Performance Reel

Meet TarabRaqs—Middle Eastern music and dance ensemble

Since 2004, TarabRaqs has been delighting audiences young and old with the traditional arts of belly dance and live music on ethnic instruments. From the living room to the school gymnasium and the coffee house to the concert stage, TarabRaqs reveals the thrill of travel, the celebration of culture and the excitement of live performance for every audience.
       "It's pronounced "tah rahb rocks," says percussionist and group co-creator Bob Peak.  Combining the Arabic words for ecstasy in music (tarab) and dance (raqs), the group brings together the age-old art of making music and belly dance in the improvisational spirit of the roots of Near Eastern music. They do this through a variety of venues and events...concerts, parties, restaurants, school and library programs, university and club presentations.
      "Our music and dance are from the region known as the crossroads of the east and west.  The traditions are both ancient and new because the spirit of these arts is to improvise…to bring to the performance of the music and the dance what is happening now.  It resonates with us,"  says dancer Jensuya (Jennifer Carpenter-Peak).
      Based in one of America's best small art towns, Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, TarabRaqs is easily accessible to the major eastern seaboard cities such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Richmond.  A short drive to two international airports, and major interstate highways makes viable travel to events further afield.

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