Aloha Everyone!

Finally, the Tribal Fest (TM) 7: "7 Year Twitch n' Bitch"*** info is up! Tribal Fest is now a trademarked name, please note. Same with "The Best of the Fests", it's new alternate name you will see below and in some advertisements.

*** It has been reported that some folks are out there scratchin' their heads saying to themselves and others, "what is this Twitch n' Bitch thing?" Well, folks, it's pure funky-ass fun. That is number one. All writers enjoy strange word play and while Chuck and I were discussing this year, up came "The 7-Year Itch" phrase, then the bellydancer "Stitch n' Bitches" we all have when out of class. Then, after looking at belly dancers for about 17 years now, I have decided that some moves we do could constitute twitching. And, as any of you quantum physics fiends know, everything changes every 7 years - everything from each cell of your body to all things that we are part of (um, that's everything else, seen and unseen, for you non-quantum folks), so this special year deserved a special title! Plus, always remember dear ones, I am "The Original BlackSheep of BellyDance" and sometimes I just like to get people's minds going 'cause I'm naughty that way. If you have spent any time wondering what it meant, my formulae worked, huh? Now, let's start taking ourselves a bit less seriously, OK, and have some FUN at "The Best of the Fests" (TM)!!!!

Oh, and I must thank all of you for your patience while I missed my own deadline of Nov. 1 for the first year - evah! - due to excuses too numerous to list. = :-O

This year features 40 classes over 5 days, show for 3 days. Teachers will include almost everyone who's anyone in the alternative dance community and the rest I'll try to include next year. ;-) Of course, many are invited to teach who cannot attend, but I do my absolute best to bring you the best o' the best each year. Keep filling out those evaluations and suggestion box notes as they help me much and I do listen as you can see by this year's line-up, class offerings, bunches less classes held on the actual weekend during the show, the creation of a quiet networking space, absence of the outdoor stage "experiment" from last year and another full day of classes and shopping extension. Also, all vendors have the option of vending all 5 days!!!!!

As promised, things're different this year! So, *please pay special attention to all details* to avoid bummahs later.

EXREMELY IMPORTANT: Do NOT send any mail after March 10, 2007. NO class registrations, nothing to do with Tribal Fest. I MUST have everything in hand no later than April 1, 2007 in order to send you your class receipts (which you MUST have in hand) in time. Mail takes a very long time to reach Maui, so REALLY, *DO NOT SEND* any correspondence past the deadline date this year!

Chuck and I leave early for CA to get The Fest set up and will not be able to pick up any mail after April 1, 2007. It creates many problems at The Fest when we hear things like, "I sent it two weeks ago", so PLEASE DON'T.
If there is any room in any class you'd like to take, please just go to that class early (about 10 minutes) and talk with the registrar. If there is still room, you can pay CASH ONLY at the door. At the door workshop prices are: for the $30 classes, $35 in CASH. For the $50 classes, $55 in CASH. No other method of payment will be accepted at the door.
Thank you for your consideration and compliance with this serious deadline for receiving postal mail, and for remembering to bring your receipts to classes for admittance. No receipt means you must pay for the class again, in cash, and then send verification of a cancelled check AND the receipt you forgot to bring to me after The Fest is over. I will then send reimbursement upon verification. There will be about 1,500 people taking classes this year, so I'm sure you can understand why the rules must apply to everyone and why I need your registrations IN ADVANCE, the sooner the better. Thank you!

IMPORTANT NOTE - PLEASE VOTE for Tribal Fest as "Favorite Event" in the annual Zaghareet Magazine's Reader's Poll, The Golden Belly Awards! You can nominate the event and vote in one free email, you don't even have to be a subscriber of the magazine - though you should be, 'cause it's the best one in our field (besides the outstanding Tribal Magazine out of the UK) since it covers all styles, has the most pages (it's one thick puppy) and - oh yeah! an ongoing Tribal Q-&-A column by Yours Truly.

Due to my lack of campaigning in 2006, Tribal Fest 6 lost by a slim margin in the votes of 2006 to another event. PLEASE - if you love The Fest - the one that inspired all the other tribal-themed events. VOTE! Cast your ballot now by emailing your name and your vote to: zaghareetmagazine@earthlink.net - you can even tell 'em Kajira sent you! You can check out the 'zine itself by going to: http://www.zaghareet.freeservers.com - and, do yourself a favor and get yourself a subscription while you're at it. Thanks for caring enough to put Tribal Fest, The Best of The Fests (TM) back on top in 2007!

Please note: As always, we need RESPONSIBLE STAFF PEOPLE. Staff will be paid *after* their shifts this year since at least one third of our staff last year either didn't show up or only worked the first day when I had foolishly paid them already for all other days.

This year The Producer shall work this in a more professional manner for all. Your title is no longer "volunteer" as since last year everyone was paid and the same shall continue this year. To become a Paid Staff Member, READ everything below, THEN please call: 808.891.8891 - 24 hours and leave a thorough message/s (when I call back, should I get your machine, I can tell it the answer and we don't have to play phone tag more than necessary) that includes your name, where you're from, your email address (spelled out), your phone number (leave it twice), your age (yes, it does seem older ppl are more responsible, sorry, kids!- but if you can prove how responsible you are I may consider you even if you are under 25), your gender (males in general may be able to be more business-like about this and not just get carried away shopping or mooning over someone and forget they're *working*, though female applicants are needed for the dressing room attendant position and others that are less physically challenging) and relationship to Tribal Fest (attendee, student, performer, friend or significant other of a performer, etc.) and the day or part of the day from Fri. afternoon - Sun. night (including take-down) you are willing to work. *Be sure to take into consideration any classes and/or your performance time, if any, BEFORE you ask to become TF Staff for a certain day or time period - thanks!* People who can be most flexible and who can work longer shifts will be paid accordingly.

A minimum of 4 hours in one stretch per day is expected for Paid Staff and more is better. You will be paid according to the total numbers of hours worked, of course. **There are no Staff Positions open Wed. - Fri. afternoon** - this opportunity is for right before, after and during The Show only. I need physically strong persons for Saturday morning before the show to help set up vendor tables by 8:00 a.m. so our indoor vendors can get in by then to set up before the show starts at 10:00 or 10:30 a.m. (yes, that IS early - extra perks for you guys!) and for Sunday night after the show to put them away. (Show ends by 6:00 p.m. on Sunday.) *Set-up and take-down crew can count both as one four-hour shift even though we'll be done in less time.* *I would prefer the same crew for Saturday morning as for Sunday early evening set-up and take-down.* This is due to the fact that you will know where things go back to if you took them out, so less "training" on my part will be needed. You will already know what to do.

Please be watchful for emails in the Spring and *read them thoroughly and reply if asked to* after your telephone confirmation from me as that will be our main method of communicating after initial contact. Last year we had many ppl who didn't read their entire emails, assumed all was well, showed up to find another person had been scrambled to be found because we thought they'd dropped the ball since they didn't reply as asked. So Staff NEEDS to be "on the ball", not dropping it. Thanks!

Your pay will be determined by: length of time working, flexibility of hours, position (some are easier than others) and responsibility while working with me from the time of your first call to the end of your shift.

My hope is that one day Tribal Fest will have the same paid staff each year in the same places, just like Rakkasah. So when you call, mention to me whether or not you think you may be into doing this more than this year, thanks! (Pay will increase each year you work, like at other, much less fun jobs. Who knows, one year there could even be "Holiday Bonuses" for my most hard-working peeps!)

Please note: This year I am looking for at least four (six would be better) different REVIEWERS so Tribal Fest can get the press it deserves. I want to thank Lynette of The Gilded Serpent online magazine who came last year and wrote something for her mag, it's very important that The Fest stays "out there" and reviews help more than you can imagine. In fact, that's how I started my own writing career (and got in free to hundreds of events from punk shows to Beatlemania! in the 80s to Mendocino Middle Eastern Music & Dance Camp and more since changing careers to bellydance full-time in the 90s). I guess those early days gave me the wherewithal to write The Tribal Bible, too.

As much as I would prefer reviewers who already have had something published in one of our bellydance trade publications or elsewhere, I may consider new authors. Here's how this will work: You must attend at least a couple classes anytime during The Fest (Wed. - Sun.) and be there for the entire show: from the time Vishnu Tattva Das offers The Invocation on Friday night to close, Saturday all day (except for breaks of course) & Sunday until Urban Tribal Dance Co. closes The Fest. This does not mean you must be "glued to your seat" during the show, but try to catch some acts between shopping (which is also an important part for your review).

If you have not had anything published, please write something for me to see - it can be about the last show you saw or were in, or any dance subject. I am not looking for college dissertations, just honest reviews. The type of review I prefer contains brief (one or two sentence) quotes from random attendees, vendors, performers, workshop participants, teachers, maybe even the producer ;-) etc. (So bring your little Radio Shack voice recorder - great for workshop notes, too!) or a pad and pen if you're a more old-fashioned reporter (and know shorthand!). You are not expected to talk to *everyone* - your review should be about your experiences with some comments from various others to "round out" your view and make the review more interesting.

You must also be able to operate a camera. The camera does not have to be professional, just pretty good to capture the ambience outside and a few performers, and maybe a photo of one of your workshops in action. You must be able to make tiff.s or pdf.s from your photos as well as that is how the mags like them. Some will accept jpg.s. All photos should be converted to 300 dpi for printing.

If you can do that, please submit by mail copies of previous works with references to which magazine and when the article or review was published, OR a new sample work if previously unpublished, and a letter stating you'd like to be one of Tribal Fest 7's Official Reviewers. Send packet to: Kajira Djoumahna, P.O. Box 791000, Paia, HI, 96779-1000, USA and be sure to include all contact info: mailing addy, email addy, phone # (most important of all).

Once you submit your review by email to the magazine that I assign to you (we need multiple reviewers 'cause editors hate the same ones) and cc it to Chuck at the same time so we have a receipt that you did it, what it was and when and where you sent it to, you shall receive a full refund for all shows (a $45 value as there are no weekend passes this year) and a thank-you card from us suitable for framing. :-D (Minus the card, this is what you'd get if you had an actual Press Pass from an actual newspaper, magazine, etc., except "card-carrying reporters from reputable newspapers" get in free to all events and don't need to be reimbursed later because they actually follow through with reviews and photos since that is their job.)

We've learned oh-so-painfully over the last couple years especially that although we're sure almost everyone means well, that doesn't mean they follow through. This would be a great job for a family member or friend who is a non-dancer but who is used to The Scene and knows about stuff from listening to you. (Significant others, hear our plea and obey! Thanks! LOL!)

*Please note that a Reviewer and a Staff Person can possibly be the same persons in some cases.* Gee, you might leave Tribal Fest with more $ than you came with! Well, probably not, let's face it, us girls will shop at our giant once-a-year TribalMart until every last saved penny has been begged, borrowed and spent! Um, unless you're a guy. Then you really *do* have a chance! Why be bored following your woman from table to table when you could be earning back some of that cash she's busy spending? Poor guys just look for the ever-present "husband chair" and try not to look bored. This way, they can actually help the cause! Don't worry, I know was' up, I've been married for over 15 years now. ;-D

EXREMELY IMPORTANT: Do NOT send any mail after March 10, 2007. NO class registrations, nothing to do with Tribal Fest. I MUST have everything in hand no later than April 1, 2007 in order to send you your class receipts (which you MUST have in hand) in time. Mail takes a very long time to reach Maui, so REALLY, *DO NOT SEND* any correspondence past the deadline date this year!

Chuck and I leave early for CA to get The Fest set up and will not be able to pick up any mail after April 1, 2007. It creates many problems at The Fest when we hear things like, "I sent it two weeks ago", so PLEASE DON'T.
If there is any room in any class you'd like to take, please just go to that class early (about 10 minutes) and talk with the registrar. If there is still room, you can pay CASH ONLY at the door. At the door workshop prices are: for the $30 classes, $35 in CASH. For the $50 classes, $55 in CASH. No other method of payment will be accepted at the door.
Thank you for your consideration and compliance with this serious deadline for receiving postal mail, and for remembering to bring your receipts to classes for admittance. No receipt means you must pay for the class again, in cash, and then send verification of a cancelled check AND the receipt you forgot to bring to me after The Fest is over. I will then send reimbursement upon verification. There will be about 1,500 people taking classes this year, so I'm sure you can understand why the rules must apply to everyone and why I need your registrations IN ADVANCE, the sooner the better. Thank you! (yes, this text is here multiple times, it's THAT IMPORTANT!)

Please do yourself (and us over here) a favor and read everything - it's all new from previous years. You are responsible for knowing what's up. The Producer strongly suggests you read all info and click on all buttons!

The Producer assumes no liability financially, emotionally or in any other way for your own ignorance of new policies (just like the "law" - "Ignorance is no excuse!").

Since there are *so many classes* this year (40), that's right: FORTY, I have them listed three ways, two of which I'm calling "Quick-Peeks": (#1) in one list by day and time, (look at all five classrooms's times to avoid the Overlap Syndrome), and (#2) in a set of simple lists by class style or type of dance. If I were you, I'd print out both and sit with them side-by-side to check the style, day, time and classroom before moving on. I hope these lists will aid you in deciding which class's description and instructor bios you will look for first, and help you find them more easily in the vast maze that is (#3): the DETAILED CLASS INFO button below.

Remember, there are 5 classes going on simultaneously Wednesday through Friday. Be sure to triple-check your choices for possible overlapping nightmares BEFORE sending your check or money order! The Producer wants you to know that "lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency - or anything, really - zero, not even a refund - on my part". It's on you, my friends! Really, this year any whining about your own boo-boos will fall on deaf ears. There are too many of you to hand-hold. The Producer is NOT your mother. Thanks for your attention.

You are fully in charge of your destiny (as usual in all aspects of life) and are expected to know what classes you are taking, when, what day and in which room they are. You will receive receipts this year if you follow all the new registration instructions properly, which will also have that info on it for you. Failure to follow all instructions properly will/most likely/may result in you not getting into the classes you are hoping for, so make a mental note of this fact, thanks.

Please note also that this year since I will not be able to fit in all the performers who apply, there are NEW "How To Perform" guidelines as well. If you and/or your troupe wish to perform, it would help you big time to read that section BEFORE sending in class $ as the two MUST arrive together this year in one envelope at the same time (your hand-written or typed performer application and your hand-written or typed class choices with proper payment - BOTH new this year). This year all performers other than teachers must support classes. More detailed info is under the "Tribal Fest FAQ" button which you can reach from the Site's Main Page.

Then I suggest you go to the daily buttons (labeled and broken down by by each day for easier download--menu is on the left under workshops, listed by the name of the day). Beware, if you go there first you may get lost and never emerge overlap-free! = :-O (Brrrrahh-ha-ha-ha! Cackle, cackle!)