Bou-Saada was always striving to do better. With no internet, no videos and big cities to the north and south but no Middle Eastern culture close at hand, it was challenging. I think that may have been why we became so involved in each other's business, why we were a family. All we had to rely on was each other, and the chemistry on stage was truly remarkable. I heard about and saw some Egyptian style dancing in the early '80's. After Vicki Peacock left us and moved to Oregon, we visited and stayed with her, parking the bus in a field out in the woods. When she moved in to Eugene and started teaching, she taught us a Said'i dance she'd learned in a workshop. We performed it to The Apricot Song, which we learned from Sirocco and Farideh. It was a group dance and the first piece in which we sang.
We loved the costume changes...most of the time...and we layered and layered in order to offer our audiences a folkloric look. Sometimes it was as simple as a tunic and other times, the costumes got quite elaborate as in the Algerian. The backdrop behind us offered a place to do quick changes and adjustments. We gave a lot of thought to how the sets were structured in order to make time for costume changes. For Tunisian, my speciality, I adapted a traditional haik for use over my other costume.
But there was lots of fun on stage and getting ready to go on stage...
The last photo was taken on the bus. I think we were all looking at some "muscle magazine" that Gwynne brought on board. She went on to be a body builder after leaving the troupe.
I just loaded these random shots because they are lurking in the archives.
From the top
First one was taken at a Fat Tuesday celebration in Seattle
Second is a rear view of the Shimmy Dance, probably taken in Bellingham at an outdoor festival.
Third is another rear shot of the final bow at the Fat Tuesday celebration and next to that is Saheed doing a solo Algerian number because I forgot my costume (!). This was taken in Powell River, B.C
Fifth is my favorite shot of Shayla from Pt. Roberts
Sixth is John tuning the kanoon at a workshop in Vancouver, B.C.
Seven is another favorite. This was a dance that John, Muzzy and Marty did with hand drums. It was taken at Pt. Roberts, a very popular dance!
Eight is John playing for Sahira on the glasses.
Nine was at Pt. Roberts, our last year, Saheed and Yasmela
And last is my favorite troupe shot.
