Woman’s Tale of Arabian Nights Was a Thriller : Adventure: A group of dancers who got to Kuwait just ahead of the Iraqi army escaped with the help of royalty.

For three months, 23-year-old Susanne Huffaker of Culver City was treated like royalty by wealthy Kuwaitis and Saudi Arabians while she performed in a chorus line on the island nation of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf.

American naval officers there encouraged the troupe of young women to travel to Kuwait, assuring them rumors of an Iraqi attack were unfounded.

What followed was an escape made possible by both by the Kuwaiti royalty, who were close friends of the dance troupe leader and knew the troupe from Bahrain, and, ironically, by a chance meeting with Saudi Arabian royalty who helped the troupe escape through that country.

The dancers, from all parts of the United States, first became embroiled in the Middle Eastern conflict when they arrived at the home of a 40-year-old Kuwaiti aristocrat Aug. 1. When they awoke the next morning, their Kuwaiti hosts told them the country would be overrun by Iraqi troops within the hour.

“We thought it was a joke, because (the Kuwaitis) were always playing jokes on us,” Huffaker said.

“Everybody thought it was going to blow over in a few days. Nobody thought Saddam (Hussein) crazy enough to keep going with it,” she said.

Huffaker’s parents, Mary Ann and Keith Huffaker of El Toro, said they heard about the Iraqi invasion the morning after their daughter had called to tell them how beautiful Kuwait was.

“I’ve never had anything hit me so hard in my life,” said Mary Ann Huffaker.

The morning of the invasion, the seven young women squeezed themselves and several trunks of costumes into their touring van. With less than a tank of gas, the women and their male Arab driver made a hot, five-hour trip to the Saudi Arabian border, where they were promptly told that unmarried, unescorted women could not enter the country. But a Kuwaiti royal family member who recognized the troupe helped them get past border guards and escape into Saudi Arabia with other members of the royal family.

After a four-day trek, the women reached an urban area but were refused hotel rooms because they were unescorted, Huffaker said. This time, a British family overheard their conversation and introduced them to members of the Saudi Arabian royal family who arranged their hotel stay, as well as a flight out of Saudi Arabia.

Huffaker attributed her escape to the friendship between Kuwaiti royalty and dance troupe leader Gypsy Norton, who has been staging dance shows at Middle Eastern hotels for the past 15 years. The troupe had achieved celebrity status while performing on the tiny Persian Gulf island, the only place in the Middle East where alcohol is legal and Western customs are openly permitted.

“They treated us like movie stars. They would call out our names when they saw us in the street,” the Ohio-born performer said.

After the rescue, the dancers flew on to their next monthlong engagement in Morocco, still fearful that the entire region would be flung into a full-scale war.

“I was miserable, I just wanted to go home,” said Huffaker who returned to her job as a talent agent in Culver City last week. “We all thought great, war will break out and we’ll be stuck dancing in Morocco.”

The last time Huffaker spoke to her Kuwaiti host, he phoned her in Saudi Arabia to tell her that Iraqi troops had stormed his palace and slaughtered some 100 gazelles, buffalo and Arabian horses kept at his home. He and family members have since gone into hiding, Huffaker said. Huffaker’s mother said she was grateful to the Kuwaiti royalty for her daughter’s safe return.

“If they were with anyone else, they would not have got out when they did,” she said.

And although Huffaker said she received several job offers while in the Middle East, she plans to remain in the United States for the time being.

“But I love the Middle East. The people are so friendly. They really go out of their way for you.”