Oasis Entourage
Over the years an extended family of dancers has grown through continued support and constant attendance at Oasis. They are linked by their love of the dance, their desire to become better dancers, and their addiction to spending time in the company of other like-minded dancers on a regular basis. They come from around this country and around the world to attend Oasis where ever it is.
On this page we would like to acknowledge and honor those dancers. This page will be filled by you the people who have been there. You can submit yourself or others (with their permission). Please send your submissions: include your full name, your dance name, one photo of you, the camp you most often attend, and a few paragraphs about your time with Oasis, to joanimullen@comcast.net
Click on either column header to sort alphabetically. Click names to display details
| Name | Dance Name |
|---|---|
| {Name} | {Dance_Name} |
{Name} - {Dance_Name} attends Camp {Camp} |
| {Entourage_Member} |
| Name | Dance Name | Camp | Entourage Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| Donna Komidar | Dahmia | North |  I don't know how I was lucky enough to be included on the very first invite to Oasis Dance Camp but it has been a wonderful experience although I find it hard to believe we're celebrating 25 years. Of course I also find it hard to believe Jean and I turn 60 this year - but it's all good since 60 is the new 40!! Any time I'm asked about Oasis Dance Camp I always tell them how Cassandra Shore is not only an excellent teacher as well as a fabulous performer (a great dancer does not necessarily make a great teacher) but the best part is "she's nice"!!!!! What a concept!! A very talented, caring teacher/performer. Jean and Mary Lynn had a wonderful concept when they came up with the idea of Oasis and I'm soooo glad they did. Although much of my life has been consumed by Hawaiian studies Oasis is the one bright spot in the year I refuse to give up. The very best place to learn, perform and have fun! You'll find the very best audience - if everything goes well we're all rooting for you and if you happen to have a costume malfunction or music snafu - we've all had them too and can commiserate. Like the old commercial says - You're Not Getting Older - You're Getting Better! That's Oasis Dance Camp in a nutshell - Getting Better & Better - As Bob Hope would say "Thanks for the memories". |
| Susan Embum | Susan | West |  Dancing solo last night, for a community benefit at the Roxy Theater, was the culmination of a dance dream. Having my students perform in the same show was another! It's been hard work bringing belly dance into the limelight of this small community and as I drove home from the event I reflected on the events and people in my life that helped to make it happen. The most important in my mind is Oasis Dance Camp. I signed up for the first Oasis West just as soon as I heard about it and I've been back every year. Oasis has opened my eyes to the rich variety of dance and much more. It's provided an education in dance technique (thanks to Cassandra and the guest instructors), music, rhythm, culture, make-up, and costuming. There's also the sharing of the experiences and passions of women who dance which gives another layer to the sumptuous texture of our dance. It also provides a fantastic, supportive network of friends. I fully experienced the compassion of this network of women the year I received my diagnosis of breast cancer while I was at camp. The heartfelt giving and support of the group is something I drew on time and again as I went through treatment and is something I will never forget and always treasure. It has been my goal since then to try and bring this same generosity of feeling into my dance and to share all that I've learned with my students and others I come in contact with. And of course, the main reason I return to camp every year is Cassandra. She is my idol and I would return to camp every year just for the pleasure of seeing her perform...she really stirs my creativity and provides a feast for my dancers soul!! |
| Laura Samperi-Ferdig | Talia | West |
|
| Lucinda Pool | LuSynda | West |  I attended my first Oasis Dance Camp 10 years ago and immediately realized that those involved were people that I wanted in my life...for as long as they were willing and I was able. I credit much of my joy and passion for this art form to my experiences at and as a result of Oasis. In my humble opinion it doesn't get any better than ODC, with regard to the directors and the way Camp is organized and conducted; the Master Instruction in Oriental and Folkloric dance, percussion, culture and ethics; or my fellow attendees and peers. It just doesn't, which is why I attended every Camp West I could while I lived in the Seattle area; why I traveled from Hawaii to ODCW to attend after we moved, why I persuaded the local dance organization to bring Cassandra out to Hawaii; and when I returned to the mainland, and was fortunate enough to relocate to the Jacksonville area, why I returned to Camp via ODCS. The amazing thing is my first teacher attended Camp and encouraged all her students to attend; I moved away 20 years ago and you would think we would lose....touch, but thru the shared link of the dance, and Camp teachers and experiences, when I returned to her classroom and began dancing with her again we found a compatibility of spirit, experience and technique that we never could have anticipated. ODC truly raises the bar and provides an avenue for training, experience, camaraderie and growth that no other event has, probably will ever have. Shukran to Jean and Vashti, Cassandra and Nicole, and all the wonderful instructors and support staff and participants over the years. |
| Sherry Reardon | Sherezzah Bint al-Waha | South |  I've been coming every year since I first discovered it in 1988--and sometimes twice in the same year! Many Norths, every South, and also East and Morocco. I was the first to adopt the "Bint al-Waha" tribal surname. I am, obviously, a Campaholic. I'm also a Camp "pusher", trying to get other people addicted as well. I've been designated the "unofficial Camp historian" and I even have a page on my own web site devoted to Camp: http://www.beledy.net/phoenix/OASIS.HTM |
| Kristen Collins | Leyla | North |  I fell in love with "bellydance" immediately, after seeing Cassandra perform in Minneapolis at "Abdul's Affandy" Restaurant years ago. I fell in love with Middle Eastern dance, and music, after my first class with her. My story is much like any other--when you are a young girl, you come to this dance for the beautiful costumes, the exoticness, perhaps the attention, hopefully the uniqueness and beauty of the movements. As you mature and grow...and grow up, you come to a much deeper appreciation and true love and passion for the dance, the technique, the music, and the culture. You are militant about technique and the quality and integrity of the dance, modesty, and preserving the heritage and legacy. I remember her (Cassandra) saying once that you may be the first and/or only "belly dancer" someone sees in their life, and this is what they will form their judgement on and perception of "belly dance" and what it is; and Middle Eastern dance on the whole--on YOU and how you just danced. It really hit home to me at that moment that when you dance you are representing everyone, all of us, so you better make it good! There is an assumed responsibility to represent the collective with quality and dignity. During my studies, I would practice my finger cymbals every day, the "belly flutter" laying in bed at night, and the perfect "Jewel" will continue to escape me for the rest of my natural life I would guess. I have my own dance ensemble, and have been teaching and performing professionally for many years now but will always be a student; a student of Cassandra's. There is, was, and will never be, a performer or instructor to match her. Every time an Arabic person makes it a point of tracking me down after a show to compliment me, the Egyptian technique, or ask me if I'm Arabic (me! with blue eyes and blonde hair) I always reply simply, "Thank you--I had a great teacher." Oasis Dance Camp is the high-point of my year, and I look forward to it like Christmas every summer! The tradition of it, and the friendships you develop are priceless. I am so truly thankful to have had this dance in my life--something to be passionate about, to live for, to drive me to always be better--what an extraordinary life we all have because of our dancing...what a blessing. How magnificent, how truly lucky we are! |
| Rachel Alexander | Adena Bint-al Waha | South |  I started dancing in 1995, and first went to Camp South in 1996 -- it was an awesome experience, proved by my repeated attendance. I've only missed one Camp South since then, and it wasn't even the year I was 8-9 months pregnant! The Camp experience showed me about the true fellowship of dancers that exists when we all leave our 'nests' and go to a place where we may only know a few other people (maybe just the ones we brought with us). |
| Mary Kertzman | Nadira | North |
After such a humble beginning, you might not think Oasis would become the second biggest influence of my dance career (the first being my teacher, mentor, and friend, Cassandra). Oasis Dance Camp is the core of my dance year. As soon as one camp is over, I mark next year’s dates on my calendar. I schedule work events around it. I adjust my family life so that I can be there each year. If I had more vacation time I would attend every camp each year. And although Oasis Dance Camp is an incredible learning opportunity, it is much, much more: it’s a welcoming, supportive, and caring community of dancers. Driving into the Twin Lakes Camp each year is like coming home. Some dancers I see only this one time each year, yet over the years they have become family. Others I see more often, as they have become my close family. |
| Dawn Meyer | Dawn | North |  I went to my first camp (North) in 2002. I was nervous that I would feel out of place. The second I walked in the door I was welcomed like I've been there forever. I had such a wonderful week with all the great women, teachers and staff and not to mention the food and the awesome people in the kitchen. The next year I signed up late and was told it was full. I was crushed until the day before I would have been due to leave when I got a call from Jean who said there was an opening and would I like to come. I started bouncing off the walls and it continued throughout camp that week and each camp I've gone to since. When the first international camp was set to go to New Zealand, I jumped at the chance. Not only to get use out of a new passport but to spend time traveling with a group I feel so comfortable with. The people within each camp may change but the same welcoming feeling doesn't. I've been to every Camp North since I started and even snuck in a Camp South and followed Oasis to another trip to New Zealand along with three to Morocco and soon Egypt. This year at Camp North will mark my 14th camp. I'm trying to get in as many camps as all the lucky women that have been coming to camp from the beginning. If I could manage every camp, I would. Thank you Jean and Mary Lynn for starting all this and thank you everyone else for being part of my camp experience in the past and hopefully in the future |
Oasis
Dance Camp has been a true blue learning tool for me! My first
camp, I was a senior in High School. Through the years I have
been to almost a dozen camps and have made tons of friends across
the country who I see from time to time at different dance events. They
(my camp friends, Cassandra & the camp director) have watched
me grow up from a teenager to a women and become a professional dancer
along the way. I will be forever grateful to Cassandra who
I love and admire more then she'll ever know! I will continue to
come to Oasis camps and tell everyone I know to come along
with me. Friends, food and dancing what more can a woman ask
for?
It’s hard to believe Oasis is celebrating its 25th year! I attended the very first Oasis Dance Camp….back when there was only Camp North. I had been dancing for less than one year. It was the very first workshop I ever attended, and was the site of my very first dance performance. I did a duet with my first good dance friend. We were, well, pretty bad…we messed up our choreography, we wandered around the stage randomly…it was not a pretty thing. Afterward, we had just barely stopped crying when a well intentioned camper came up to us and said “really, it was mostly okay; it was only bad for two minutes” to which we responded “the piece is only 2 minutes and 15 seconds long” and we started crying all over again!