We were casually glancing at the Sunday New York Times over a late dinner last evening when this photo caught the corner of our eye from the obituary page:

We looked a little further and saw that the deceased was from Portland. Her name was Elinor Friedberg. She was a dancer and a singer, who died at age 41.

When we got up to the blog desk, we hopped on the intertubes and looked around a while to learn more about her. Her specialty was belly dance, which she performed under the name Sharita, and she took it places it probably hadn't gone before. Would you believe Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" done as a belly dance?

With a little further browsing we discovered that a five-year battle with breast cancer was her demise. She was a member of the Bach Cantata Choir, and for that group she arranged a piece of Edward Elgar's, which was well received. Here she was taking her bows the day it was performed:

We never got to know Elinor, as Sharita or otherwise, but from all appearances she was a special person in our midst -- brilliant and funny and full of life. Her husband says she loved publicity, and so here's another few thousands eyes, Sharita. Condolences to her loved ones.