This weekend was a whole lot of fun at Carnival of Stars. Thank you Pepper Alexandria and Latifa for producing this creative and fun filled festival!

The Queen of Carnival of Stars Contest was a blast!

It was definitely one of my favorite competitions because I love Raqsharki style. The journey of creating a costume (thank you Fuchsia Raks), reading a laundry list of articles, studying videos, spending hours and months listening to music(thanks Erik Davis for a clean edit on a fifteen minute song), rehearsing...all of that was so much fun!

I usually get stressed, this time not so much. I was completely comfortable in my skin, this performance felt really natural. I did all that I planned to do within the guidelines of creating my show based on the influences that I listed. Nagwa Fouad for her showmanship, elegance, and unique spirit, a tiny tiny taste of Soheir Zaki's "piston hips" and deliberate hip movement. Can't wait to post the video!

It was really interesting to read my scores, as this was what I was really looking forward to.

The most memorable comment was that I was "not authentic at all".

Stay tuned for more photos and videos!