Rocky, Your presentation impressed the pants off of all of us including Anthony. He left after it as he was exhausted and had to drive sixty miles home.
You successfully united your personal history with a history of the time period that revealed the relationship between the Arab American and belly dance communities within the context of New York. You also let us into your learning process and the mistakes you made as well as the success you experienced. And you asked people consider the problems with media representations and to look deeper into themselves and the dance itself as they learn it and study it. Plus, you were engaging and entertaining. Thus, the entire talk provided an insight into the past–yours and the dance–dealt with the politics of the dance and made us laugh. One can’t ask for more. I hope your head is still in the clouds.
Dr. Barbara Sellers-Young, PhD
Orange County Community College, May 2001
