It was a fab evening, really good fun!

Our Veil dance (Esmerim) went down well and I think it is reasonable to say that Bom Bom brought the house down, the reaction was certainly pretty noisy.

There was a good variety of performers – I particularly enjoyed Glennis Larum’s oriental solo as she interacted with the audience really well and was obviously enjoying herself. Dancer’s Bizarre are always a treat to watch, great costumes and attitude. Then there was San’at Mahmudova performing Uzbekistani dance, something I hadn’t seen before, in a beautiful costume. Egyptia and friends finished the show with their unstoppable debke.

As well as the show, there was great food (made by Nawarra’s Mum), a second hand souk where I think pretty much everyone found a bargain, henna painting and the Party –  once the show was done there was plenty of time for everyone to get up and dance, with debke (and conga) breaking out regularly, a bit of hair swinging Khaleegy and lots of arabic pop. We were exhausted, but in a good way, by the time we headed back home.

It looks like we will be heading back to Leeds in a couple of weeks, as Nawarra has asked us to join them again for a hafla with Khaled Mahmoud on 8th March.