Jewel of Yorkshire, April 2009

Time for my long belated post about Jewel of Yorkshire spring 2009 (it was April 4 and 5, so yeah, more than a little belated), but I've gotten round to it finally!

It was fab! I did 4 workshops, and bought some things. I bought the Sharon Kihara DVD, a DVD with Joe Jakes teaching a tribal drum solo choreography with Issam Houshan (which is fantastic!!!! New favourite dance DVD!), Beats Antique's new cd Collide, Hossam Ramzy cd Sabla Tolo 3, "Pure Punjaabi" cd, and another tabla songs cd. I also got a pair of black dance trousers which have dangly bits at the top with beads on, since I was looking for a pair of black dance pants last October but couldn't find any that I liked. This time I found some, about ten minutes after going into the souk! And five minutes after going into the souk, at the first stall I went to, I was looking through the stall and found a top and skirt costumey thing. (I'll have to get photos). The woman told me it was the sale area and it was £15 less, so I got it. I was her first customer of the day, that's how early I went! And that's it for the buying stuff. :D I swore when I went down I wasn't going to spend much, but I always end up buying tons!

I did 2 workshops with Meissoun, a swiss dancer who taught us Lebanese style dancing in high heels, and a bhangra workshop. She's very exuberant and energetic!!!! I was knackered at the end of both (luckily they were both on different days!). She's funny, and explains everything well, and brings swiss chocolate to her workshops! I hope she comes back next year!!! Lebanese dancing is really interesting (BIIIIG movements, very dramatic, and of course on high heels, which makes level changing easier) She had us doing turns and spins on heels too, which is a big part of Lebanese dance (very dramatic!) Luckily I didn't fall over! I'd seen some Lebanese videos on Youtube, so I knew it was a style I liked, and she taught it really well.

I also did Golden Oldies with Lorna Gow, where she explained the differences and surprising similarities between "vintage" style and "modern" style egyptian and showed us how each style would do different moves. She was fab, as always! She danced really well at the hafla, she was my favourite that night, I think!

And I did Tribe Electronica with Wendy Marlett. She was great too! We did slow spooky combos, and I had to take notes of all of them, cos I iz hopeles at remembering tribal combos!

The hafla where the teachers performed was fantastic. There was Lorna (awesomely inspiring! Every time I watch her dance I have a new apprciation for dancing, and feel totally inspired to improve myself!)

I can't remember her name now, but there was a woman who owns a costume store, and she did a sort of trance style dance with a red veil, which was cool and spooky and fun. Meissoun did a dance which had some of the Lebanese movements and styles in it, and she also did a bollywood dance which was really good. I thought she interpreted it well, it was like I could understand the words, even though they were in another language! Fereshteh did a stick dance, and was really good. Khaled also was really good, he's great at getting the audience going! 400 Roses did a medieval inspired tribal group dance - I loved the costuming, and it was a fun routine to watch. Lulu Sabongi came on at the end and must have gone on for about fifteen minutes! She was so energetic and really good.

It was a fantastic weekend, and I had lots of fun. I've already picked out the classes I want to go to in October, just need to save enough money and send a cheque off! I love going there, I always meet new people, and get inspired in so many different ways. I'm practicing a lot of the technique and moves I learned while I was there in April, that should definitely keep me going till the next one, lol!!