Bellydance update
It's been a while since I've posted, and I know I've been woefully lax about it. I've been a very busy bunny of late. However, here you go!
As you may have guessed, I've returned to bellydance classes, after a few prods from a particular lwa, and I can honestly say that I've not regretted it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I've missed it pretty badly. Anyway, I'm back, and I'm learning and relearning lots, with a fantastic teacher who holds a class locally. I've been going since December-January, and have already been to one of her two yearly haflas this year. I've been to a couple of her halloween ones which are always great fun, and I often wished I could go to her classes, but I've not been to any of her spring haflas before. Totally good fun, great performances and a lovely, lovely feel to the atmosphere.
However, before that, I had the opportunity to attend Majma, with huge thanks to a good bellydance friend who couldn't make it. Until this year, I'd not even heard of Majma before, so it came as a bit of a shock to me as to quite how big a dance weekend it was. It's based in Glastonbury, which is now becoming a familiar location to me, following my having been there quite a few times for various different events and workshops, and the class locations are dotted all around the place. I was a bit stuck cashwise at the time, so I booked the cheapest possible place, The Backpackers, and opted to share a dorm with 9 other women, all unknown to me. (That was a fun experience, and with one shower between the ten of us, it could have been a lot worse. Thankfully it was fine!)
Getting there wasn't a problem, as my bellydance teacher and her mother were also going, so we headed over early on the Friday, and had a picnic lunch halfway up the Tor - I'd forgotten quite how high it was, and how magnificent the views are from there - before finding our lodgings and settling in. I also stopped briefly at the Botanica to say hello to a couple of my friends there.
Once settled, and refreshed, we headed over to St Dunstan's school to register for the weekend, have a snoop around the bazaar, and go to the first of the weekend's shows. I fell foul of a secondhand Indian dark blue, almost blue black skirt, with gold edging and sequins carefully dotted about it, like stars in a night sky. I have a purpose in mind for it, and at £13 for the skirt and matching veil, it was a real bargain. Then it was onto the show.
The dancing was great. It began with a hula dance, followed by an Indian dance, and then...well, it wasn't until the end of the first half that we actually saw what we classed as bellydance! There were also two superb Fat Chance bellydance peformances, one in each half, which I found lovely, but sadly I also found two performances too much in one show, as it felt very much a repeat.
We didn't stay for too much dancing, as we wanted to make the most of the following day and the workshops. I'm glad about that, it was a very full day.
The first workshop was at 9.30am, and was a gruelling ATS warmup (I'm sorry, but I really can't get my left leg around my right ear yet!) with Samantha Emanuel. The workshop was great, and I learned a lot from it but I've not done much ATS and it felt somewhat complex and balletic. Also, must work on learning to turn and spot properly.
The second was one I was gagging to attend, as it was on a style I've desperately wanted to try out as soon as I'd heard of it. Khaleeji with Tara Ibrahim. It was glorious, I felt like coming home when using my hair in dancing. She taught us some of one of her routines that's on YouTube, and I loved every minute of it.
The third was a very useful workshop by Tracey Jones (formerly Pye) - she was the UK's bellydance champion back in 2007 and lost her lower right leg in a terrible motorbike accident shortly afterwards. Fantastic woman. She taught us a series of poses, and it was a great workshop, culminating in a good solid stretch out at the end.
The three of us, myself, my tutor and her mother, went for a delicious and well earned meal (complete with banoffee pie dessert) and a couple of glasses of wine afterwards, before heading over to the evening show and following disco. It was a fantastic show, with a number of the tutors performing, including Samantha - she's astounding, and performed the most glorious dying swan style dance ever. Also fell in love with Nawarra, who performed twice.
I mention Nawarra because that's who was teaching my Sunday morning workshop - Tunisian dance. All about twisting, it was a solid, gruelling workshop, with much fun and passion for the traditional folkloric dances, and I now have the delight of going to a couple of workshops on 7th April in South Wales, being run by her, and arranged by my tutor. I've opted for the Tunisian again, because I can do with brushing up on my techniques and there was one step I didn't quite get, and Saiidi, as it's been far too long since I've done any stick work. I'm really looking forward to that.
Finally, I attended a rhythm workshop on the Sunday, which was invaluable, as it taught me a lot about the various styles and rhythms of the styles, and Chas Whittaker had us drumming the various rhythms out. I'm also glad it wasn't a dance workshop because I was utterly shattered by then!
We headed home shortly after our last workshops, tired, but our heads humming with the info that we'd gained over the weekend. I can honestly say it was one of the best ways of learning and ramping up my enthusiasm for it by a good few notches.
As you may have guessed, I've returned to bellydance classes, after a few prods from a particular lwa, and I can honestly say that I've not regretted it. In fact, I'd go so far as to say I've missed it pretty badly. Anyway, I'm back, and I'm learning and relearning lots, with a fantastic teacher who holds a class locally. I've been going since December-January, and have already been to one of her two yearly haflas this year. I've been to a couple of her halloween ones which are always great fun, and I often wished I could go to her classes, but I've not been to any of her spring haflas before. Totally good fun, great performances and a lovely, lovely feel to the atmosphere.
However, before that, I had the opportunity to attend Majma, with huge thanks to a good bellydance friend who couldn't make it. Until this year, I'd not even heard of Majma before, so it came as a bit of a shock to me as to quite how big a dance weekend it was. It's based in Glastonbury, which is now becoming a familiar location to me, following my having been there quite a few times for various different events and workshops, and the class locations are dotted all around the place. I was a bit stuck cashwise at the time, so I booked the cheapest possible place, The Backpackers, and opted to share a dorm with 9 other women, all unknown to me. (That was a fun experience, and with one shower between the ten of us, it could have been a lot worse. Thankfully it was fine!)
Getting there wasn't a problem, as my bellydance teacher and her mother were also going, so we headed over early on the Friday, and had a picnic lunch halfway up the Tor - I'd forgotten quite how high it was, and how magnificent the views are from there - before finding our lodgings and settling in. I also stopped briefly at the Botanica to say hello to a couple of my friends there.
Once settled, and refreshed, we headed over to St Dunstan's school to register for the weekend, have a snoop around the bazaar, and go to the first of the weekend's shows. I fell foul of a secondhand Indian dark blue, almost blue black skirt, with gold edging and sequins carefully dotted about it, like stars in a night sky. I have a purpose in mind for it, and at £13 for the skirt and matching veil, it was a real bargain. Then it was onto the show.
The dancing was great. It began with a hula dance, followed by an Indian dance, and then...well, it wasn't until the end of the first half that we actually saw what we classed as bellydance! There were also two superb Fat Chance bellydance peformances, one in each half, which I found lovely, but sadly I also found two performances too much in one show, as it felt very much a repeat.
We didn't stay for too much dancing, as we wanted to make the most of the following day and the workshops. I'm glad about that, it was a very full day.
The first workshop was at 9.30am, and was a gruelling ATS warmup (I'm sorry, but I really can't get my left leg around my right ear yet!) with Samantha Emanuel. The workshop was great, and I learned a lot from it but I've not done much ATS and it felt somewhat complex and balletic. Also, must work on learning to turn and spot properly.
The second was one I was gagging to attend, as it was on a style I've desperately wanted to try out as soon as I'd heard of it. Khaleeji with Tara Ibrahim. It was glorious, I felt like coming home when using my hair in dancing. She taught us some of one of her routines that's on YouTube, and I loved every minute of it.
The third was a very useful workshop by Tracey Jones (formerly Pye) - she was the UK's bellydance champion back in 2007 and lost her lower right leg in a terrible motorbike accident shortly afterwards. Fantastic woman. She taught us a series of poses, and it was a great workshop, culminating in a good solid stretch out at the end.
The three of us, myself, my tutor and her mother, went for a delicious and well earned meal (complete with banoffee pie dessert) and a couple of glasses of wine afterwards, before heading over to the evening show and following disco. It was a fantastic show, with a number of the tutors performing, including Samantha - she's astounding, and performed the most glorious dying swan style dance ever. Also fell in love with Nawarra, who performed twice.
I mention Nawarra because that's who was teaching my Sunday morning workshop - Tunisian dance. All about twisting, it was a solid, gruelling workshop, with much fun and passion for the traditional folkloric dances, and I now have the delight of going to a couple of workshops on 7th April in South Wales, being run by her, and arranged by my tutor. I've opted for the Tunisian again, because I can do with brushing up on my techniques and there was one step I didn't quite get, and Saiidi, as it's been far too long since I've done any stick work. I'm really looking forward to that.
Finally, I attended a rhythm workshop on the Sunday, which was invaluable, as it taught me a lot about the various styles and rhythms of the styles, and Chas Whittaker had us drumming the various rhythms out. I'm also glad it wasn't a dance workshop because I was utterly shattered by then!
We headed home shortly after our last workshops, tired, but our heads humming with the info that we'd gained over the weekend. I can honestly say it was one of the best ways of learning and ramping up my enthusiasm for it by a good few notches.