Yes we have all heard the drama and icky throwing that has gone on in the past. Bellydancing in Bakersfield is hopefully on the tract to a new beginning. Tribal at the Nile in Feb of 09 was a huge success. Not only in bringing a respected art form to the eye in Bakersfield, but in bringing its dancers together. And i want to personally thank everyone who came and performed, was a vendor, or just made it out to watch all of these beautiful women dance. I wanted to also say a public thank you to everyone who donated their time and effort into making the show and workshops a reality once more. This new year is a perfect setting for all of the dancers in town to set aside differences and start working together. We are each at different levels with different styles and different backgrounds. But there is no reason as professionals and adults, that we can not be respectful of each other and of each persons talents. There are several events scheduled to take place in bakersfield and surrounding areas that will be open to every dancer in the area.This hopefully will be an opportunity for the different troups and soloists to learn to work together and to mend hurt feelings from the past. I dont expect everyone to just forgive and forget. But we can at least start acting like professional adults. Until then. Here are a list of events coming up that might be of interest. Visalia, Mystery hosted by Khattia April 25th Pagan Pathways Festival Techachapi Community Ctr May 3 World Bellydance Day East Hills Mall May9th hosted by BA

I would like to say that I attended the festival at the Nile. First time I have been to a Belly Dance event. I am not a dancer. I was very impressed with how supportive everyone was with each other, it was a very positive experience. I also got some great photos of the beautiful dancers.

Who: Bahiyya Almas Dance Co. and the Red Cross What: Benefit for Quake Victims of Peru Where: Kosmos Restaurant 1623 19th St. Bakersfield, CA 93301 When: Friday September 7,2007 7PM-9PM There will be a $5 admission for spectators and dancers (If you are interested in performing please leave a short message and we will return your call A.S.A.P. Bahiyya Almas Dance Studio 661-634-0322) 100% of proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross for the victims of Peru to help in the rebuilding of homes and communities. All donations are tax deductable (reciepts will be provided upon request)

The first Friday of the month is comming up and we would like to send out an open invitation once again for all bellydancers to come out and enjoy a night of dancing at Kosmos. If there is anyone interested in performing April 6, 2007 please e-mail me. A.S.A.P so that I may get all Dancers' info. and again we will meet the Wednesday prior, April 4 @ 5:45PM at our Downtown Studio 2005 Eye St. (upstairs from Dagny's Cafe) for a run through of the show. We hope to see new faces as well as old fellow dancers whether your dancing or not. Please contact me if you are interest in performing @ Kosmos! jade@bakersfieldbellydance.com Please do not call the restaurant owner with questions about dancing @ Kosmos, he will be referring you to us, Thank you! April 20th we will be hosting a Benefit @ Kosmos Restaurant for Christina A. Gibbs Christina Gibbs is a Ridgeview High School Junior and member of the National Honors Choir and has been selected to join Sounds of America and tour/perform in six European countries this summer. She is the only student from Kern County and only one of 8 in the State of California from both high schools and colleges to be chosen to sing with this world-renowned group. This summer will be Sounds of America's 31st consecutive European tour. Christina and this group will fly to Pennsylvania to undergo extensive reahersals and training with elite Emmy award winning choral directors. From there they will fly from New York and begin their tour performances in Germany, Austria, Italy,Switzerland, France and Luxembourg. Their "sold out" performances will be held in historical consert halls and landmarks such as Notre Dame in Paris. If you wish to participate for this benefit please e-mail me @ jade@bakersfieldbellydance.com Thank you for your support and well wishes!

This is an open invitation for all bellydancers to come out and enjoy a night of dancing at Kosmos. If there is anyone interested in performing for our First big night back at Kosmos please e-mail me. If I don't get your e-mail before Tuesday and you're still interested please meet me on Wednesday @ 5:45PM at our Downtown Studio 2005 Eye St. (upstairs from Dagny's Cafe). We will have a quick run through of the night and have all information from dancers.

We had the Hafla to once again have the opportunity to get to know other dancers in Bakersfield and in hopes to bring the dance community together,and of equal importance was for Jimmy to get to know all bellydancers in our community in a supportive environment. That is why we invited everyone. I would personally like to thank all of those who attended,it showed that we can bring our dance community together if we put forth the effort to do so and not just talk about it . We met some really nice ladies and hope that they will join us as we start back performing at our local venue. Jimmy is really excited about having us back as we are excited to be going back! So get your music and costumes ready ladies were back in business !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-P

I was one of the women dancing that day and i could give a tosspot about the first stated comment. I had a great time. I have danced n one form or another most of my life including competing in national and international venues placing 1st or 2nd most the time. Traveling, meeting new people and having a blast. You can't please everybody all of the time. I have Lupus and I'm just happy that God still gives me the opportunity to move my body in a way that makes me joyful and keeps me healthier than some. I also think the Hafla is an excellent way to bring Bakersfields belly dancers together. Keep it up ;-) I can't make this one as I'm going to visit my daughter in Los Angeles. But I would love to attend the next one. Come on girls we got to stick together!! Have a shimmy - N great time saturday. I'll be thinking of you all. God Bless, Christine

Attention all Bakersfield Belly Dancers: This Hafla is not going to be like any other Hafla we've had in the past! The year 2006 was a tough one for many of us. For some, it was personal issues. For others, it was just one of those years we wish would end...Whatever the reason, we want to celebrate our survival of such a year by joining together and building a stronger, more united belly dancing community. This is an open invitation for all Belly dancers to share our passion for this beautiful art form! This will be a pot luck event, so bring your favorite dishes: drinks will be provided... Bring your favorite piece of music to interpret or a new piece you'd like to share... Bring a small gift (one per person) for a gift exhcange... This event will be held at the Bahiyya Almas Dance Studio we are right above Dagny's Cafe on February 10,2007 @ 4:PM...Hope to see many new faces... If you have any questions,please call and/or leave a message @ 661-634-0322 Bahiyya Almas: 2005 Eye St. Ste. 6 (upstairs)

Well Mona after I left Bahiyya Almas and I went to take lessons from Tamia and dance with American Mirage I came forward to Tamia and the rest of the troupe and in person I appologized for my conduct on that Saturday night and for what I said. Both Tamia and the rest of the troupe have know about my conduct for months.My friends also know about my conduct on that Saturday night.I took and still do take full and compleat responsibility for what I did and said that Saturday night. I was mean and I will always be sorry for that.Their was absolutley no call for what I did or said. Despite what I had done, Tamia took me in and gave me the opportunity to teach. Teaching was something that I had thought about sence I took my frist lesson. I love what I do and I will forever be thankful to her for that opportunity. Yes, I have a past in belly dancing that includes you and the rest of Bahiyya Almas and conduct that I deeply regret and always will. My future on the other hand is mine. Good luck to you all in yours. Rachel/Zoso :) A Bakersfield belly dancer and teacher.

I have not been on this site in quite a while. Good grief! What is all this back biting and cat calling? Rachel, I was a student at the same time you were and I am calling you on your accusations! What teacher in their right mind would deliberately humiliate their students??!! That is crazy. I was in the class with the hula hoop..and yes it does help with the concept of hip circles. And we were ALL laughing and having a good time with it. Honey, if you were having trouble with something why didn't you just say so? That is what I do if the need arises. I was also there at the "Spotlight" show you reference. There was no windshield smashing and no disruption of the dancers. Everyone was there to show support if nothing else. As I recall, you had some comments to make yourself, and you were sitting with the very group you are now disparaging! This is a small town and the belly dancers should be a closer knit group. But when you have people spreading lies and making awful statements that are difficult to defend against, well it doesn't make for happy community. My mom always said, If you can't say anything nice, then shut up about it...maybe we could just drop all this immature, high school drama and at the very least leave each other alone if we can't be friends. I love belly dancing, I respect and admire both of my teachers. They work very hard and are VERY understanding ladies. I respect anyone who teaches, even you, Rachel..it ain't an easy job. And when it involves dealing with mostly all women..well!...did I mention drama? =) I have been on the receiving and the giving end of it and it can be de-moralizing. In a perfect world, I see a huge show with ALL the belly dancers in town included...wouldn't that be fun?! Mahsati ~~Mona~~

I agree with the above posting, each student learns in their own time. They need what every student must have to succeed; encouragement,care,good instruction, and nurturing. They also need the freedom to explore and experience other forms of belly dancing and to find their own personal style. Because of how the owners and intructors of Bahiyya Almas run their studio I as an instructor will never send a student there.I will never forget how they humiliated me and other students with a hula hoop as a teaching device. Aura and Seneca did it for their own mean spirited sence of fun and amusmnet and they knew exactly what they were doing and they enjoyed it. It had nothing to do with teaching the students how to do a hip circle. I also had to deal with Bahiyya Almas at a recent performance. They attended the preformance with the sole intention of disrupting it. They do this on a regular basis to all of the other belly dance troupes in town. They also go on line and trash other belly dancers. Look at what Bahiyya Almas posted at the begining of this string of comments. That is just the tip of the iceberg.Ask Aura and Seneca about the windsheilds that they broke at the Spotlight. The one good thing that came out of my expeirence with Bahiyya Almas is that I learned what not to do when you are a belly dance teacher and when you have a troupe. Rachel/Zoso A Bakersfield belly dancer and belly dance instructor.

I have been a belly dancer in the Pacific Northwest for 18 years. For 10 of those years, I was a member of a well known, multi award winning competetive dance troupe - competing in Washington, Oregon, California and Nevada. I am also an instructor. We have our problems with the "princesses" or "divas" if you prefer here but the dance community here handles our problems with a bit more diplomacy. Belly dancing is an art and takes alot of work. Learning to isolate muscles takes a lot of hard work and not all master the moves. But we don't openly critize dancers as seen here. We encourage dancers - help them grow as dancers which is what ALL INSTRUCTORS SHOULD DO. Shame on you women.

Hello there Matt! As for true sister hood amongst the belly dancers in Bakersfield is hard to tell, We have events once a month at least opening the opportunity to come together and share the one thing we have in common, unfortunately like love it takes two parties for it to work...as for our dance troupe, we have been very busy with performances, private parties and of course getting ready for our Kern County Fair performance...When will we see you at one of our performance? Thanks for your concern on how we are doing. It would be an amazing thing if we could all work together.

It's been awhile, but how is the Bakersfield bellydancing doing lately??

This comment is for mystic groove. Bahiyya Almas is no where near a competetive atmosphere. Here i go again #1. How can the co-owners resolve a problem when the problem was never brought to the co-owners attention? So if we let something happen, it's because we knew nothing about it. Im sorry that you felt that it was competitive atmoshpere. I do exactly what i am suppose to do when i go to the studio and this is to teach..We are all grown women there, if there was something between the dancers then i would think that as adults it could have been handled. If you tried and nothing came of it , you should have brought it to the co-owners attention. One more thing that i would like to add is that if by all means if your not happy with one instructor, then move on there will never be any hard feelings. A good teacher will always wish you the best in whatever you decide to do. Well happy dancing and good luck.

I danced at Bahiyya Almas and was in one of the troups, student. I personaly was not happy with how they ran it. After what the co-owners let three people in the profesinal troup do durring one rehersal, that was the final straw of many for me. What one of the group of three did after that rehersal was not fair either. The co-owners let them and her get away with it. After that I gave the place one more try and then I walked out and went eleswere. If you want a very competative atmosphore go to Bahiyya Almas.

Call me a pig, but as long as a belly dancer is showing her cute belly button, who cares how the rest of the body is moving! She could be doing an Irish jig for all I care! This kind of reminds me of Kung Fu theatre, you know, where the rival schools Hy Fu each other.. ; )

I don't know about any slander I didn't see any, however, I am just someone who happened across this page and the only real negative comment I have seen was what started this whole argument in the first place. Whoever wrote about the hockey game should be ashamed. That whole statement looked like it had an agenda from the get go. I just happened to run across this page because a friend of mine is a bellydancer and quite good I might add. From what I understand, bellydancing should be open to all different forms, sizes, and interpretaions. I don't understand all of the hate.

i'm sure i'd like to watch any one or all of you dance. :) i can't dance a lick, and really admire people who do! i hope you'll all become good friends over all of this.

I would like to draw on the knowlege of Webster's dictionary for a moment..... Slander-The utterance of FALSE charges or misrepresentation which defame&damage another's reputation. Libel-A written defamatory statement or representation that conveys an UNJUSTLY unfavorable impression. Opinons are one thing.....But to state something untrue as fact is different, the law says so. So my advice is this...If any of you are going to use my name in a public forum and state something as fact you better have proof that will hold up in a court of law. Enough said..... I feel a literary moment coming on....I would like to share one of my favorites from Max Ehrmann (Copyright 1952) Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant;they too have their story. Avoid loud & agressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain & bitter;for always there will be greater & lessor persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself.Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass. Take kindly the cousel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nuture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfourtune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline , be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe. No less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here. And rather or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God. Whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the nosiy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham,drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be Happy. Sending happiness & good healing vibes to all of Bakotopia!

There's a lot of passion behind bellydancing in Bakersfield! Everybody be cool... ;-)

1. There is not a bellydancer in Bakersfield or from the Bahiyya Almas Dance studio who has ever threatened anyone, cut anyones hair , or ever broken anyones windows. For , what? when do we have time to? And to say busted no your actually busted because now we have the proof of where the rumors are coming from. What goes on in the dark will soon come to the light and right now the light is shining on you.
#1 no one has ever heckled your show ...See bakersfield is small and even smaller when it comes to bellydancing. Yes we have been to your shows, we went to your show to show our support of another fellow dancer. For a quick lesson in Middle Eastern dance a zaghareet is a call dancers do to show their apppreciation for the dancer, stomping of the feet to the beat of a drum shows the appreciation for the drummer and hissing is what you do when someone is being smooth and snaky. So if thats what you call heckled then so be it.
#2. Jealous? Jealous of what? See all are dancers have danced for years and have established good realtionships with dancers in Bakersfield and outside of Bakersfield this is nothing new to us, we have seen dancers come and go.
The rumors that you are spreading they all get back to us.. but the thing that you need to remember is that all the people you are telling this to all come to the studio and you are proven wrong when they see that we are nothing like you try to make us out to be. See you are just starting out in this game is this how you want to start off by slandering another group to get a name for yourself? Come on now if we did half the things you accuse us of doing i believe we would be sitting underneath someones jail cell right now.
#3 Get the facts before you go and accuse people of doing such stupid things. If you were offended by what someone posted about a performance get over it you can't please everyone that comes with dancing. If you liked it, that's all that matters.
#4 Instead of telling your students that we are your rival, tell them that we have been out to support them in what they do. I can give you some advice though.. You can teach them that to never unveil towards and audience, and never bend over with your butt towards an audience.
Just like Matt said to bad we cant all get along! Signed, The Co-Owner of Bahiyya Almas Dance Studio Seneca

May the power of Bakotopia peace be among you all! Let's spread the lovvvvveeee...

This afternoon I logged on to Bakotopia and discovered to my horror that at 3:22 p.m. an anonymous person posted a extremely derogatory statement regarding one of my troupe shows. Believe me, I was horrified, although I had a pretty good idea who it was. To confirm my suspicion, I clicked home and checked-out the people who had had signed onto the Bakotopia, discovering one of the owners from another belly dance studio was the only person who had signed on for the past hour or so. I'm posting this response explaining to the good people of Bakotopia how this is typical of them, as well as their use of threatening emails, calls, threats, and going to our shows with the intentional purpose of causing a disruption. I clicked the violation link; Matt confirmed the person I suspected was notified of the violation. All of my family and friends say they’re jealous and don’t let it bother you, but it does. Quite frankly, I’m embarrassed by their childish behavior.

Wow, I didn't realize there was so much interest in bellydancing around Bako? Don't give up so easy, if you're not happy with one teacher, there's bound to be another. I've seen a few in town, and they're all pretty good to me. I mean, there's no way I could get my belly to shake the way they do..hehe..