Swindon Shimmyers, 19th March 2011

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Sue Bickell and her ladies hosted their second hafla in Swindon in aid of Prospect Hospice which raised a whopping £476.50 woo hoo!!! Well done ladies. The programme was pretty eclectic and the likes of Tracy Jones and Helen Sleiman who came with their students, flew the flag for traditional Egyptian and before you ask, yes they strutted their own stuff beautifully! I couldn’t possibly name everyone who performed, but the lovely Luisa Taylor also took to the floor and unashamedly worked it, the Malmsbury girls showed us how fusion should be performed whilst us Ashnah gals danced our Sassy Chicks number once again followed by an American Tribal Style number in which we incorporated pairs, trios, chorus and anything else that seemed to just form in this unchoreographed number J The evening ended with everyone taking to the dance floor to the tunes of Abba and Saturday Night Fever, so overall a tremendous success!!!

Majma, Glastonbury March 2011

I’m back from Majma 2011. The Lady Raheesha beckoned and I went as along our gracious hostess, Hossam & Serena Ramzy were heading the cast of top notch teachers. I also signed up to Katie Holland’s Samba-belly (and what a workshop to kick off the day after the night before!). I followed that class with a Rumba Flamenca one headed by the grande dame herself, the lovely Valerie Romanin and what an absolute joy that turned out to be! Having rubbed shoulders with the great and the good and witnessing such first rate performances where the dancer became an instrument reflecting the music, came the time for the amateurs to showcase and tread the light fantastic. I suppose you reap what you sow and I have a way to go!! I had such a wonderful and fulfilling weekend and oh yes – I bought a dress, Courtesy of the lovely Meena – yippee!

Report by Rita

Nikki Livermore’s Winter Wonderland hafla - Saturday 29 January 2011

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Langdale Hall was once again the venue for Nikki’s Winter Wonderland and this year’s programme provided a nice variety.. Our hostess, the glamorous Nikki was as usual light of foot and cheeky and wonderfully supported by John Sleiman – she even had the opportunity to showcase her earlier Samba workshop with some of her pupils; ever effacing, she hit the floor in gold lame hot pants and bra, crowning her outfit with green and yellow feathers! Other exponents of traditional Egyptian were Dodo Pratt, Helen Sleiman and after a spell, yours truly! The cheeky Louisa strutted her melaya dance with a decided, dare I say, almost natural abundance of “get up and go” and well.. bagged and left with Gary!!!! Group-wise, Isisters and Hazzaz’s invasion was as colourful and as enthusiastic as ever infusing the hall at large with much enthusiasm and joyful mayhem. The Ashnah girls took the opportunity of wearing our much loved corsets and feathers along other Victoriana paraphernalia to perform our sassy chicks’ dance. Of note of course was our gorgeous Hannah (with brand new hair style) making her debut – yippee! Loreley Rice’s Ngoum el Leyl rounded off a most enjoyable evening with the multi-prop production of Pharaonic Odyssey.

report by Rita