Are You a Socialist or a Belly Dancer?

Okay, if you believe that this question requires each of you to think about your own philosophical or ontological perspective of the world think again. If you know anything about the Mirage experience, it simply is a way to determine where you’re sitting at Ruby’s BBQ after the show. I know, belly dancing and barbeque seem like an odd combination and quite honestly I don’t know how it all got started, but its part of the tradition of our Thursday night shows.

My memories of Ruby’s BBQ actually date to before it was Ruby’s, and was a little place called Fajita Flats. If you look carefully at the sign out front, the original name still remains. This was where I had my first real college experience of “hanging out” on campus. I was a senior in high school but had the opportunity to come visit UT for a weekend to get a feel for the dorm and university experience. I stayed at Kinsolving Dorm (which I later lived in) with a drill team friend name Kendra. She was the one who took me up the street (it seemed like such a long distance away) to a place that really did look like a hole in the wall (a little scary for such a suburban girl like myself) and introduced me to fajitas (no, they haven’t been around forever!). I really felt like I had the inside scoop on the college experience and while attending UT, I frequently visited the place, even after it became a BBQ joint.

The beauty of Ruby’s is that it hasn’t changed much over the last 20 years. And, unless you’re in the “cool’ crowd of belly dancers you wouldn’t know that every other Thursday in the fall and spring, groups of belly dancers and socialists gather together to share a bite of food, some stories and many laughs. Now, granted we do sit at separate tables…and you can usually tell us apart (the sparkles and glitter are a dead give away)…but nonetheless it feels like a group experience to me! For those of you who haven’t joined in the fun, just come to a show and come join us afterwards (they even have great vegetarian entrees) and see for yourself.

I'll see you soon

Najla (I can smell the brisket from here!)