Mount Palomar Winery Presents "To John with Love"

Sunday, November 7, 2010

12:00pm -5:00pm

Mount Palomar Winery - Temecula, CA

Belly dance festival and benefit honoring world renowned Singer, Composer and Musician John Bilezikjian. Live music by John and George Bilezikjian, Village Mandala and more. International belly dance stars, dancing on two stages, mediterranean barbeque and red carpet coverage by Thrive News TV. For mor information and reservations, call 800-854-5177.

On board the historic Star of India & the HMS Surprise

Saturday, October 30th

San Diego, CA

October 24, 2010

6:00 - 8:00pm

Swedenborgian Hall, 1531 Tyler Ave, San Diego 92103

On May 8th, Talisman took part in SAMEDA's World Belly Dance Day event. The mission of World Belly Dance Day (held on the second Saturday of May) is to unite people around the world to celebrate the wonderful art of belly dance. Everyone from within the belly dance community came together for a fun-filled day of shopping, music and entertainment! Talisman performed two numbers and Liz even participated in the belly dance fashion show! (What a great way to check out all the latest costumes!) A big THANKS goes to Lexi and Michelle--who are both on the SAMEDA board--for all their help in coordinating the event and making World Belly Dance Day a success!

In February, Talisman had the opportunity to perform in Meleah’s student showcase at Marrakesh restaurant in La Jolla. Marrakesh is a beautiful restaurant, full of plush seating, warm, rich colors and soft lighting—the perfect setting for a night of belly dance. Plus, the food is absolutely delicious! It's no surprise we had a sold-out crowd! Talisman performed a group choreography as well as solo performances by Lexi, Michelle and Liz. Also, as students of her advanced level class, we performed Meleah’s saucy latin-infused choreography to “Global Groove” from Angelika Unveiled. If you want to see an encore of the performance, we’ll be dancing it again at this year’s SAMEDA Faire (July 18^th), so come check it out!

Liz has been studying Middle Eastern dance since 2005. Her appreciation for a wide range of musical genres and dance styles made it easy for her to fall in love with the enchanting rhythms and expressive movements that belly dance offers.

With a background in jazz, ballet, hip hop and lyrical dance, Liz began studying belly dance with prominent San Diego-based dancer and instructor Meleah and now also studies under award-winning dancer and instructor Sabrina, also based in San Diego.

Liz joined Talisman as an apprentice in 2007 and has since become an active and dedicated member of the troupe. She performs with Talisman in both group performances and as a solo artist at various events and venues throughout San Diego including coffee houses, restaurants, renaissance faires, fundraisers, and stage shows.

November 11, 2009

San Diego, California

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!