On Saturday 17th September WADA hosted its first Club Cairo event held at Centre Stage, Queens Road, Bournemouth.
The evening’s entertainment started with an improvised piece by the fabulous award winning troupe Divaz, their performance certainly set the mood for a fun filled evening.
We were then treated to the infectious energy of Nawarra, performing with a shamadan and shaabi capturing the audience with her absolute joy of dancing.
Next up was the creative talent of Dawn O’Brien performing cyberfusion. Her use of music and costume made for a dramatic and extremely compelling performance.
Rebecca Blachford’s first dance was an Egyptian pop number followed by a drum solo. Her fantastic choice of music and costume delivered a performance that was a pleasure to watch.
The remarkable Fereshteh skilfully presented a beautiful oriental performance full of exquisite musicality and jaw dropping shimmies resulting in an enchanting command over the audience.
Bex Priest – Miss Belly dance UK Fusion 2011 winner then performed a gothic fusion dance. Her high standard of dramatic and rich movement coupled with the energy she brings to the piece ensured another quality performance.
Organiser and hostess with the mostess Shona Hagan, wrapped the first half up when she thrilled the audience by performing a vibrant Baladi/ Shaabi improvisation that was full of fun.

The Quality of entertainment continued into the second half of the show with the inspirational Tracey Jones getting things underway with a breath taking, free flowing improvisation full of feeling, performed to ‘Kamel El Awsaf’.
Rebecca Blatchford followed with a passa doble and rumba fusion. Her classy black and red costume sparkled as much as her personality, which lead the audience on a toe tapping – hand clapping performance.
Bex Priest’s Trick or Treat was most certainly a treat! Her skilled dancing and theatrical use of costume delivered yet another spellbinding performance.
Fereshteh then followed with a fun, high energy performance that was full of wow moments. She complimented a beautiful modern short skirt costume with the fabulous track ‘Aktr El Men-Dounia’
It was then the turn of Dawn O’Brien who mixed edgy moves with vintage charm to create a beautifully contrasting performance from that of the first half.
Last but by no means least was the Brilliant Nawarra who performed an amazing Saidi, touching the whole audience with her extraordinary charm and talent. Not only is she an incredible dancer but also an amazing entertainer. She followed this by a high energy Moroccan Shaabi that got everyone in the party mood.

It was then our turn to boogie the night away to a fantastic mix of Arabic tunes.
I really enjoyed the evening not only because of the amazing and beautiful dancing, but also for the variety of styles, music and the amazing atmosphere created by everyone having the best time ever!
Well done and a huge thank you to all of those involved in creating such a high quality event.

Bookings and Enquires available through Erica Hemming erica.illustrator@btinternet.com

OR via Paypal at http://www.wiltshirebellydance.com/workshop.html

YOU CAN ALSO EXPECT WONDERFUL DANCE PERFORMANCES FROM SOME HIGH LEVEL ACHIEVERS AND THEIR HARD WORKING ADVANCED STUDENTS!!

ONLINE BOOKINGS NOW OPEN HERE:

http://www.wiltshirebellydance.com/events.html

Satuday 7th May 12.30 – 3.30pm – Route 2 Fitness Centre, Devizes, SN10 2EU

Live DRUM SOLO technique with Awesome Tabla player, Kinzy!

Esmaooni – Combinations from Tracey and interpretation with lyrical/ Egyptian overview from Kinzy!

A little bit about these classes:

These NEW advanced classes are workshops within themselves and I started them to satisfy the demand from a handful of my own students who now want to push themselves to the next level and from my own desire to push them and my own learning path as a teacher.

I wanted to give ‘added value’ to this higher level of learning and so have offered dancers that regularly attend, an opportunity to study with assistance and mentoring, each month I provide them with written/ practical homework that is devised to enrich and refine their dance journeys. There are not any exams or certificates, and it is not essential to complete the studies, however they provide an extra learning opportunity and ask questions that dancers might not necessarily ask of themselves.

The first class was extremely popular and many dancers joined up which was very inspiring.  Not everyone can always make every month, or take advantage of the personal mentoring scheme and so some will take them as one off workshops -  so spaces are not necessarily all taken- and as with all courses/ classes one expects fluctuations in attendance.

The next class will be VERY exciting as we will have a Tabla player from Egypt working with me during the class.  He has been in the country for about 6 months and speaks very good English.  Recently he moved to London and is now in hot demand at belly dance classes and parties everywhere!!

He is a very exciting Tabla player (I kid you NOT!) – I was introduced to Kinzy via Rabia Abotaleb (REDA troupe 1960′s).  He will be staying with me all week and drumming in both my weekly classes (3rd &5th) and our class night out on the Wednesday!

For the Advanced class/ workshop on 7th – we will be working on drum solo technique with live drumming! – working with a drummer – structure – progression – bringing in the audience – and also to ENJOY the wonderful opportunity.

AND we will work on “Esmaooni” a wonderful and popular song with the Egyptians.  utilising our Egyptian drummer to help us interpret the song in an authentic Egyptian way!!  – working with the lyrics RIGHT IN THE MOMENT and conveying the right build up.. (bring note books!).

NOT ONE TO BE MISSED!! – However due to the nature of the class NUMBERS WILL BE STRICTLY LIMITED to ensure that attendees get a quality learning experience and first refusal will be given to the dancers who have already attended the advanced class on 16th April, as many of them will be taking advantage of my personal mentoring scheme involving homework and home study and this class will be vital to this scheme.

Please contact me if you are interested in attending and I will place you on a list and will confirm your place within the next week or two. 

Additional ~ Those of you who know me will know that I work with musicians whenever and however possible, and this includes live drumming from my regular drummer Dave who accompanies my weekly classes in Devizes and also the last Advanced class, on 16th April.  I have always done this and have a lot of experience of working with drummers, an improvised drum solo (of me dancing with the Feret el Negum band in Egypt can be seen here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUM_c73PhsI – oh happy days!) and I have always worked with Chas Whitaker and have two pieces here:- In 2006 (before my accident) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQMt_FPQcBo and in 2009 (after my accident): http://www.youtube.com/user/joyusdancer?blend=20&ob=5#p/u/0/0iMo5eMNkWE

In my regularly determined way I have found a great drummer which I JUST HAVE to share with my lovely dance students (and friends!).  Hopefully not the only workshop I will do with him! Inshallah…

Best wishes,

TRACEY x

This class has been running for 2 years now and has a regular following.  You are free to attend a workshop as a one off, subject to space being available, but regular attendance gives the best results.

Work hard, learn loads,

Classes are dynamic and constantly changing reflecting Shona’s own continual dance education but will always include

Technique drills and body conditioning
styles ie khaleegi, saidi, baladi, oriental, melaya leff etc
musical interpretation i.e. rythyms, styles and instruments and how to dance to them
performance technique creating stage presence

drum solo technique/interpretation
combinations at advanced level
improvisational skills
Posture, poses and arms

Price £30. for four hours in small classso lots of personal attention, In a great new venue I have found with air conditioned mirrored dance studio. Plenty of free onsite parking.

15th May 2011 1pm-5pm
Parkwood Health and Fitness
London Rd
Salisbury
SP1 3YI

To book or for more information, contact shona@aol.com or 07772420478   xxx

Béatrice Grognard divides her time between Europe, Cairo and Brussels where, in 1998, she founded the “Tarab, School of Theatrical Dances of Egypt”. Throughout Europe and in Egypt, she passes on the spirit and technique of traditional female dances and offers regular workshops in England, Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain and Finland.

Trained as an archaeologist, Béatrice has always had true passion about arts and dance. Since 1991, Beatrice has devoted herself exclusively to dance and choreography and, thanks to her tremendous enthusiasm, has dedicated herself to defending the beauty and the authenticity of traditional Egyptian dances.

 Her quest today is directly linked to her original interest in archaeology: to bring forward Egyptian dance and the music of the past, redefine their boundaries and breath new life into them with theatricality introduced on stage, therefore ensuring them new life and a future. During her frequent trips to Egypt, Béatrice travels to many towns and villages in search of traditional music and movements.

 As a complete, graceful, dignified artistic discipline, the theatrical dance of Egypt is a refined and complex art standing apart its “orientalised” alternatives prevalent over the last decades.  Whether on the stage or through her teaching, the work of Béatrice can be compared with that on flamenco several decades ago:  how to breathe life back into a universe of dance which has been forgotten and misinterpreted, how to preserve the quintessential nature of the dances of Egypt whilst infusing them with a rich and refreshing modernity at the same time.

Diane and Ellie are committed to providing economical workshops for the benefit of dancers in the South West. We believe that Beatrice offers a different and unique interpretation of Egyptian dance. What’s more she is incredible fun to learn with! These workshsops are general level and even if you have not studied with her before you will be very welcome.

A wonderful opportunity to train with a very knowledgeable and talented dance artist! – This is a WADA Event so members get money off their booking!! – bookings available online with paypal on the website here: http://www.wada.org.uk/events.html.

Tara and Shafeek Ibrahim run the amazing Arabian Dance Theatre show, which embraces the dances of all Arab nations.  The last show “Unity in Diversity” showcased 3 DIFFERENT styles of Khaleegy! – Therefore we have asked Tara to teach a workshop that will empart some of their hard earned knowledge to us!

Tara is renowned for her precise and varied drum solo technique and is guaranteed to be an interesting and challenging fun workshop.

She is an excellent teacher, who freely imparts her knowledge.

NUMBERS are limited as venue is not huge – book early to avoid disappointment!

For the many ladies who come to my weekly classes (and for those who cannot make weekly classes) – a regular monthly class where the emphasis is on tailor made mentoring.

Concentrating on all aspects of Solo Arab dance performance, we will cover month by month all that is required to become a confident and well armed solo performer.

Class numbers are STRICTLY LIMITED due to the nature of the mentoring.  Book in advance to secure your place.