Nailing The Dance

I've got another video of myself up :D



This was at a hafla last Saturday. I had so much fun that night, it was really enjoyable. I danced in 3 dances - with the class, by myself and in a duet. So it was quite busy with costume changes, but that was good, I think. I didn't have time to work myself up and scare myself.

I've performed to this song 3 times now - oh, the song is "Tribute to Um Koulthoum" by Ahmed Bergaoui. It's off one of the bellydance superstars cds. Both other times I haven't really been happy. The first time, I worked myself into such a state of terror that I forgot everything I had thought of to do, and felt like I did the same move over and over. My confidence issues hadn't quite resolved themselves by that time, I think. The 2nd time, I was quite distracted by some noisy audience members, and while I was happier than last time, I still wasn't completely happy with it. This time, I think that I did as well as I can do at this time. I still watch the video and catch lots of things that could be done better or differently, but I don't think I could do them better or differently right now, and that makes all the difference. My confidence must be fully back :) I can accept that there are some things I'm not happy with, but I'm happy with it overall.

I think I smiled much more in this performance than I usually do, and had more of a range of expressions, and managed to express how that piece of music makes me feel. And I'm getting better at the whole audience-interaction thing. My mum was so surprised at my "flirting" with the audience when I showed her the video. She still thinks I'm a terrified 13 year old, I think. Some days I am still that 13 year old who just wants to hide, but evidently I have other days where I shake my bits at my friends in the audience, lol! :D

So, after 3 goes at this song, I think I've nailed it as well as I can right now. Perhaps I'll try again in a couple of years and see how much I improve over that time. Now to find another song to challenge myself with (actually I have a few ideas, but at least one of them will definitely need choreographed!) :D

Another Video

I'm heading off to Jewel of Yorkshire tomorrow!!

I'm ridiculously excited about this year's JoY. I've been literally counting down the days for the past two weeks! I'm doing workshops with Razia about American Cabaret bellydance, and one called Flawless Floorwork Fundamentals :) I'm also doing workshops in Tribal/Goth make-up, and gothic style Isis Wings. I'm so exicted!!!

Speaking of Isis Wings, I performed at a hafla last Saturday, and have uploaded the video to YouTube. Here it is:



I was dancing to Aziza by Hossam Ramzy. I love dancing with wings to this song, lots of spinny bits :)

The hafla was raising money for Clic Sargent, which is a totally worthy cause. We raised £302, yay!

I've been getting way back into dancing recently. I've been doing it for the past 6/7 years, and I feel right now like I did when I first started. I've got that excitement and enthusiasm about it back! I'll need to write a blog post about that soon. I'll try write some things while I'm at JoY on bits of paper, then post it properly when I get back!

A Video!!

I finally worked up the courage to put a video of me dancing onto the internet (eep!).



I was dancing to Yasmina by Guy Manoukian. This was half choreographed/half improvised. By the second half of the dance I was getting more into the music, which I think helped my dancing a lot.

This was at a local hafla I helped organise - I was in charge of the running order/getting music together etc, as well as helping with general organisation. Tip to myself for next year - start getting info in June (the hafla's in August, I'll need at least that long!!)

It turned out to be a really good night, lots of fantastic dancers, including a couple of people soloing for the first time (I wish I had been that good in my first solo!!!), and we raised £400 for a local charity. :) We're already making plans for next years hafla!