On the 19th day of Christmas 2004, Shamira and Yallah Dance held the release party for Shamira's new "Pure Technique" DVD.  Even though it was a blustery cold night in New Jersey, the Rutherford Elks Banquet Hall was packed with a sold out crowd of dancers and friends from all over.

We started the evening by playing select music of Shamira's favorite CD mixes, as accompanied by Percussionists:  Gamal on lead doumbek, Ira who played bass doumbek, shown playing the Bendir in this photo.  Aziz played the Riq while our newly appointed drummer Wendy gave the boys a run for their tabla.

Ira, Wendy and Gamal

We had Hot Buffet dinner:
Green Tossed Salad with dressing, 
Bakery Basket with Butter,
Feasted on Four Hot Entrees:
-Ames Chicken breast
-Tortellini Primavera in a light broth
-21 Ingredient Marinated Steak
-Eggplant Parmigiana

Coffee and Tea, Cake, Cookies, Brownies Plus Assorted Other Pastries
and thanks to Angeline's Airline Flight Crew connections, we had
Arabic Sweets flown in directly from Amman Jordan just two days before the event!
These sweets disappeared faster than you can say "Yallah!"

Of course, to top everything off, we had an open bar for beer, wine and soda.

We had one minor problem, as the kitchen dishwasher pipes froze earlier that day.  Because we were concerned about sanitary conditions of the dinner plates, we decided it best to use sturdy disposables instead.  No big deal!  We'd rather be clean than sorry!  Also, we ran out of red wine glasses.  Had to use white wine glasses instead.  Like anyone would have known or cared about that, so long as the drinks kept coming!

At the start of dinner the rest of the fabulous 7-man band showed up as scheduled and started playing hot dance selections for the rest of the evening.  Let's just say, people didn't know whether they were going to eat or dance.  It was a great choice either way!

Click above to view audience dance photos.

As we had advertised, LIVE MUSIC by "Shamband"

 
Shamira's very own select group of top, hot Middle Eastern Musicians for everyone's dancing and partying ecstasy.

Maurice Chedide - Oud, Vocals

Elias Sarkar - Violin, Vocals

Michael Hess - Kanoun

Gamal Shafik - Lead Doumbek

Ira Weitz - Bass Doumbek
(shown here playing the Bendir)

Aziz Mohammed - Riq

Gabby Tawil (Shamira's Doumbek Teacher)

 
Gabby Tawil.  Shown here playing the Tabla (also known as Doumbek).

Gabby Tawil flew in all the way from Arizona with 2 of his best tabla students just to be able to attend Shamira's DVD release party.  Of course, the guys joined in the Sham-Jam too!

Pictured above left to right:  Maurice, Joe, Gabby, David, Gamal, in a percussion jam!

Open Dancing!

Wearing jingly sparkly things and other bellydance outfits, ladies in their best party dresses, some from vintage 60s to the fabulous anything-goes era.  Everyone had the perfect opportunity to dance to live music.  For those who never had the fortune to dance to a live band before, they finally found out just how much of a blast it is!  To the veteran dancers, it was exhilarating to be backed up by the high calibre "Shamband."  Everyone got to dance, dance, and dance! 

Shamira's show

The lights dimmed, the globe lights twirled and the band picked up the tempo even more. 
The Star of the evening was about to make her entrance!

Floating elegantly on the dance floor, Shamira took over center stage!

A Wings Number by Shamira

                                                                                               Photo by Saher Abu Taha 
Click above photo to view Shamira's Wings performance in pictures.

"The Princess of Cairo" is who Shamira was with her opening number.

Shamira and her Zills number

Click above photo for more Zills performance photos.

When she finished her grandiosely elegant Wings and Zills performance, Shamira took off her zills and wings and instructed "Shamband" to play a slow hypnotic masmoudi rhythm with solo taxims of oud (Maurice Chedide), kanoun (Michael Hess), and violin (Elias Sarkar) over the rhythm, led by her percussionists Gamal Shafik (lead tabla), Ira Weitz (bass tabla), Aziz Mohammed (riq) and Gabby Tawil (bendir).

Left to Right:  Gabby, Ira, Gamal, Aziz, Maurice, Elias, Michael  (Photo by FP)

 
Shamira then brought an Egyptian bag containing 12 veils to the middle of the dance floor.  Then "Shamband" began their dreamy rhythm and when the narrator said "On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me....." Shamira pulled out one colored veil after another, representing different concepts to her. 

Shamira with her "Twelve Veils of Christmas"
 
Click here to read about Shamira's 12 Veils of Christmas as written by Shamira herself.

You would think Shamira had planned this for weeks or months.  In reality she was suddenly inspired with the concept just one day before the show!  Even printing the 12 Veils of Christmas handout on the same day of the show. 12 colored veils, representing 12 different concepts as derived from stone inscriptions, as given by Ira to Shamira years back.

Shamira dancing with several veils as pulled from her Egyptian bag

Click here to view photos from Shamira's 12 Veils of Christmas performance.

What talent and creativity!  This was a really sensuous, soulful part of the evening.  As Shamira draped one veil after another onto an audience member, these women joined her on center stage getting inspiration from their colorful veils.  The 12th and last veil went to Shamira's dancer friend from Arizona, who flew in just to attend the DVD release party. 

Arlene
Shamira's Dancer friend who flew in from Arizona

Arlene's veil was colored white.  This symbolized MAGIC to Shamira.  And thus, the mystical and mesmerizing scene of 12 different women dancing on center stage in an impromptu manner.  One would think it were choreographed and rehearsed for weeks on end.

Drum Solo by Shamira.  It brought the house down!

Just when you think the show had reached its peak, lead Doumbek player Gamal Shafik made Shamira work hard for her drum solo!  Gamal is a fabulous drummer.  His hands were flying and his drumming was both strong and powerful.  Seeing Shamira dance to a drum solo, one would say "Shamira is really a great dancer!"

Shamira doing a Drum Solo as backed by her band, Shamband

Watching Shamira strut her stuff with those pops and locks, shimmies and undulations, wiggles and twists, it's no wonder Gamal was inspired to drum the way he did.  And for Shamira to match beat by beat Gamal's tempo, it was a beautiful and inspiring sight to see.  A wonderful exchange and communication between the drummer and the dancer with every beat of the drum!

Gabby, Ira, Gamal

Things just went wild after that!  People were dancing like there was no tomorrow.

                                                                                             (courtesy of Frank Policastro)
Click on above photo to view more attendees' dance photos!

                                                                                               Photo by FP 
Click on above photo to read messages from some of our attendees!

Take a bow!  Shamira, you did a fabulous job!  Thank you! 

                                                                                  Photo by SA

Photo Credits:
Joe Borik (AZ),  Frank Policastro (FP), Saher Abu Taha (SA)

Video Capture:  Eric Valentin of Yallah Dance Inc.

With all great things, we needed to end the night's festivities.  So reluctantly we packed up.  The snow came but thankfully all our friends arrived home safely. 

Click here to read messages from some of our attendees about our "Pure Party!"

One promise that Shamira and Angeline made to each other and to those who were there:

This is not the end.  Only the beginning!

Another Yallah Dance/Shamiradance successful collaboration: 
A Valentine's Workshop on February 13, 2005 with Shamira. 

"Pure Technique" DVD and Music CDs, now available for purchase.