BELLYDANCE HAFLA SHOW

Hello there people, Thanks for all the support. I can finally update my blog now that I & E is over

MY DRUM SOLO

 OUR GROUP BELLYDANCE (JOH TING, KRISTIN, ZELDA)

MY SLOW BELLYDANCE(BELLYDANCER/SNAKECHARMER)

BEHIND THE SCENES- SPECIALLY 4 YOUTUBE FROM JENN

Hello guys, i am updating my blog after such a long time, I had to use my blog to promote our event. So i had to wait till its all over so i can start writing again. And i am glad i can. And now that i can, i am suddenly blank.

This entire Hafla show was for our I & E at school. It was a very tough thing to do. We had been through alot to get this done. For the first time, i had to teach a simple choreography to group of girls in just one week

The group is made of a very cool admin staff called Kristin, a spontaneous lecturer called Joh ting and lastly a classmate of mine, Zelda.  Well only 2 of them in this trio have some idea of what bellydance is. And poor Kristin had to learn from scratch in just one week. Its a very hard thing to do. Even though i was very guilty. Being a perfectionist, i would love to see them all do perfectly. But due to lack of time, i had to make sure they do their best. And they did.

They made it to practise almost everyday. Teaching is not an easy thing to. I appreciate all my dance teachers now. What one person can do effortlessly may not be easy for another. Plus Bellydance is a muscle dance. Its hard to make your student move her own muscles. You can point it to her, hold her and force it. But in the end, only she can move herself. These were some difficulties i faced.

My choreo

I didnt like fusion. Not for Basic bellydance. I do fusion all the time, but i dont know why i decided to stay away from it this time, If you look carefully, the choreo is very very basic bellydance just made to look cute. This is my original choreography and i am proud to say that. I didnt copy it from anywhere. I watched couple of youtube vids and did something simple. The girls cant do very complicated steps.

All of them are in different levels. So i had to simplify without making it look less cute. I played with patterns. I loved patterns ever since i was a child. And you guys wanna know a secret. I didnt even have time to choreograph this in advance before i taught to them. I choreographed this over 5 days. On the spot, i will teach them somethig…then i come back next day and teach them another thing.  That means i just kept adding onto the choreo as i went. Adding more and more until we finished the song.

Originally i wanted to do only 1 minute. But we finished the whole song!!! Its tough. Cos being a perfectioist, i like being ahead of things. And i had no time! But thank god, its sucessfully done.

Women power!

Thats a cheesy title. But i learnt real sisterhood and what is bellydance all about what after this session. I chose to hold hands and shimmy cos it builds confidence and it builds love for this artform. Thats why i never wanted to get paid for teaching. Cos when money rolls in,,,we might love the money more than the passion. You might call me crazy and young. But i rather not mix money with passion

DRUM SOLO

Due to lack of time, i went unchoreographed. You can see my mistakes. I realize that a drum solo is all about recognition of beat. Now i realize wht is beladi and saidi beat all about. And to what rhytmns we can shimmy and to what we cant. So since i had the memory and some vocabulary of dance moves, i mixed it all on the spot and did this.

I played around my clapping to ma audinece. Its something i saw Ariadne doing once. Since my hands is always sloppy, i gaf it some work by clapping.

Also what i liked about expressions was the way i did funny stuff to make them laugh. It lightens up the mood and wipes away anything “Sexual” about the dance. And i haf a sense of humour, so i mixed it up here. I really want people to look at me as a dancer and not look at me sexually. Thats why im careful with my dressing. I chose to cover my stomach with tattoos as well. So much of the attention will be on the dance than on me.

BELLYDANCER /SNAKECHARMER

Lets say….never do a slow dance after a drum solo. It didnt work out too well here. I couldnt transition myself from fast to slow very well. Usually i can dance slow. But here, i cant. Cos i just couldnt. So i need to make a mental note to myself regarding this.

And its hard when you cant see a shadow or a mirror image of urself when dancing. So i had difficulty. Plus going unchoreographed for this was a terrible idea. But strangely enough people liked it. I might go and take up tribal bellydance after egyptian style of bellydance course.

GROUP PERFORMANCE

The ladies did well. And they had fun doing it. They all looked gorgeous. Joh Ting is blessed with easys eyes to work on. And Kristin looked like an Egyptian princess. The silver outfit did match Zelda like i predicted even though she refused to believe me at 1st Tanned skinned people should stick with gold…and lighter toned people should go for silver. Thats why i chose silver for her.

Do you guys wanna know why i looked weak while dancing…

My bra felt like it was gonna drop out. I had protection underneath…but its embarassing still. I mean i dont want to expose my boobs out. (Jenn wld have been happy). Thats why u see me calling jenn after dance…i did adjusted my bra atleast twice in this dance sequence. I have a phobia of losing my clothes while dancing. I hope to God that never happens to me!!! Ameen!

Conclusion

I will take a short break. I want to just dance around for myself with no pressure. I am going to work on more with weight belts. The girls claimed weights helped them. Even though i was not happy giving weights to Zelda. Cos she doesnt have the basic skills yet…and it can b VERY DANGEROUS. Thats why i didnt gif weights to zelda and kristin. Joh ting improved a great deal with weights. She should really buy one. This is why i repeatedly tell dancers that you have to be intermediate level to use weights. I really hope you guys respect my advise.

Future Plans…

I will continue to perform. I will upload them. I am going to finish veil work in one week. And absent minded me LEFT MY VEIL BEHIND IN DANCE CLASS TODAY!!!!! N i hope they still have it. I am getting slightky better in remebering choreography cos i have an amazing teacher who massages us after class

I need to work on veil. I have too little space at home and i end up relying on class time which is very very bad. I need to be more graceful. The more i practise, the better i will be….Hopefully.

Next i will move to drum solo Then i will finally know all my mistakes ive been doing…

After my course… i will continue with advance classes…and plan to take up samba during holidays. After egyptian bellydance, i will join another school for tribal bellydance classes. I want to learn different styles in this artform.

My dream…

I wish to learn Turkish bellydance someday. All the workshops i want to attend keep getting cancelled. I was saving up for them.

Failures are not stop signs they are guide lines

I am not too happy with cam & light assignment grades. Not at all.  I have decided to face reality and dicuss what went wrong. Thats the only way i can learn. But also i am very frightened of my lecturer and i have a weak heart, so if he says smtg bad, i might faint. I hope i get constructive criticism …than destructive criticism. I am bringing my “daughter” ray along for support.  I love cinematography…and small things can cripple your confidence. So i need to know what happened so i can learn from it. Everyone starts out from somehwre… I mean Sergio Leone was a coffeeboy!!

Thats all

Sabreena

BELLYDANCE HAFLA AT NGEE ANN

Hello there

The hafla will be held on 27/06/08 at the atrium on the following time slots.

5pm and 6.30pm

We will have drum solos, drum solo performances, group performance, tribal fusion styles displayed in this event. You can get to learn how much bellydance helped women and men around the world. If you choose to read the blog, you can find out the main eccense of bellydance and its benefits. Unfortunately, there are many misconceptions surrounding this artform and it often mistaken to be a sexual dance form. I hope Singaporean youths will realize the true benefits of this artform through this event. Wish to see all of you there.

Sabreena

Genieshanu & MichelleSonho’s Samba bellydance experiment

Hello there. I have finally uploaded our little experiment. Before i write my usual details i would love  to share with you two good news

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BELADI

Beladi is a male bellydancer who had been trying to promote the masculine side of this artform. I am very proud of him. Its hard to find young people this passionate about something. Beladi had performed couple of times and people have recieved his style warmly. He comes from Spain. God bless you and have a happy birthday. I wish you discover more things and be a better dancer by the day!

bELLYDANCE VIDEOS

Well i hope this more views would help out more people. I once heard of a film where bellydance united many women from the same neighbourhood. I think it was a hongkong film. It was truly inspiring to see how they all united. I had always wanted to do fusion and mix it with another dancer.

Our little experiment

Michelle had been sambaing all her life and lately she had been taking up bellydance lessons. One day she showed me a Karla tem tem video. And from there i wanted to mix samba with bellydance. Brazillian dancers often do that. I did learn samba shimmy before. But i have to tell you it is not quite the same. It adds an interesting touch to samba suddenly in your dance. It can surprise your audience as well. Obviously my Samba is nothing compared to Michelle. She does it really well.

More experiments

The reason why i wanted to do this is because i do not know much dancers locally. And it difficult to find really passionate people who take time mixing art forms. So by luck i met Michelle. And she inspires me as she is from an artistic background. Her father plays percussion as well. I would love to experiment with more people. And you guys can contact me regarding that. Dance is mainly about passion and one has to find the most creative ways to keep igniting that passion.

What i learnt from Michelle

Enthusiasm and expressions is what i learnt from her. I had emphasized body movement and facial expressions so much here on this blog. When i said smile, i meant something from the heart. And you can see that in Michelle. I cant smile like that for nuts. I am such a Grinch . She has that naturally. Dancers are different. If you are going to smile, smile from the heart. And it isnt those seductive type of smile, it is spontaneous and energetic.

Seema’s question on proper bras

When bellydancing or doing any form of exercises, please be reminded to wear a bra in the first place. I know this is a surprising statemnet. But i have come across women who do without one. You would end up with noodles for breasts ten years down the road I know there are many types of bras in the market, push ups, sports etc. Most people suggest a sports bra during practise. I feel thats good. But honestly i dont use a sport’s bra even when performing i avoid the fancy bras like push ups. (I dnt own one in da 1st place ) The main idea is if you are comfortable in one type of a bra, go with it. As long as you are practising with one. 

This applies to costumes as well. Wear one which is comfortable so you cab breathe in it and be yourself!

Dancers and accidents

This is one of the feared things during performance. I have this fear everytime i enter the stage. Once a teacher told me that a performer’s bra dropped off while she was dancing and she was so embarrased by it. I do not perform in bras but i think i can whip up some ideas for it. My 1st costume was made of a cardigan and a bra. But i was very paranoid that i had another normal bra underneath the costume bra. And i secured the strap very carefully so i wont drop it and even if i do i wont be so embarrased. I still had the cardigan underneath.

Apart from costuming, another aspect is safety of your costume. Try practsing with ur costume a night before the performance.

Apart from clothes dropping off, coins or part of the costume can drop off too. If its nothing major keeP dancing. Remeber the show must go on. When coins fall it can be quite a problem, sometimes the coin can cause injuries to your feet. I have seen dancers who continue dancing gracefully despite such embarassments.

Weightbelts

Ive heard many requests again for this one. I am trying to do a totally new one which explains where i keep the weights in my body as i dance. Then again weights are quite dangerous so i hope you guys use it cautiously.

More experiments and requests

I would be uploading a request video soon. And if you would love to experiment pls drop me a email. We can cook up something together