Every year we pack up and roadtrip to the Mendocino woodlands for Middle East Music and Dance Camp, and this year was extra special. It is one of the few times all three of our folkloric chapters come together with members from Seattle, the Bay Area, and Los Angeles as one big happy dance family.

We each take all kinds of music and dance classes diving deeper into our studies as well as soak up the inspiration of the nightly concerts and cabarets. We make friends and create amazing memories. This year we were honored to perform “Ana Ili ‘Alayki Mishta’” with the UCSB Middle East Ensemble. Huge thank you to Dr. Scott Marcus for having us!

We also were clean up crew for the four bathrooms across camp, set up for the concert & cabarets, ran the concert donation bar, and were the check out crew with the mostest at the end of the week.

So while there may not have been much sleep we had the most amazing time replenishing our inspirations, supporting our community, sharing our joy with each other and our fellow campers, and getting to dance dance dance. Thank you to Gamze Guven for making camp possible and for having us as part of the team. So much to all our camp friends! See you next year! Middle East Camp July 3-10, 2027