I had the opportunity to go Las Vegas and work in a motel lounge that was at that time across from the Hacienda. Sorry, I can’t recall the name, but there I met Antoine Hage. He was an excellent Oud player originally from Lebanon. After a few short months I went to San Diego with him and met his beautiful family. I worked there another few short months and returned to Detroit. Not long after I went back to Minnesota and went brain dead again and got married. I worked “George’s in Fridley” Greek night club every winter for 5 years and “Nicholas” for a year. There I gained a life long friend and dancer MaryKaye Piazza.
1977-Divorced, back on the road to Chicago, Detroit, Denver, San Diego (where I worked with Antoine again).
Denver, I met a really good dancer named Valerie and in back again in Detroit another great dancer, Rheema. And finally, San Francisco, CA. which was the nightmare of my entire career that I will pass on telling. What I will tell you is that one beautiful thing did come out of that miserable time a year later back in Detroit. Aida approached me at a party I was doing. She remembered me and we talked about what happened and still joke about it. Just a note, she had nothing to do with the event. Since, we have become life long friends. Her talents never cease to amaze me. She sings in Arabic, sings opera, has a masters on piano, plays any reed instrument, her ability to play different cymbal patterns are incredible and, as a dancer she is a master technician with all the “Chutzpah” to go with it. She is an encyclopedia of information and a loving caring giving person. If you ever have a chance to study with her, you would be blessed.
Dear sweet Zeyna, I am loving your blogs. This history is so important. We use to talk about us all getting together
and writing a book with all of our adventures!! Coming to Detroit was a blessing because as you said I met you and we will be friends forever. For our generation as dancers we had to learn everything and it took many years to become a seasoned professional. You had to make your bra, belt, skirts, veils, there was no place to buy anything. Your bras and belts were extraordinary. Each bead sewn on individually, not a chain stitch like today. We learned the music through the experience of dancing to it over and over. There were no CD’s or even cassettes!!! Good luck finding a record. I know that in NY you all played drum between shows on stage. I did as well but on the West Coast it wasn’t the usual. We survived for many years working 5 to 7 nights a week to live music. It wasn’t just a job but our life and passion. The stage was sacred and when we came on, it was only about the music and dance. We were groomed to the hilt on and off stage. Makeup, fabulous dresses, we were princesses. We were so very lucky to have our careers when we did. We danced to some of the legends of the musical world. I hope you never stop adding to these blogs. You have endless knowledge and experiences to share!!!
Thank you for taking the time to write. What you say is so true and, many of those musical and dance legends are gone except in our hearts. What we experienced is also legend and can be talked about but not taught because of the passion that was envolved, it had to be felt and understood by being there.
Because of this today, much is being lost. I have skipped a whole lot in these blogs as I know that you are very aware of but, hopefully it brought to light and awareness of some truly awesome people that deserve to have their name out there. Also, I hope that it has brought some enlightenment to new dancers to know some of the “American” history that paved their way!
Your friend forever with love, Zeyna
Hi Zeyna,
I remember being deposed by the lawyers you were using to stop the Nicklow brothers from using your picture. DO you recall those times?
Casssandra