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!!

Phew! It all went well! :D

Thank you for the good luck wishes with my performance! I'm sure it must have worked, because it went quite well, better than I thought it would! :D

I listened to the song all Saturday, and then in the car on my ipod all the way to the venue, and eventually came up with a sort of plan for the song. Not so much a choreography as a sort of outline of what each part sounded like, and then some moves that I could put in. So long as I listened hard to what part of the song I was at, I'd be fine :) So of course, I got carried away dancing, didn't I, and lost where I was in the song during the 3rd minute! Luckily, the song I chose (Aziza by Hossam Ramzy) has very distinct parts to it, so I was soon back at a place I recognised, and could pick it up from there. I suppose it's a good sign that I got carried away, it means that listening to the song all day did something!

The hafla was great! There were a lot of different types of acts on this year. Me and my friend did Bollywood as well, and there were a few other Bollywood and Bollywood inspired acts. There was a tribal fan dance, a sword dance, a hip hop fusion piece, a couple of acts used veils, a dark tribal solo piece and a dance where the person wore a mask (this was their first solo piece, and it was amazing!) All the acts were fantastic, and watching them helped me forget that I was on at the end. In fact, I could have gone on all night watching them! :D It was a really fun night, and it was good to see some people from other classes that I haven't seen in a while.

I've kind of been away from the blog and ravelry for a little while (it's only a few days, but I'm normally so obsessed that it seems like forever!) I have discovered the deeper aspects of Flickr..... Yep, I am fast becoming obsessed with that too! I upgraded my account to pro, and have been uploading and joining groups, and I discovered the explore page as well, which can suck time like nothing else!

I have been knitting and crocheting, a pair of socks and the Icelandic turtleneck pullover from the crochet me book respectively. I finished a couple of scarves, which I will blog about soon, even if I have to block myself from Flickr! And I'll be going round everyone's blog now, cos good though Flickr is, I've missed you all! :D

Stuff I've done recently (imaginative title!)

Knitting news. I've finished the front or back of the Blackcurrant Ice Cream top. I need to block it before I knit any more though cos I'm a bit worried it's going to be too tight. I held it up to me and it looks like it's the right length, and it'll go on if I make it that size, but it seems a bit clingy just now. So a-blocking I will go, and I hope it goes well, cos if not it means I need to go a-frogging too.

Today I also really need to sew in a zip. I've been putting off sewing in this zip for months, and I don't know why. The actual object has been sewed up for ages, I'm just really crap at sewing things, I prefer knitting them. But I'll definitely sew it in today, then tomorrow I'll have some exciting pictures to put up. There, I need to do it now, cos I've said so in public. Another thing this blog will be good for - getting me to actually do stuff.

On Saturday I went to my dancing classes - they were all excellent. Bollywood was really hard, I missed last week, and she crams so many moves into one lesson. I really need the practice time in between classes otherwise there's just no way I would get any of it.

I also went to a hafla in Tayport. I'm not sure about the etiquette of posting pictures of real people on the net so I'm not going to. Better safe than sorry, I don't want anyone getting annoyed at me for plastering their face all over the net. So you'll have to make do with my description instead. It was a small-ish hafla, with just a few performances. But there was a great atmosphere. Sometimes smaller haflas are good for that. Big ones can be a bit colder sometimes, not so much mixing of people. But this one was really good. The performers were all great, it looked like they were having so much fun. There was a buffet too (Food! always a good thing!). Yum! All in all, it was a great night, and I had a lot of fun.

Sorry about the lack of pictures today, I'll try post more tomorrow. Now off to block! (Ooh, I hope it goes well!)

A bit about dance . . .

I thought I'd write a little about my dancing today, as my camera has run out of battery power and I can't take any pictures of knitting. I wish I could, I just learned how to crochet and am making a crochet wave blanket, inspired by yarnstorm's blankets. In fact, it's the same pattern, but I'll write about it tomorrow. I'll have to get some batteries!

I've been belly dancing now for 2 1/2 years. I go to a class on Thursdays, and another on Saturday. On Saturday I also go to American Tribal Style and Bollywood classes. I've totally got the dancing bug, I'm obsessed with it! My teachers are really good, and the classes are always interesting and fun. I go to workshops when I can, I've been to workshops by Lorna Gow (I also went to one of her classes before she went to Cairo, and she's amazing! I learned so much from just one term with her!), Fareshteh (not sure if I've spelled that right), and Khaled.

What I love about belly dance is that it's so suited for the female form. Any woman can do it, you don't have to be stick thin like a ballerina, and it really shows off the curves and attitude of a woman. Every woman dances differently, I've seen this in my classes, and their personality really comes through in the dance. We're all doing the same moves, but it can look so different. It's great for body image, because it is so suited for the female form. I've heard people saying it helped with recovery from eating disorders, and I know it's definitely increased my own confidence! Also, I love performing, and the belly dance 'scene' gives plenty of opportunity to do that, with lots of haflas where people get together and dance. The other dancers are so supportive and accepting as well. I never realised really how much I love performing (I always just thought of it as showing off before), but it's such a great feeling dancing for (and with!) other people. It's really opened up a whole other side to my personality that was hidden before!

Tribal is more about dancing in a group. It's mostly improvised on the night, one dancer leads and the others follow by reading her signals. This is definitely a dance for improving confidence! It's nerve-racking dancing in front of the group, having to remember moves, and signals, and make up the moves that are coming up next, all in the same moment! But it's great fun, and the people who do tribal are REALLY friendly and supportive. It seems to attract the type of person who works well in a group. I suppose in order to dance it, you have to be that type of person really. It's good practice for me, I'm quite shy and am not usually good in groups!

Bollywood! That class is sooo energetic and exciting. Lots of jumping, moving, and hand movements! Our teacher teaches us a dance every term, and it's so fast-paced, and fun!

I think I'm improving in my dancing. I still have a hell of a lot to learn, and much confidence to build up before I'll be anywhere near good, but it's very inspiring going to classes and workshops and learning new things. This is really just an overview about my dancing, there's so much more I could say, and I'm sure I will as this blog goes on.