The festival was really fun, Reza did a great job considering he was alone in the process. He took a really big hit and may not do it again next year.

Too bad he is so good to his workshop instructors and performers, I really like the guy and hope the best for him.

Most of the categories in the competition were dropped due to lack of contestants. There were only three active categories: Up and Coming, Tribal Fusion solo and Cabaret Fusion solo (which had 4, 3 and 6 entries respectively). The category rules were modified because they had to combine a few to get enough contestants.

They still gave out 3 trophies per category, so only 4 people didn't get one - maybe they should make up some more for "honorable mention" or something like that.

The audio and video people were much better since Reza got smart and hired the people who are experienced at doing belly dance events - Moonlite Fantasy for the audio; Arnie Larner for the video. Also got better emcees for the different parts of the competitions.

Also, all the Sunday workshops were cancelled.

Reza wants to go back to September to do this, but I don't know.....