Update On The Hafla

There has been a lot of organising going on to do with the hafla (which is now less than 2 weeks away, eek!). Me, and two friends in particular, have been busy little bees, but we've emlisted help from lots of other people, which has made it much easier.

We've got all of our dancers booked (around 15 acts). This was actually the easy part, just walk up to people at class or wherever and ask "do you want to dance at our hafla?" Worked amazingly well ;) We have a nice mix of new and experienced dancers, which will be good to see. We emhpasised the casualness of the hafla, so that newer people, or people who haven't performed so often, wouldn't feel intimidated. I like to encourage new people to perform. It's good to see different dancers, and I get such a buzz from it myself, that I just want everyone to feel that way :)

We've got a sound system, lights and MC, all from the same source, yay! As we're having the hafla in a church hall, the lighting that is there already isn't great for performances, just flourescent light strips on the ceiling. So we've arranged for some standing lights. Just need to find out where all the plug sockets are in the hall, lol!

We've got an idea of how it's going to be laid out with the tables and chairs etc, and have made sure they're in the hall and available for the night. It's going to be an informal night, bring your own food and drinks, so it's nice to have tables for everyone to sit at, instead of just rows of chairs.

We went to Glasgow last weekend to get raffle prizes, lots of sparklies and goodies! And we've put the word out that we're looking for donations, so hopefully there'll be lots of stuff for people to win.

My friend made up fantastic fliers and tickets! We've been distributing fliers locally, and now the main thing we have to do before the night is sell all the tickets. That seems to be the hardest part in a way, pinning everyone down and getting them to commit to coming, and obtaining their tickets! But there seems to be enthusiasm for it, it's just pinning everyone down, like I said.

The proceeds are all going to a charity run by our dance teacher - confidance for life. It's about encouraging self esteem through dance, and building confidence. Belly dance really is amazing for building confidence, I'm a very, very shy person at heart, but over the past five years, I've really come into my own (if I do say so myself), because I feel more comfortable in my body and myself, and I have a way to express myself now. I'm a bit rubbish at expressing how I feel verbally, so it's wonderful to have a way to do that without having to speak :) And really, five years ago, would I have been so involved in organising anything like this? No, I would not! I'd have been hiding in my room, trying to think of an excuse not to go, because I wouldn't have been able to face all those people. But recently I've had to talk to people to organise things, and it's not been that bad, actually! So, if belly dance has been so good for me, I'd like to encourage other people, and that's why the proceeds are going to this charity.

So yeah, mostly just selling tickets to go. Oh, and we have to get everyone's music off them so we can prepare as much as possible before the night. But the main organising seems to be done. Yay! I'm getting very excited about it now :)