Hi, I'm Nina Amaya; thanks for finding and inviting me. I am a belly dancer in Baltimore MD, and I play zils and am learning riq. I gave up the dumbek because I hate taking my rings off to play- don't have to with the riq! (riq=arabic tambourine, a 'serious' instrument in arabic music.)

My website is www.NinaAmaya.com I have events, also- is Melissa Murphey on here? invite her if not- she's an awesome clarinet performer and teacher. She came down to my area from Pittsburg and played at a hafla here (bellydance party) and gave a class in how to play middle eastern music in an ensemble. We are trying to continue that- if you know any musicians near Baltimore (York Pa is not too far, or is DC)- let them know about it- Monday evenings- if that time doesn't work we'll try Sundays, I think. full info here:
bellydance.meetup.com/284/cal...6694911/

Here is our community hafla site- I'd love to have more musicians know about it and participate:
www.AllSeasonsHafla.com

So where is everybody now? Are y'all mostly in New York? The gathering in July looks neat.... kid friendly, too?