RaqsBritannia2008

Sunday Open Stage

2008-06-27T05:10:00.000-07:00

After Suhaila’s workshop, I had to get back to the hotel to shower, pack, get changed and get back round for the Sunday Open Stage!

I was tired.

I arrived about 1145, just in time to see a I had met on the previous day called Romy. What a lovely . I’m sure she said she was auditioning for the BDSS that weekend. Anyway, here she was dancing with Isis wings to that lovely song ‘I Believe I Can Fly’. It was beautiful.

Raheesha came on next. She organises the Majma festival in Glastonbury. She did a lovely (little bit spooky) Gypsy inspired dance. Hafsa danced next (of E-Twisted Newsletter). She has a lovely way of shimmying – tiny little sparkling shimmies.

The Hoop Guy came on next! He was here last year, but this time, he was dressed for the stage! He was running a drop-in workshop in a room off the main ballroom which was popular. He was followed by a dancer called Melissa who I really liked. She was fast and energetic and had a style all of her own. Melissa was followed by a dancer from Argentina who had a costume which featured white fur (not real, I’m sure!). She did a Tango fusion. She could dance – no doubt about that, but I felt I wanted to see her do either Bellydance or the Tango! This particular fusion didn’t quite work for me.

A dancer called Flame followed the Tango fusion – it was her first solo performance. She has only been dancing for 18 moths and comes from East Lothian. She danced to some great music featuring the Mizmar as I remember which was lovely to listen to. Flame is a lady who has come to Bellydancing later on in life. She was an inspiration. Flame was followed by Suleika from Romania, a very dainty style.

Celia Buchan teaches in Peebles as I ‘m sure you know, and she had three students performing this weekend! The first was Sophie with her Tribal Fusion, which Celia must have been very proud of. The other two are Tigerlily and Mimosa. They dance together in trios and duets. One of these really stood out for me: it was a comedy duet with Tigerlily and Sophie. This shows what they can do onstage as well as dance. They were terrific! Tigerlily also auditioned for the BDSS that weekend. She’s a talented !

Do you remember Kerry from Tribal London? Polstar Photography took some lovely shots of her in her top hat.

Well, here she is again dancing a tribal fusion piece for us to a spooky little song. She has a lot of charisma.

We had robots too by the way! I suspect Dawn O’Brien was under there somewhere….

The other dancer who stood out for me today was Elleran from Israel. He did a lovely dance and it was great to see a man taking part.

The show closed with an enormous troupe from Blackpool called simply The Blackpool Bellydancers. They filled the stage with colour and movement and closed the event with a bang.

All throughout the weekend’s open stage, Anne Kingston seemed to do all the introductions. It must have added up to hours and hours of work. Thanks Anne!

A heck of a lot of preparation and sweat went into this event and I only experienced a tiny bit of it. Thanks to all who made it possible, thanks for my weekend and thanks for reading my blog!

See you next year!

Annette McCann

Suhaila's Drill that Kill!

2008-06-27T04:17:00.001-07:00

These workshops start so early, you can’t get breakfast! The guys who run ’Raffles’ hotel, the place I was staying, gave me a bacon roll to eat on the way round! Bless them!

Suhaila Salimpour, in case you’re new to the name, is daughter of Jamila Salimpour, who, with her dance troupe Bal Anat, inspired the Tribal dance movement on the west coast of America all those years ago. She developed the format to teach Bellydance in a classroom setting, which we all take as the norm nowadays, so she has been incredibly influential. Suhaila is carrying on with developing teaching techniques and is famous for her drills. I have heard other teachers refer to Suhaila’s drills including Aziza and Rachel Brice. So here I was to try it for myself!

She drilled us alright…. One or two of the other students looked at me and said “Have you ever had a Suhaila workshop before?” This question was accompanied by a look of grim resignation…… and when I said “No” I could just about hear Mozart’s Funeral March! ….Dang Dang da Dang…..

I quickly discovered what was so strange about her Shimmy the night before – she uses glute squeezes instead. This means your legs, and other muscles besides, are freed up. To make glute squeezes look like shimmies takes a lot of doing though.

So, she had us, in partners, going round the room, arms straight up, doing glute squeezes and a bellyroll at the same time. It was exhausting, and we had to keep in neat formation as well as everything else. My partner Mel provided a very reassuring presence! And for a couple of seconds here and there, I got it! I did try hard, and by the end of the class, I was dripping. Myself, personally, I believe in drilling. In order to get a movement into the muscle memory, you have to do it over and over. Simple as that. In my other life, I play the piano, and believe me, it works.

Suhaila talked about all sorts of other things, including her mother and her achievements. She spoke about her hard work as a child and how she developed her unique approach. She’s very proud of being a second generation bellydancer. I bought a little book which was a copy of a hand-written book by her mother, just listing all the oriental dance moves, illustrated by her drawings.

The Saturday Night Show

2008-06-27T03:20:00.000-07:00

First of all, I wasn’t permitted to take any photos! However, the Bellydance Superstars’ show was as fab as ever. They put on a razzamatazz Las Vegas style American show; glamorous, entertaining, glossy and slick. Now that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but there is place for most, I reckon. It was very entertaining and the costumes were fabulous. Jillina did her dance on the Tabla with Issam which was great fun and Petit Jamilla did her incredible spinning routine. They work so hard these girls. Their fans adore them and treat them like pop stars!

The dancers from the BDSS troupe who stood out for me this time were Bozenka and Sam Hasthorpe, who is British actually. (I think she comes from Devon). She was really good and has that star quality that draws the eye. The only thing I can’t quite get used to is Oriental and Tribal dancers appearing together on the same stage. It looks strange. You know at the end of a pantomime where everyone descends the steps for the finale, the goodies and the baddies appearing together and spoiling some sort of an illusion built up during the story? It’s just a tiny bit like that for me.

Now – the guests. Normally I rely on my photos for who comes in what order, and I haven’t got photos to refer to and I can’t remember! So let’s start with Sophie Mei. She is the ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ Bellydancer who made such a splash on the telly recently. She did a very energetic routine which was received with a great deal of cheering. She’s quite a celebrity!

Fahtiem. (I saw her dance at the Bellydance Congress last year). She is a seasoned professional of long standing in the States and is a popular teacher. She is glamorous and wore a lovely costume and regaled us with her side-ways bellyrolls! What a virtuosa!

Morocco did a lovely sagat dance in a beautiful dress. I was sitting near the front, so could actually hear the Sagat, which was great. It was quite a thrill to see her dance. She’s a legend. (See previous post – lunch with a legend).

Suhaila Salimpour: Wow. I have never seen Suhaila in the flesh before. (I lent a Suhaila DVD to someone who never gave it to me back and I forgot to take a note of who they were…). So this was quite an experience. She came on in a simple black dress; absolutely nothing fancy, presenting a large, dark and powerful presence and “acknowledged” the audience. She gestured to us in a rather unusual way. She extended her hand and looked as if she was dipping it into a bowl of cherries and taking a fistful in a deliberate, almost greedy sort of way. It was like she was taking what she wanted from us without fear or deference. Very powerful and a wee bit aggressive I thought, but it wasn’t a negative experience, I was just waiting to see what she was going to do next! The music playing was heavy rock as I remember, and she started up a powerful shimmy, which she kept up throughout the entire piece. I can’t really call it a dance, because she didn’t dance as such, she represented this dark heavy music in a physical way, which certainly didn’t involve much in the way of girly hip drops!

As I was watching her, I couldn’t quite work out this shimmy though. There was something a bit different about it. Of course, the following morning, at her workshop (Drills that Kill) all became clear, and I wished I had seen her perform after the workshop. I liked her performance. It was different, very different. After that, she did a little dance with her daughter which was really cute.

We went through to the Empress Ballroom again to watch Natacha Atlas. (Here’s a photo of Kelly and her Glasgow chums). I watched Natacha sing one number which was great. What a voice she has. There were lots of people dancing. I thought I would go back to the hotel early-ish as I had Suhaila’s workshop at 8.30am the following morning. So I went back to the hotel and had a few drinks with our lovely Barman Phil, (who can be seen drinking MY Gin Sling!) and some of the other guests. Not such an early night after all!

Next post: The Suhaila Workshop experience!

Out and About around the Winter Gardens

2008-06-27T02:07:00.000-07:00

My camera is now back in action again (after having to get a disposable!) and here are a few photos of Morocco with Issam Houshan, Tribe of Kismet and Fahtiem.

There was a new stall which I hadn’t seen before called ‘Whispering Eyes’ which had some lovely things. I was just on my way over and bumped into Sophie Mei (the 'Britain's Got Talent' Bellydancer, as interviewed in June Bellydance News) with her lovely boyfriend Lawrence!

Next post: The Show everyone is waiting for….

Open Stage / Saturday Matinee

2008-06-27T01:45:00.000-07:00

When I arrived, the Sahara Roses came on with a routine to ‘Fever’ as sung by Veronica (above). This was a Burlesque inspired routine complete with fab costumes. Veronica has a seriously good voice! Nellie, a dancer (inspired by Asmahan) from Athens danced for us and she was followed by Samsara, a duet from the Philippines and Japan! They showed Indian classical influences in their dance. Then we had Kat, a pupil of Amelia Barlow dancing to ‘Friend Like Me’ from the Disney cartoon, Aladdin.

Next up were a troupe from the North East of Scotland called Phoenix. They were a burlesque troupe in black velvet evening dresses and long gloves with large white feather fans. They were dancing to ‘Black Velvet’ by Allanah Myles. It shouldn’t have worked – Allanah Myles, American mid west, stirrups and raunchy leather chaps, at a Bellydance festival?? – but it did, for me. The troupe went through their routine gently with an even gaze, using their fans to good effect. They looked confident, serene and dignified. The whole thing was quite mesmerizing!

Alison from Wales! How adorable was she? A wee girl, aged nine, danced a four minute routine with veil! Brave or what? She was there with her Mum who I’m sure is very proud! So look out for Alison from Wales in the future! (I did ask her Mum Sylvia for permission to display this photo).

I had to leave at that point and take Morocco for lunch, but dashed back to catch some more Open Stage (or was it the Brits Matinee? Not sure). It’s 3.30pm now, the Souk is very busy and the Empress Ballroom is buzzing!

As took my seat this time, Tribe of Kismet were doing a Sagat dance to Ra Ra Rasputin! which was very entertaining. Caroline Afifi followed wearing a beautiful yellow gown. She is one of the founding members of the Liverpool Arts Festival, http://www.arabicartsfestival.co.uk/ where Raksan of Berlin is appearing in July! Caroline tours with her shows from time to time – the latest one of which is ‘Sabrine’.

The show closed at this point, with the finale of the Tarab Dance Company’s show ‘Strictly Bellydance’ with Desiree the horse, which weaved it’s way amongst the audience and eventually getting up on the stage. It was such a lot of fun. I would love to catch that show one of these days.

Another sashay round the souk I think…..

Lunch With a Legend!

2008-06-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

Now who in this business hasn’t heard of Morocco? She has been mentioned in all manner of books on the subject of Eastern/Oriental/Folkloric dance and even popped up as herself in a novel ‘Snake Hips’ by Anne Thomas Soffee.

As well as having danced for 48 years, (and says she’s still learning!) she has also been studying, documenting and recording an enormous amount of material for posterity over those years. She speaks several languages, teaches, gives workshops and seminars all over the world as well as at her own school in New York. Morocco came to Middle Eastern dance through Flamenco, which she discovered evolved from Middle Eastern dance, a dance form which spoke to her in greater depth than anything she had experienced until then. Morocco is a lady in her sixties now, and there is nothing much she doesn’t know about this dance and its culture, just have a look at her website www.casbahdance.org She looks great by the way – she has beautiful skin which she puts down to no smoking, only a very little alcohol and lots of dancing.

When I saw her listed on the Raqs Britannia poster as a teacher, I was quite surprised. I wondered how she would fit into an event dominated by the Oriental Fusion style of the Bellydance Superstars. So I asked her! She said she goes back a few years with Miles Copeland, and if he wants to bring Oriental dance to the attention of a wider audience, and it’s good dance, and not presented as any more than Oriental fusion, and provides good theatre, then she’s all for it. She says what she has a problem with is an oriental fantasy presented as authentic Middle Eastern dance. She mentioned a problem she had with early Californian tribal which was being presented as authentic when there was never a tribe anywhere that she had seen dancing like that, and she’s been traveling the Maghreb and the Levant for years. So she referred to it as such when they referred to ‘California Tribal’. Carolina Nericchio started up ‘American Tribal’ a little later, which again, was fine. She says she loves good fusion and loves ATS. She loves anything as long as it is presented with technique and presented honestly. She said that if you go into fusion, you must know all about the dance forms being fused. She says any dance form is like learning a language with all the vocabulary available in that language for expression and the interpretation of the music. “Fusion should be good fusion, not confusion! You can’t put fish in a beef stew. That’s not good theatre.” she says.

Morocco loved the Friday night show (featuring the UK teachers) which she said was excellent. She bumped into Amel Tafsout while checking in at the Blackpool hotel, whom she knows and has worked with and speaks very highly of. This was a stroke of luck for Morocco as Amel was only dancing at the event through chance. I asked Morocco what she thought of Ozgen (who made a bit of a splash that night). She said he’s an excellent dancer but the rope and the bare chest were a bit of a distraction! She mentioned the dancer Tarik Sultan, whom she has taught and worked with a lot over the years and said it used to be much more difficult for men, as they had to partner a woman to get work, but now that men can work solo, they often elicit the sort of behaviour which would never be tolerated if the dancer was a woman ie wolf whistling etc. I guess that put me in my place, but I thought Ozgen’s performance was deliberately sexual, although Morocco disagreed at that point, but that, to me, is where the difference lies.

To go back to Tarik though: Morocco said that he has been the focus of a lot of sexism over the years, in that people have refused to teach him, saying that Oriental Dance is a woman’s dance. “Excuse me folks, this is a folk dance!” she said. She reminded me that in the post colonial years, a woman dancing alone fed and supported a fantasy of harem girls etc, but before that, it was not a womans’ dance, it was a peoples’ dance. “At weddings for instance, the men are up there twitching tails as much the women as it’s a folk dance and men are folks! and it’s supposed to be fun!” she said.

Sexism does get Morocco’s goat though and she told me that years ago when she first applied to law school, they suggested that as she is female, she might be better applying to be a legal secretary! Eventually, she did neither, but says being what she is now is a lot more fun! Not so lucrative perhaps, but a lot more fun.

Morocco tells some wonderful stories and anecdotes which you will hear if you go to any of her workshops. (I have attended five so far). She says she likes to entertain as she teaches as she reckons it helps people to remember and retain the information. In 1970, Morocco was hired to give a lecture at the Museum of Natural History in New York. She delivered her lecture, in a suitably professorial manner and she said the snores drowned out the music! So the next time she lectured, she gave the same information in a more anecdotal way and there was cheering instead. She worked regularly at the museum for twenty five years which convinced her that her new approach was the way to go. At this point, Morocco recalled the late Dr Paul Monty who she said fought to raise the profile of Middle Eastern dance, inventing and promoting the concept of ‘Master teacher’ seminars in Oriental dance. Realising that this wonderful, complicated, classical ethnic dance form was being given very short shrift by the rest of the dance and art world, he determined to set the record straight. As vice president of the main chapter of the National Association of Dance Affiliate Artists, and president of its four-day dance seminars for teachers, he engaged a Mideastern dance teacher for their dance event. The organisation tried to have him fired as a result accusing him of employing a "belly dancer" to teach real dancers! But he dug in his heels and won. They came to scoff and went away praising. Over a hundred teachers attended, when the usual attendance had been twenty to thirty. Seeing the amount of interest, he decided to try his hand at producing Mideastern dance seminars and the rest is history.

Morocco has a four-day seminar coming up from the 1^st – 4^th August on the subject of North African Folkloric dance, and in January, she has a week long on Oriental/Folkloric dance, both taking place at her school in the centre of New York City. She recently did the choreography for the film ‘Whatever Lola Wants’ which is about a New York postal worker who travels to Egypt to take belly dancing lessons from a legendary instructor! Right up our street! It was only released a few weeks ago – look out for it!

Morocco has just about seen it all, been there and got the T-Shirt, so I asked her if she is considering writing a book about her life. (I mean, for goodness sake, she was born at the side of a road in Transylvania whilst her family was fleeing the Nazis in a car during the second world war – and that’s only the very start!). She says she is writing a book, but not about her life. She is writing about the dance. She is in the process of organising all her med-list posts, which she has been keeping over the years, into book form, but it will be a lot of work. After that book though, she said she would love to write a murder mystery where the only thing that won’t be true will be the murder! Everything else will be true, except that names which will be changed to protect the guilty! What a great idea! She let out a rather naughty guffaw at that stage…..!

Morocco has many interests in life and is very keenly aware of politics. She has plenty to say about the current situations worldwide, but that’s another story and this post is getting longer and longer! “Hey! If I had been able to keep my mouth shut, I would have taken over the world!” she said.

I asked Morocco whether she has any plans to retire and the reply was “I didn’t learn all this to keep it in the vault!” When Morocco first started, it didn’t really matter if you could or couldn’t dance, as long as you had a fancy costume, you were on! She said that then, if Godzilla had a Bedlah, she would have got the job! Nowadays, she says, the entry level is much, much higher. The standards have risen considerably, and Morocco loves teaching. She said that when she started, she had no idea how much joy she would receive from teaching. Morocco was lucky enough to learn “in culture” and learned from older immigrants to America, whose children and grand children just wanted to wear baseball caps and be “American”, but the older members of the families were anxious to speak about the “old country” as their stories and dances were more precious to them now than they had ever been at home. Morocco was eager to learn and loved to listen and now loves passing it all on to us! Long may she continue to do so!

By this time, we had been talking for quite some time and Morocco was beginning to look a little tired. We had lunched at her hotel, and she was keen to rest upstairs before performing at night. A weekend residential can be a tiring business, but when you are traveling over time zones, conducting two hour workshops and performing, it can be exhausting. So I left her to chill out. Our lunch was a pleasure and a privilege, and I hope to see her again sometime.

Saturday Morning out and about in Blackpool

2008-06-18T04:12:00.000-07:00

Up early and out and about to take some photos. My digital camera was playing up so I had to go round to Boots and get a couple of disposables. I’m going to have to get a new one I reckon…..

Anyway, it was a nice opportunity to have a look at Blackpool again. I was sitting fiddling with the said camera on a bench in the sun, underneath the Tower and got into conversation with an elderly couple next to me. (I would talk to a dog with a hat on as they say in Glasgow). They are regulars in Blackpool and have seen it’s various ups and downs. They thought they had seen a change for the better on this visit which was encouraging.

I went down to the Promenade (very breezy!) and met two s from Switzerland. I had never seen them before, but knew they were here for Raqs Britannia. Have you ever experienced that? You go to a major festival, and outside on the pavements and in the shops, you know exactly who your fellow bellydancers are, even in their ordinary everyday clothes.

Simone and Michelle came all the way from Zurich especially! They had come down to look at the sea where we fell into conversation. I wonder if they think that the whole of the UK looks like Blackpool??

I didn't bump into them again - I hope they enjoyed themselves.

Next post - Lunch with a Legend! Coming shortly....

The Friday Brit Show Part 2

2008-06-18T03:53:00.000-07:00

Now. Raqs Macabre. Mad or what. Christine Emery and troupe performed their Ghoul fusion for us. (That’s just my name for it by the way). I loved it. It was wicked and funny. Think Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance with more humour. Shafeek came on for us next with a solo piece. He looked so handsome in a royal blue costume with gold sash. Then we had Edinburgh’s own Fereshteh! (above left) who knocked everyone as ever. She has been winning awards all over the world recently. Keep your eyes on Bellydance News for more!

Ozgen. Wow. I had seen him on You Tube, but never in the flesh until now. My goodness me, weren’t we in a flutter! The audience until then had been polite, well behaved, but with the introduction of a very y set from Ozgen, all the women in the audience squealed like piggies! What a racket! …Or was it just me??...

I was sitting in the middle at the front, and it seemed as if Ozgen was dancing just for me, which I found a little bit overwhelming actually. At one point, I had a horrible feeling he could read my thoughts….! As some Bellydancers come on brandishing a veil, he came on brandishing a rope. Yes, a rope, which he offered in no uncertain terms. (Saucy restraint I imagine. ..I was imagining all right…). I thought to myself well, not normally matey, but this time hmm….

Now don’t give me a hard time for not taking photos. I’m afraid I forgot all about my camera, I was in a bit of a fluster! However, click on this link and you can see him on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACZ1ZmNk-aI&feature=related and you get the idea, although nothing I have seen on You Tube does him justice. He’s a force of nature.

Oh he was dancing by the way! and yes, boy, can he dance!

After that, we had a lovely piece from Leyla Jouvana (above right) and her husband Roland on drums. Leyla is great fun and flirted with Roland no end.

It was a great night.

The Friday Brit Show! Part 1

2008-06-18T03:07:00.000-07:00

The Friday Show at Raqs Britannia is the time when the UK talent gets to show off! The Friday Show was in the Empress Ballroom this year. (Last year it was in the Spanish Hall as I remember). This meant that the audience was a bit spread out and the atmosphere was diluted, making it difficult for the dancers to ‘hold the space’. This is a huge hall, with the Souk going on around and although I preferred last years’ venue, I got a fantastic seat! My chums Maureen and Chrissie saved me a seat right at the front! Result!

The show was presented by Tracey Gibbs again, who was raffling the most outrageous Melaya Leff dress which had once been worn by Dina. (The person who won it is going to auction it at another festival – JoY I think – please correct me if I am wrong).

The performances were all fantastic – a real treat. One or two I must mention: Shafeek and Tara were incredibly entertaining: they’re generous performers who give everything. Hilary Thacker gave a more traditional set using her Sagat, unaccompanied. Kay Taylor danced an oriental set which was great because I’ve only ever seen her dance at Ford Castle! She appeared later on in the weekend with Tarab performing the finale from Strictly Bellydance. Keep an eye on www.tarabdance.com or have a look at a lovely trailer for the show on YouTube http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=hPQXW3oTV6o

Wendy Marlatt, a favourite with so many, danced a tribal fusion piece. She was followed (if I remember rightly) by Michelle Pender. Michelle had her stall at the event as well: Whirling Dervish. I got myself some jewelry and hair decorations for a costume I’m trying to put together at her stall. Last year, I did Michelle’s Burlesque workshop which inspired a troupe to perform at the Open Stage this year!

Amel Tafsout danced too which was a coup, as she just happened to be in the country at the time, and Tracey and team persuaded her to dance. She is coming for the weekend to Stirling do workshops this weekend! If you are interested, email Warda on warda.fb@virgin.net for a booking form.

Last year, I think I mentioned Dawn O’Brien who danced at the Open Stage with a Cyber Fusion piece. This time, she was just as adventurous coming on doing cartwheels and performing a piece which spoke of the darker side of fairground entertainment. That’s what it said to me anyway! I saw Frederique David doing something a bit like it at the Bellydance Congress last year. Anne Kingston (also of Tarab) danced after that, wearing a lovely leopard skin inspired dress which she looked lovely in. Someone came up to the stage to photograph her, and literally without missing a beat, she was there at the edge of the stage, just for him. What a professional. (I had lunch with the legendary Morocco the next day, and she said how much she had enjoyed Anne’s performance. She also liked Raqs Macabre and Ozgen!).

Jillina’s Oum Kalthoum Workshop

2008-06-17T06:17:00.000-07:00

A quick dash round the Souk was followed by an even quicker dash along to the Baronial Hall for Jillina’s workshop on the subject of Oum Kalthoum.

If you are not familiar with the name Oum Kalthoum, she was a singer in Egypt from the 1930’s to the 1970’s. (You will see her name spelt in all sorts of ways by the way). She was considered the face and voice of Egypt and saw it through some difficult times. Her Thursday evening radio concerts literally cleared the streets and when she died, millions of people joined her funeral cortege. Her songs were about the universal themes of love, longing and loss. They were nothing short of epic in scale, with durations measured in hours rather than minutes. A typical Oum Kalthoum concert consisted of the performance of two or three songs over a period of three to six hours. I have spoken to people (one of whom was Miles Copeland) who saw her perform and they told of incredibly moving songs, just sung over and over again in response to ovation after ovation. If you want to find out more, there is an enormous amount about her on the internet.

Anyway, can you imagine dancing to Oum Kalthoum? Well, only very special dancers can do it. Jillina was saying that it was Suhair Zaki who took the first step. She was taking a huge risk, which luckily paid off. This workshop offered students like myself the opportunity and the permission just to have a bash at it, just a wee taster.

The song we studied was (a short one!) ‘Darat El Ayam’. As well as a great deal of talking about it, we learned a short choreography. (This was where I wobbled a bit – I can never remember more than three steps at a time, but I pushed on and for a few seconds here and there managed bits and pieces of it).

There were some really good dancers in that class, many from overseas. I spoke to one who had come from a town just outside Rome who was a big Jillina fan.

Jillina at first glance, looks quite slight, but when you see her in action in class, you realise she is actually quite muscular and she executes each movement, step and turn to the max, extending her energy right to the end of her fingertips. This is the third workshop I have attended with her.

Jillina talked at length about being “in the music” and trying to project these powerful emotions. This skill doesn’t come easily to us Scots (at will!!), so it’s always a challenge. It was a great class though with comprehensive hand-outs including the lyrics of the song, an outline of Oum Kalthoum’s life and the choreography itself.

For an interview with Jillina, (Artistic Director of the Bellydance Superstars), see June issue Bellydance News.

The Raqs Britannia Souk!

2008-06-17T04:18:00.001-07:00

As soon as I arrived, I checked into my hotel (Raffles Hotel, Hornby Road). It’s a smashing wee place – you get treated like royalty. This is the second time I have stayed with them, and just two minutes dash round to the Winter Gardens. So I dashed round to register and just had time to sashay along to the Empress Ballroom just to get my bearings and have a quick look round the Souk to see what was on the go!

There were all sorts of traders including Farida Dance (I bought a lovely costume from them a few months ago online. See http://www.faridadance.com/farida_souk.htm), Khaled at Karnak Crafts from Selby in Yorkshire was there again (see photo) with all sorts of lovely things: http://www.karnakraft.com and Michelle Pender had her Whirling Dervish stall with the most gorgeous jewelry stand – see photo.

Edwin and Irene from Aladdins Cave were there with a large stall: costuming and loads of music. Have a rummage on their online shop: http://www.aladdinscave.com/ The Bellydance Superstars had their stall in the front hall with classwear, jewellry music and DVDs. There was Tribe Zuza (they have a very comprehensive website by the way - http://www.tribezuza-bellydancing.co.uk/). There were the ladies with their glamerous Ashara Bazaar dresses. They are a company from the Midlands who make their own gorgeous creations.

Right by the front door though was Eve Morris with her artwork stall. I first met Eve at Fantasia a couple of years ago – her carsd are lovely. Have you seen them? Have a look at http://www.evemorriscards.co.uk/ I stocked up as it’s difficult to get cards featuring Bellydancers. For those in the Edinburgh area though, Hilary Thacker stocks them at her shop Hilary’s Bazaar in George IVth Bridge.

As well as all the costuming, class wear and jewellry on sale, there were some lovely Moroccan lamps, sheepskin rugs, basket ware and props from Saiidi sticks to veiled fans. There was also a ‘Beauty Zone’ offering therapies for dancers in need of pampering, and all this in the one place!

Bright, Breezy, Cheery, Cheap and a little Tacky...

2008-06-16T04:45:00.001-07:00

Well here we are in Blackpool again! It seems only a couple of months ago since I was here last!

What does Blackpool have to offer this year (apart from Raqs Britannia of course)? There seems to be a lively variety of shows to suit all tastes from King Creole to Ricky Tomlinson! I see a lot of glamorous looking posters for a show called ‘Forbidden’ which boasts of being the biggest most lavish dance production ever staged at The Globe at the Pleasure Beach. From what the posters suggest, there seems to be an element of Burlesque there. It’s on from May to November. There is also traditional seaside entertainment on offer such as Punch and Judy and Matinee Music Hall (nice to see that term surviving!) and Sunday afternoon talent shows.

Otherwise, Blackpool is as it always has been; breezy, cheery, cheap, cheerful, tacky, noisy and not for those requiring high-brow entertainment! My Dad used to be the resident musical director here at one time, and I’m kind of used to it and know what to expect. I have fond memories of the odd lunch at Roberts Oyster Rooms and after-show jam sessions at the Galleon Club.

When people discovered cheap package holidays, Blackpool suffered and has looked a bit down at heel ever since, but now there are signs of a bit of new investment, which is long overdue.

Another thing Blackpool has to offer is the people – everyone is SO friendly!

From a punters point of view, the performance accommodation at the Winter Gardens seems to suit the Raqs Britannia event perfectly with everything all in the one place and plenty of room. You’d be hard pressed to beat the Empress Ballroom anywhere!

We're Off to Blackpool Again!

2008-06-12T03:17:00.000-07:00

It's Raqs Britannia time again! and we're off to Blackpool to see and learn from the Bellydance Superstars as well as the cream of UK teaching talent.

Keep an eye on this blog - I'lll be pitching up at the Winter Gardens on Friday 13th of June. The dance festival will be going on all weekend, and I'll relay back as much as possible in the way of impressions, descriptions, information and photos.

I've booked workshops with Jillina and Suhaila, I've asked Morocco for an interview for Bellydance News (see right), and I'll be watching as much of the Open Stage as possible. (I love the Open Stage - it's just so interesting to see what everyone else is getting up to!).

When I get back home on the Monday, I'll write it up bit by bit (I can't stretch to a laptop as yet I'm afraid) and it will unfold over the following couple of days.

I've just been speaking to Jillina who I am interviewing for Bellydance News, which is a pdf e-mag, issued every month. The interview will appear in the next issue.

You can subscribe to Bellydance News on www.bellydanceclub.co.uk Next issue (issue number 30) will be out on Monday 2nd June. It's only a tenner a year for twelve issues. Give it a go!

Watch this space!