GoLive! 2027 is ON!

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” — Mark Twain

Even before my “Stepping Back” post, I had already been asked by four different people, from various parts of the country, "is GoLive! 2027 actually going to happen?"

Seems like a fair question. I suppose it is a little odd to make the kind of change we made.

And now that I’ve made this whole “2028 Transition Plan” a real thing, the question makes even more sense.

But believe me…

Anything involving live music will be the LAST thing I let go of at the studio.

So yes.

GoLive! 2027 is happening.

I have a lot to share about it—but I’m holding off just a bit because… well… it’s still 17 months away!! 😬

And we’ve got plenty happening before then:

Another Project Band Tripleheader…
And our “non-GoLive” end-of-year show, Project Band Select Showcase, for Project Band dancers here in San Antonio on Sunday, October 4, 2026 (with LIVE MUSIC by Viatorum, Hogg Shedd Band, Ghafour Brothers Band, and special guests…)

But I digress…

Let’s talk about how we got here.

I’ve had Karavan Dance Studio since 1988.

I started producing annual recitals called Give Belly Dance a Chance (GBDAC) in 1995.

Except for the first year, there was always live music involved—because at the time, I was still actively working with musicians in Arab clubs in Houston.

I took a couple of years off from GBDACs (that’s another story), but we held the 25th anniversary recital in 2021.

Over time, the presence of live music kept growing—especially after I formed (2013) and then formalized (2017) Project Band, Karavan’s year-long, live music-based dance improvisation program 

Which, by the way, is still the best idea I’ve ever had. 😉

In 2022, the annual show, GBDAC, evolved into GoLive!

Michael Ibrahim (of National Arab Orchestra fame) came on as my production partner, and the event became a full weekend of Arab music and dance improvisation training and performance.

We had GoLive! in 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.

And then something interesting happened.

GoLive! grew—fast.

And it started to feel… a little at odds with Project Band.

(That’s several other stories…)

Project Band is the heartbeat of my studio.

It’s WHY I’m still dancing.

And it feels very much like the culmination of my life’s work.

But GoLive!—like GBDAC before it—is still, at its core, a recital experience for Project Band dancers.

Some performers are professionals. Many are not.
Some want to be professionals. Most do not.

And I found myself getting defensive.

Trying to explain Project Band to other teachers and dancers over breakfast… between workshops… in passing conversations…

It was frustrating.

I’ve been dancing for over 50 years.

Improvising to live music publicly for more than 30.

I KNOW what we’re doing in Project Band is not the typical path of progression for dancers in this genre; nor is it how dancers usually learn to improvise (if they ever do... yet another story).

And I’m completely okay with that.

But trying to compress a year-long process into a weekend explanation?

Not so much.

It’s a year-long program for a reason.

And I now have 13 years of experience with it. And I wholeheartedly believe in it as a method for getting comfortable with improvising, for organically growing a dancer’s vocabulary and for deepening a dancer’s relationship to music.

I’m also very appreciative of the curiosity of other dancers. But—having lived in my Project Band bubble for so long and having never produced a large event—I hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be to get my head around integrating Project Band principles into a weekend long/multiple teacher format.

At the end of the day…

I do want dancers—ALL dancers—to experience what we do at GoLive!

Because it is powerful. It is seriously and positively impactful!

Live music in every show.
Live music in every workshop.
Direct access to both professional dancers AND professional musicians. To hear about the music we love and how we can better relate to it.

There really isn’t anything else like it.

So instead of forcing the two ideas to coexist in a way that didn’t feel right…

Rather than continuing to try to reconcile the key principles and inherent ‘recital’ needs of my Project Band creation with what needs to be done to promote what can’t help but be perceived as “yet another festival among many”...

I hit the brakes.

Michael and I made the decision to move GoLive! to an every-other-year format.

So we can:

• Keep the focus on Project Band as the foundation
• Be more intentional about how GoLive! grows
• And give me space to focus on what actually matters in the off years

In those off years (like 2026), our end-of-year showcase goes back to being smaller…

More focused…

And fully centered on Karavan students and the Project Band program.

So here’s the bottom line:

📅 GoLive! 2027 is happening
September 30 – October 3, 2027

And when I tell you what we’re planning…

You’re going to want to be there.

I’ll share more in the next couple of weeks.

And actually… this is probably a good place to say this—

We’ll be opening registration for Project Band and GoLive! earlier than usual this year.

As in… July.
During the Intensive. 😳

I’m still wrapping my head around that.

Because that means the next cycle isn’t some distant thing.

It’s… basically here.

Anyway.

More on that soon.

💌
— Karen