Middle Eastern dancers help BR Ed Center fundraiser
The art of the dance a perfect backdrop to a creative learning environment
By Roger Bianchini
Warren County Report
Spirits were high and the entertainment grand – not to mention internationally healing – at a Jan. 12 Mid-Eastern Dinner and Dance Performance/Silent Auction fundraiser for Front Royal’s Blue Ridge Education Center.
The 2nd annual event was once again packed to the brim of the Second Cavalry Episcopal Church dining hall. It was a stirring sign of community support for the Center’s work in providing an alternative educational environment for a wide range of students, including public and home schooled, special interests to special needs, regular diploma to GED preparation and adult education, generally from the 6th to 12th grade level. A full listing of the Center’s educational programs is available at the Center’s website at www.blueridgeeducation.org or by calling 540 631-9503.
The event’s banquet of Middle Eastern foods was again catered by Cute’s Mobile Café, with some old-fashioned American sides for more traditional appetites. Evan Hopper provided sound and Donna Evans helped assemble an impressive array of Middle Eastern Dance performers, who were introduced by Judy Lancie.
Warren County High grad and former Blue Ridge Education Center student Travis Davis with some of his art on display at fundraiser. Photo by Roger Bianchini. Copyright 2008 by Warren County Report.
Also on display were some original paintings by former Blue Ridge student and Warren County High graduate Travis Davis. Info on purchasing any of Davis’s works can be obtained by e-mail at zekriadavis@msn.com
But back to those dancers – the spiraling music hypnotic enough to mesmerize snakes – the veils, concealing what mysteries beneath before flowing through the wake of bodies in motion – and the movement, ancient, telling yet mysterious … Phew, I’m out of adjectives …
The dancers were all remarkable, they were:
Belladonna Amaya (Donna Evans and Susan Loving)
Farrah (Ashley Grapes)
Sahra (Ginnette Perera)
Kawakib (Anthea Poole)
Miramar (Esther Albright)
Nasrin (Audra Grapes)
and Daliyah (Erin Sterling)
Thanks to Blue Ridge Education Center founder and Executive Director Carol Olson for her work in providing “a structured, yet creative and flexible learning environment” for the youth of this community and bringing that same flexible creativity to this scintillating annual event.