Raqs Wombourne Show

My feet have finally touched the ground - have been on a high since last weekend.  The show went better than I could ever have hoped for.  I managed to convert the dismal stage at the Community Center into a shimmering showcase (with the help of good friends Maxine and David) - once I had the Moroccan lamps lit it looked very prety indeed.  I was so nervous on the day I thought I would be sick.  Tiredness did not help as we had been dancing at an event the previous night and it was a late night for us and then I did Ozgens workshops - 4 hours of them! which left about 30 minutes to do my make-up, load costumes in the car and go open up for the traders.

Shikidim

Ozgen

Shikidim opened the show with our veil dance and once that was out of the way I started to relax.  Following us we had Rita Williamson who did an improvised Saiidi Stick dance - this was just lovely.  Then came Balliamo who did a joyful group dance.  Holly Bowler was next - I had persuaded her to perform a Reggaeton dance which I saw her perform earlier this year - boy did the audience love this! Holly is a real pleasure to watch.  Shikidim came next performing an Egyptian cabaret dance which went well.  At this point I had to go and change costumes so I missed Maureen Pemberton, Belly Fusion Dance Collective and Pale Empress but I am reliably informed that they were all fabulous and judging from the Zaghareeting they all went down well.  My students performed next and I was enormously proud of them.  Simple costumes and great big smiles was what I asked of them and they gave me so much more.  Next on was Katherine Souter-Caddick who performed Khaleegi in a gorgeous thobe - such a pleasure to see someone perform this style - it added to the diversity of the night.  Shikidim came next with Alabina, we had a bit of a hitch with this dance.  We got on stage and realised that Izzy was not with us.  Her bra broke just before she was due to go on stage! We waited for a little while and then Jan (one of my students) ran on stage to save the day.  However we could not hear the opening bars of the song as so we messed up the beginning of the dance, we did however catch up.  Following us was Safiya who performed a lovely veil dance in a gorgous costume.  Then came Dames Du Serpent - these ladies just blew me away! such grace, elegance and timing.  I did not want their dance to end and was only consoled when Ozgen came on the stage.  What can I say about Ozgen? there are no words to sum up how brilliant this guy is.  He performed Romany Gypsy style and it was just fabulous.

My student group

During the interval nerves started to get the better of me again as my solo was the next act.  Remind me not to do a solo in my next show! I was performing one of Galit Mersands choreographies and I so wanted to do her proud.  I did ok but I forgot some steps in the middle and was not really happy with my performance.  Had to dash of for another cosume change so I missed Ushma Vaiya perfom her Bollywood dance but I am told it was a joy to behold. Also missed Banat Farhanna but again I am told they were fab.  I got back in time to see our lovely Alexis perform.  Have seen Alexis dance many times, she is always fabulous but I think she surpassed herself this time.  It was just beautiful with some lovely little quirky moves.  Next up was Shikidim doing our gypsy dance.  I always love performing this dance and it went down well with the audience.  Then came my students and again they did me proud performing a tribal style dance with zills - it was kind of hard to get so many into the dance space available but I am really pleased with how they perfomed.  Ozlem came next - she looked very lovely in her costume and performed really well.  Shkidim followed with our Tribal dance and again it went well.  Another costume change meant I missed the lovely Bedouin Shiver ladies and Amaris and Debbie Williams but I love the fact that all 3 acts were so different.  Shikidm came next with our Bellybolly fusion dance.  I personally think this was our best dance, the audience seemed to really love it.  I am glad I got to see the fabulous ATS troupe Zazu - they were full of energy and made me smile a lot although they had on the most gorgeous big swirly skirts which kept brushing against my drapes - which were very loosly hung with velcro so I spent the whole time holding my breath in case the lot came down.  Dames Du Serpent performed again and again it was a hypnotic, elegant performance.

  Ozgen closed the show, he appeared in a long black coat with a big cape like train, as he danced it swirled out (again I feared for my drapes) but it looked amazing - he really knows how to add a touch of drama to a performance.  When he removed the coat there was a cheer from every female in the room and he proceeded to captivate us all with his performance - he looked amazing on stage but when he came down to dance in the audience the atmophere was electric.  We had one last bonus performance and this was Ozgen and all the girls who came to his workshop earlier that day performing Kiss Kiss - this was such fun.  the whole of the audience got up and joined in and it was so lovely to see everyone clearly enjoying themselves.

I loved the diversity of my show, each act was different and everyone, from students to the professional dancers danced beautifully, I was so pleased with how it went.  I was very proud of Shikidim who worked incredibly hard, proud of my students and thankful to my husband for making sure the music worked.

I have started planning next years show - please pencil 24th Novmber into your diaries.  Ozgen is coming back - I could not contemplate doing a show without him!  I am looking for some more diverse acts, I have booked a much nicer venue (more car parking you will be pleased to note) and it is going to bigger and posibly even  better.