We had alot
of fun with our costumes. Since Egyptian cabaret
outfits aren't really our thing, we decided to go all
out Pharoanic inspired. We wore white dance pants,
multiple layered Egyptian style panel skirts, coin
scarves, white halter tops, and gold Egyptian symbols
painted on with glittery body paint courtesy of
Jeannie. I did a Nefertiti inspired bun and ribbons in
my hair. Jeannie did a Cleopatra-esque long straight
hair with beads and bangs. Candi did a shimmery white
scarf. We all wore mainly white with turqoise, red,
mustard, and green being the highlight colors.
The actual dancing got off to a slow start. We were
dancing "on the Nile," which is the bridge over their
river area. Our power source wasn't functional until
about a half hour after it was supposed to be. Thank
God for the Sultan's awesome drumming skills, though I
know his fingers were dead tired from all the solid
drumming. When we got our music started we played
mainly Solace's Ahsas CD though we did do Loreena
McKennit's Marco Polo and Medhat Saleh's Waady. We
received many compliments and the audience was very
appreciative. As the evening wrapped up, we wandered
towards the other dancers. We ended up killing a good
bit of time dancing, taking pictures, and meeting
people on the carousel.
After helping at the auction for a bit, we had some
VERY yummy food and drinks. I had the red pepper
couscous, sweet potato mashed potatoes, spicy potatoe
salad, bread, and lamb curry stew. Alchemy had quite a
few of a Parrot Bay red rum punch. Ali is the BEST
bartender. We danced for/with a world music band from
Massachussets named Transglobal. I had a great
dancer/musician moment when I was leading and we were
doing some floorwork shimmies and the percussionist
was doing some quick rhythm work. It was like a
staredown as to who was going to stop first.
After spending some time in the Reptile/Aquarium and
looking at some of the other exhibits, we decided to
call it a night at 11:00 pm and head back home. All in
all, I had an awesome time and can't wait to go back
to the zoo.
~Mari
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Alchemy: Transforming the ordinary into the sublime
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