Whole: Mind. Body. Art. hosted a fabulous Hafla this past Saturday night to benefit United Way of NE Ga. Here are some photos taken by the talented painter and photographer, Bill Pearson:
There was a great musical performance by this wonderful group later in the evening. The “official” bellydancing performances took place earlier in the evening, but the bellydancing continued informally as the group played. What a fun evening!
The talented dancer and benefit organizer, Susie St. Charles, performed several dance numbers.
Here she is again (in the background) performing with one of her beginner students. She said he has only been taking lessons for six months. It takes a lot of guts to get up and perform in front of a crowd, particularly after only six months lessons! You couldn’t pay me to do it, much less do it for free. So bravo to him for dancing for charity!
And then three of my fav ladies below: Jackie Pierson; Rajni- Jenny Kay-Williams, who teaches Tribal O at Floorspace Dance; and Sarah Bolen Marston. I have seen them dance several times and they are always good, but they were outstanding at this event!
And then there was the fabulous Misty Wynn and her sword dance, which always leaves me breathless. She literally places the sword on top of her head and it stays balanced there as she dances, including doing floorwork (that would be translated as getting her booty down on the floor and doing some dancing and back bends and snake arms, then getting her booty back to an standing position and dancing!). I could watch her do this a thousand times and still always be amazed!
Rajni treated us to a cane dance that was super fun to watch and she looked as if she was having a blast doing it!
After the formal performances, we enjoyed music and watched some impromptu bellydancing!
Whole: Mind. Body. Art. offers all sorts of interesting classes and workshops on Jackson St. in the heart downtown Athens, Ga. Check them out. And a big thank you to them for hosting such a fun charity event!
*photographs used by permission of Bill Pierson (thank you, Bill!)
