I'm in Paris for a few days this week...
Last night, some of my coworkers in Paris were having a end-of-project celebration and invited the rest of us who were in town for another project. We went a restaurant called "La Casbah". It's near the Bastille area. Check out their website: www.casbah.fr
To get in, you have to first ring an inconspicuous door bell. Then someone inside opens the big double wooden doors. You are first greeted with a bar area, then you step into Morocco. There were mostly big tables. This place is very popular for large group parties, booked in advance. The dining area looked like you were sitting outside of a Morrocan building. It was obviously themed, but somewhat close to being cheesey. The wait staff was dressed in black t-shirts. The service was slow, even for the French. This being a Tuesday night, I did not expect the place to be full. All tables were filled. Granted, it was a small place, but there was a big party there filling two long rows of tables. A round table of about 10, and our table of 10.
Another thing I didn't expect since it was Tuesday: There was bellydancing. Not just one, but two dancers. The first was a blonde girl with curly long hair. She wore a red Turkish costume, new flared skirt style. She also danced with snakes. She had two short sets. The first, she came out with two midsized snakes and her veil. She was obviously limited to what she could be doing while holding snakes. She would put one on her chest or shoulder, then dangle the other one in front of a guest's face. The second set, she came out with a veil and a big albino snake (boa?). It was of a yellow-ish color. So when the snake wrapped itself around her, she looked like she had some extra baggage on her torso.
The second dancer came out 30 minutes later. She was dark skinned and had long black hair. She had strong moves and was very charismatic. She would dance, move over to a table, see that they were not clapping, and then would stand there, give them a look like "why aren't you clapping?", and clap her hands. That really did the trick. She was very cheeky, as the British would say. I don't know if the crowd was just really into it or what, but they were all hollering and clapping. I guess it helps to have such big parties there. People were in especially high spirits and really enjoying the dancing. Later, she then found a chair that was empty, stood on it for a while doing her shimmies, then stood on top of the table and did her drum solo! How clever! The restaurant barely had room for the wait staff, so dancing on the table was probably the only way for every to see her dance. Then she did a saidi piece with a nice golden cane. She balanced it on her head and chest while dancing. Of all the dancers I've seen she has got to be one of the better ones. Not only were her moves good and solid, but her personality was just perfect. "I'm dancing and you better be looking at me."
Peace out.
Posted by oneray at February 2, 2005 1:21 PM