If Halloween is the time when the boundaries between worlds are opened, Raks Spooki is the time to see what has slipped through the veils and stayed in this world! Come see all aspects of the darker side of belly dance explored at the fourth annual Raks Spooki, from the elegantly enigmatic to the morbidly macabre to the archly humorous to the utterly unclassifiable. This year's roster of performers draws from a variety of belly dance backgrounds from the traditional to the tribal and include: Aepril Schaile, Ameena, Aneckha, Aradia, Aria Beth Michaels, Atropos (Baseema), Badriya al-Badi'a, Bellastygma, Di'Ahna, Ela Rogers, Eugenia, Johara's Snakedance Theatre, Katrina, Naomi, Neylan, Qamar, Sabrina, Sabrina L., Samara, Selcouth, Tassellations, Tempest and Vadalna Tribal Dance Company. As the standing-room-only audiences of previous years can attest, this is a show you will not soon forget!

Proceeds from the event will be donated to Women for Women (www.womenforwomen.org/ ), a non-profit organization which helps women in war-torn regions of the world get back on their feet and start rebuilding their lives. Currently, they are focused on Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, Kosovo, Rwanda, Colombia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nigeria and Democratic Republic of the Congo. Some of these are places where our dance movements, costuming and jewelry come from. Using what women of the world have given us from our relative place of peace and safety, we can make real differences in the lives of other women. In exercising our freedom to dance in this country, we can help women around the world gain their own freedom from war, poverty and injustice.

Badriya is an Arlington-based performer of both gothic and traditional Arabic belly dance styles. For more information, see http://users.rcn.com/badriya/

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