Dance Newsletter: January 2024
Happy New Year!
A quick check in to say hello, wish you a happy new year, and give you some updates about what's coming up in 2024.
You may notice this is coming from a different email address. I've moved to a new newsletter provider, Buttondown. My last one had all sorts of bells and whistles that I didn't use. I really like Buttondown as a company and the straightforwardness of their design style and am glad to be giving them my business. This is part of my streamlining my website into all my 'stuff' being in one place.
I've also combined my email lists within this service – there are about 300 of you on my Monica Raqs Egyptian dance list, and about 50 of you on my Mezzogiorno.Arts Italian dance list. Not to worry, for the most part you will get separate emails based on which list you signed up for. This email, however, is a general hello to all, letting you know what's going on, making sure you have my email in your address book, and of course giving you a chance to say 'nah' and unsubscribe if you would like. I hope you'll stick around, but 100% no hard feelings as we all get way too many emails, I'm sure.
That said, if you are on the Egyptian dance email but want Italian dance emails, too (or vice versa), or if you want to be notified when I update my blog, drop me a line and I can add you to ALL THE THINGS ;)
Dance with me in 2024
Egyptian Dance: Weekly Classes
Egyptian style dance classes continue live over Zoom in 2024. Join anytime! Click the above photo for details, pricing, and registration information.
Italian Dance: Weekly Social Dance Alongs
A virtual Italian dance party every Tuesday over Zoom. Come dance tarantelle — either pizzica or tammurriata — in a safe, fun, mixed level space open to all. Click the photo above for all the details. This is not a class! It is collective of learners and social practitioners.
Pizzica Pizzica Workshop in San Francisco January 6, 2024
Join us Saturday, January 6th in person for a fun Italian folk dance workshop — open to all! I'm sponsoring teachers Kate Causbie (Seattle/Puglia) and Francesco Faustino (Puglia), who will guide us through movements, music, and context. Clicking the pic will take you to all you want to know.
Music in 2024
June 2024
Aswat Women's Ensemble
Our ensemble will play an outdoor concert in June featuring wedding songs of the Arab world. Exact date TBD, so stay tuned.
Videos of the Month
Two videos this time since I've crossed streams with my lists! Both are musical, as music is what moves us to dance. Click the image to be taken to the link.
First, a celebration of Nabila Mango's life. Nabila was a longtime friend, mentor, and inspiration of mine, and was an important person to many people all over the world. You can read her obituary here. We had several smaller celebrations of her life after she passed, and the one in the video was open to the public. We read poetry, told stories, played music and danced dabke. The poetry, music, and dance performances start at around 1:49, and that is where the link will take you, but back upif you want to hear the tributes to Nabila, too.
The second video is of a band of street musicians I filmed in Palermo, Sicily, last fall. They were great, and in particular their cover of Lu Rusciu de lu Mare done pizzica style got me right in the feels! They gave me permission to film and post this video.
Recent Blog Posts
Thanks for being here.
My calendar and website stay updated, and I usually post clips from dance class on my Egyptian dance instagram and facebook pages each week if you want to keep up there.
See you in the dance studio (physical or virtual) soon!
Monica
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