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On April 20th, Talisman attended this year's annual Earth Fair festival in Balboa Park. In celebration of Earth Day, the event drew thousands of people who came out to support and learn about all things “green.” The San Diego Area Middle Eastern Dance Association (SAMEDA) was an exhibitor, so we were excited to attend and show our support.

We were scheduled to perform in the afternoon in front of SAMEDA's booth, so being the good citizens that we are, Heather, Elizabeth and I (Michelle was there early to set up) decided to carpool to the event. We planned on arriving about an hour before our performance time, but the traffic was so jammed, it took us almost an hour to get there. There was so much traffic getting to the park, I'm afraid that the congestion from all the traffic might have cancelled out our good efforts. (At least we tried!) Fortunately, we didn't have to deal with parking—thanks to my husband who generously agreed to drive us there—and we arrived just in time to reach the SAMEDA booth for our performance time!

We performed a new choreography to the song “Longa Riad.” This was our first time performing it in front of a live audience. Tucked in between rows of booths and throngs of people, we had about five feet of space in front of SAMEDA's booth to dance. This was definitely a good opportunity to practice performing in smaller venues! (Now those little coffee houses seem spacious!) Dancing in such a small area and trying to do turns in the grass definitely had its challenges, but it's such a fun, upbeat dance that it's hard not to smile through it all. And, judging by the crowd's reaction, I think they had a fun time watching us, too!

Throughout the day, SAMEDA hosted performances by local dancers and held belly dance classes for fair attendees. Talisman also volunteered to promote SAMEDA by mingling with fair-goers and passing out flyers. It was a fun time and we met some very cool people along the way. We especially liked the compliments from people admiring our costumes and the flattering requests for photo-ops! Paparazzi, here we come!

All in all, it was a great way to get out in the community and support both SAMEDA and Earth Day. Wherever there's belly dancing, there's celebrating, and Earth Day was no exception!