Enjoy the best Greek food in Dallas and Dallas’ favorite Belly Dancers, Neenah, Aliki and Aicha. The belly dancers and Stratos are great for every celebration. It is totally fun and festive. Every Friday and Saturday is great belly dancing entertainment with Neenah, Aliki and Aicha and every Thursday night, the Harem Jewels will make your evening a memorable one for your special event. Join us at Stratos and learn to Greek Folkdance and belly dance with the beautiful belly dancers of Dallas, Texas.
Stratos Greek Taverna: Belly Dancers Neenah, Aliki, and Aicha
Blog #14: Zeyna goes to Chicago
Love ruins a lot of things. When your hormones kick in your brain quits. Alas, I fell in love and left for Minnesota. Needless to say, they are a lot of stories between what I write here, so I went home to Mama and reflected a lot on what I had learned. New York was music, dance, costuming & cultures. Puerto Rico was real entertainment, costumes, makeup, public relations.
Still, looking back I have to reference a few personal opinions. I worked with many, many musicians and some absolutely excellent but for me during those years the best Oud player that I personally worked with that was helpful and kind and always kept my back was Dicky Barsamian. He is still working in New York and is on you tube and has some CD’s. His Cd (The Dick Barsamian Trio). Live at the Tripple Inn has the best “Karsilama” I ever heard. The taxim is incredible.
Another favorite musician is Sudan (or Souren) Baronian. An Armenian born in New Jersey that plays sax and clarinet or anything else he can put his lips to, A jazz lover that plays Mid Eastern rhythms to jazz. He is also on you tube. My favorite CD is (Taxim-It’s about time) Try dancing on it!
I called a talent agency and went on the road mostly around Wisconsin and Illinois working week-ends here and there that had night club acts. The pay was very good especially for those years, 2 nights, $200. I ended up finally in Chicago. I worked every club there at the time and had the honor of working with “Dahlena” and “Iklas ” (Iklas was a phenomenal
entertainer and the first dancer I saw using a cape. Iklas used (rock glasses, not shot glasses) during her act and —–When I started teaching Neenah, I told her I would teach her from my memories. Some things I couldn’t personally do, but I could explain and get her to do them. This is how we came up with the shot glass idea!). “Dahlena” and “Iklas” were the only 2 dancers that had impressed me since I left New York and both of them were beautiful ladies on and off stage.
Blog # 10: Zeyna Meets Zoraida!! The Explosive Latin Fireball!!!
Zoraida I guess is probably my fondest memory from those years. Very infrequently Buckus “owner of the Britania” would let us come off stage and talk to someone we knew at the bar but always on alert for anyone from the Cabaret Licensing Board. This one night Kazar came in and said, Hey Gyps, you should see the “faukin” (New York common slang) dancer up in the Egyptian Gardens. She’s hot shit and her “faukin” zills (finger cymbals) are “faukin” dynamite. She’s up there with those “faukin” Turkish witches and kickin ass. Too funny! Well he was right, she kicked ass. Exotic & Powerful with “faukin” zills stronger then I had ever heard, with her own individual style. Talk about dancing to your own beat! She was born in Puerto Rico with Aztec origins, raised in New York. She had that FLAMINGO FLARE oozing from every PASSIONATE-EXOTIC pore in her body. A new concept for me, her dancing had passion. She was the first & only dancer that I could FEEL her raw passion. She was an orchid among roses.
Blog # 5: Zeyna meets Saida: Another Amazing Dancer in New York
Stage name Saida, real name Athena and she’s Greek, Go figure? Looking back over the years I have to tell you that there was nothing like having the the power of Athena’s “Arse” 3 feet in front of your face. She still reminds me of a wild black stallion.
Now don’t get full of questions on me. I know a stallion is a male horse. No, she was not gay. She came with her famous husband “The left handed Bouzouki player” John Palaologou.
It was her AURA, that wildness and power of a stallion that she emanated along with the attitude. Was she one of the Super Stars? You better believe it! She was also the first dancer that let me know just what the hell floor work really was. Did she have the “glamor” hell ya.
I remember that first night Sabah taking the drum from me (God Bless her). I thought it was just for Athena’s drum solo-ya right. Athena took off her “heels” and started in with a 9/8, SHE FLEW. Did we become friends, yes. Just a few years back on her birthday I presented her with a beautiful lithograph of a black stallion. Her response—–just a chuckle. Another power house, another style to ponder and again the more I learned the more I knew I didn’t know. GEEZZZZZZZZZ