World Renaissance Faire- Irvine, CA

This weekend I had the pleasure of performing at the World Renaissance Faire in Irvine, near Irvine Lake. It was my very first experience performing Raqs Sharqi, although I have studied it for about two years at this point (most of my performances until now have been fusion-related, which is weird, I know). I had a great time getting into the Ren Faire costuming. I got to dance with a sword and performed a drum solo, along with my duet partner Yasemin Yilidiz of Tribal Bazaar, who danced with her snake, Shamaran. It was a fun experience and at the end of it I also got to throw in some of my experience with Turkish and Romany dance. It was wonderful to simply entertain an audience rather than being picked apart by fellow dancers at a dance festival. While the experiences at dance festivals are fun and very useful to my growth as a dancer, especially technically, nothing beats just being able to entertain a crowd. I had a great time and hope I can have more experiences dancing at Ren Faires in the future!