Giving Thanks

Earlier this year I wrote a blog giving gratitude to the people who have shared their knowledge and inspired me in the belly dance world.  This blog is a thank you to the people who have supported me as a dancer.  My line manager, Tess deserves a mention first - I could not wish for a more supportive manager/friend.  From funding for courses to cups of coffee and long chats - she is great.  Next I have to thank my students.  This is my 8th year of teaching and some of my students have been with me all that time.  Some have moved onto other classes which is great, some have gone on to be very successful teachers and performers themselves and I watch their careers with interest.  Last year I had a lot of students return to my classes which is always lovely.  My students are all different, some are cuddly like me, some are fitness fanatics, some are young some are not so young, some come wanting a night out and a natter with friends, some come prepared to work hard but the thing they have in common is enthusiasm.  A lot of my students have become friends and I am so grateful to them for their support.

I would also like to thank all the other fabulous belly dance teachers who have given me friendship, transport, shared music, invited me to their events, supported my events, and supported me through difficult times.  A special thank you to Jude, Shirley and Neshe it is always lovely to connect with these ladies at events and on Facebook.  Maureen deserves a mention for rekindling my love of belly dance and for the feedback she gives me and Alexis deserves a mention for covering my classes when I was ill.   Finally I would like to thank all the people who support my events.  I have spent the last year working hard to bring quality teachers and performers to Wolverhampton without the support of the local Belly Dance community it would not be possible. Times are hard for everyone at the moment and I know how difficult it can be to find the money and so I am especially grateful that people come to my classes, workshops and show - I try to keep the prices as low as possible and provide good value for money and I have received such great feedback for everything I have organised.  I am so thrilled that so many fabulous dancers are coming to dance at my next show in November, many are travelling from all over the country and I am thanking them in advance.

I will shut up now as this is starting to sound like an Oscar winners speech - I just like people to know that I do appreciate them. xxxxxxx

August update - workshops mainly

Well I say this nearly everytime I come to reflect on the last month but yes.......another busy month.  This month I was mainly busy with workshops.  I am coming up to my 8th year of teaching so it is very important that I update my skills so that I have something new to teach.  This month I did 5 fabulous workshops:-

I travelled to Mancester to attend workshops with Lorna of Cairo.  I don't really like having to travel but she was worth the journey.  She taught us a new way of doing Saiidi - really funky and fun, and she shared some tips of how to dance like an Egyptian - basically don't over dance, listen to the music, and how to engage with the audience.  She also told funny little anecdotes about working in Cairo as a belly dancer - it was a joy to listen to her. 

I also did a tribal class with Donna Gardner - I have always loved to see ATS performed properly and I know how to do the moves but have never known how to do/follow the cues.  I found the class enjoyable but very hard - remembering where your arms should be for all of the moves is tricky when I usually chose my own arm positions - as for the zills....I am rubbish at these.  I know its just practise but I have to confess that I just don't like zills, playing them or hearing them.  Donna made them look very easy and I did enjoy her workshop and would like to explore this style more.

I also had the privilege to host Shafeek.  Oh boy! he was amazing.  He taught a lovely Oriental style workshop and this workshop reminded me of why I took up belly dance in the first place......it was just sheer joy to do.  Shafeek taught a lovely choreography, he was very encouraging and I have to say I have not enjoyed a workshop so much for years.  He then went on to teach a Shaabi workshop.  This was a sold out workshop and so the room was quite full but he made great use of the space available by having us all snake around the room to practise the moves (a useful tip that I shall use).  The choreography he taught was fast and fun and everyone had a great time.  I shall definitely get him back next year.

I was also very honoured to perform in Bex's Carpe Somnium show.  I was very nervous about performing at this show because I am not really a goth girl but I had put together a dark caberet dance and I thought Carpe Somnium would be the ideal place to perform it for the first time.  I invited one of my friends, Anne-Marie to dance it with me, we had to adapt it slightly to make it work for a duet and I spent hours sewing diamante onto my costume.  I am pleased to say the performance went well and we had a lot of positive feedback from some amazing people - its always so nice when people you admire/respect praise you! The rest of the show was great. I really enjoyed watching Bex, Alexis, Tasmin, Belly Fusion Dance Collective and Dawn O'Brien.

August was also the month of my birthday and I organised a meal out with my students.  15 of us went for a curry and it was just lovely sitting chatting to everyone.  When I teach I rarely get time to talk as I am busy, well, teaching! I was struck by how lovely the ladies are who come to my classes.  They currently range from 20 something to 70 something, some slim, some not-so-slim, some fit some with health problems, different ethnicity but all of them are lovely. 

I ended the month with a new venture.  A costuming workshop.  Despite my rather limited sewing skills I am often complimented for the bra's I have decorated and was persuaded to do a workshop.  It was just so nice sitting around a table with lovely ladies chatting as they created their own fabulous bra's.  I don't think it is something I shall repeat but I very much enjoyed doing this workshop - the best bit was shopping for all the fripperies for the goody bags!

I thought next month was going to be quiet but the diary is filling up.  I am working on a new stick dance as I think my old Saiidi dance looks very boring - I know I should not blow my own trumpet but my choreography skills have improved immensely in the last couple of years, I have finally got to grips with how to design a dance for a large group - before I used to just choreograph it as a solo and teach it to the group, but designing a dance for a group is very different.  You have to include lots of changing of positions to make it interesting which is hard to visualise sometimes.I am looking forward to teaching it when my Thursday class resumes on the 20th September.  I am also very excited to be going to a workshop with Aziza - she is one of my favourite dancers and when I heard she was coming to the uk I knew I had to seize the chance to train with her.  I also have tickets to 2 Belly Dance shows, one in Birmingham and one in London.  Exciting!