Best. Party. Ever.

Tis the season for weddings, and I've been dancing at quite a few lately. Two this weekend alone. I love dancing at weddings, but this weekend I had the opportunity to dance with the coolest guests at the best wedding ever (from a bellydancer's perspective, of course!).

I drove all the way down to Pt. Pleasant on the Jersey shore (on a Friday night - talk about a stressful situation! I was petrified that I'd get stuck in shore traffic and miss the wedding!). My husband and I decided to make a mini-vacation and spend the night on the shore. I was hoping for a good party - a rockstar party, if you will - to make the long drive worth while. What I got was better than any rockstar party I've ever danced for.

The crowd was awesome. It was a mix of Arabs and Americans, but everyone was up and dancing. The groom and all his friends were Arabic, and they did not sit down the entire show. They were up and dancing with me, singing along to all my songs (I had added some new pop songs to my set, and I'm so glad I did - they knew all the words and obviously loved them!). There was an older man (very old....) who was dancing along the sidelines, so I pulled him out to the dance floor while I danced my slow and sexy almost-taksim to Jemileh. He was getting his groove on right along with me! And then he gave me the best compliment a bellydancer could ask for....he said "Are you an Arab?" Me: "No!" Him: "You're not??? What are you??" Me: "I'm Italian!". Then he started cracking up (this is all on the dance floor during my show, mind you) and said "But you are SO GOOD! How can you be this good and not be Arab??" I melted.

I seriously felt like a guest at this party, I was having so much fun. I couldn't believe that this was my JOB - I was being paid to get out there and party with everyone else! It was truly an amazing time and I wish every party I danced at could be that awesome (although I don't know if I'd have the energy to keep up if they were ALL that crazy!). It made my trip down to the Jersey shore totally worth every minute stuck in traffic (oh yeah, and my husband and I had a nice time on our mini-vacay, which made it worth it too....;-).

Good luck to the bride and groom (and to all my brides and grooms who have really all been wonderful people). May you have a lifetime of love, happiness, and dance.