Splash of Pink

Ashnah and Zoku joined forces for this local fundraiser in aid of Breast Cancer.  The good weather ensured a great turn out and the programme featured the likes of Mr Hemmings Morris Dancers, The Flying Aces Street dancers, The Strawberry Fayre Majorettes, and of course yours truly.  In attendance were Micky and Minnie Mouse and we even had storm troopers dropping in and they were on the very bestest behaviour! 

Our local Oxfordshire firemen were also there and we of course couldn’t miss the opportunity of having photos taken with them. Congratulations to Masons for winning first prize in the shop window competition!

Oasis Workshop in Devon & Respect Festival in Exeter

Ashnah have been attending the Oasis workshops in Devon for a while now, but this particular weekend was special because we were staying on to join up with Kalash and some of their students at the Respect Festival in Exeter. Also joining were Jacqui Spiers, Jo Taylor, our darlings Shereen and Angela of Nirzari, Jane and Steve Lawler (musicians fantabulousos!) and Carol Buckley and all 13 of us most certainly were one heck of a colourful sight to behold!

Our allotted performance was on stage under a marquis and our audience was wonderfully receptive.  We then found ourselves a too good to be missed space next to djembe drummers and did an impromptu 15 or so minutes so all in all, we had heavenly weather, beautiful crowds, terrific company and an absolutely glorious weekend!  Thank you all, thank you Kelley and Kalashies - let’s do it again sometime xx

Workshop at Swerford

Kay was invited to teach a workshop to a group of yoga ladies in the lovely village of Swerford in the Cotswolds hills in Oxfordshire.  It was their annual holistic get together, and this years event included yoga, massage along with my taster workshop and an amazing feast of vegetarian foods all home cooked, which I was invited to join.



Thank you for inviting me to join in your celebrations.

Jan's Bellyspa Weekend

My destination was Torquay for a fun-filled bellydance weekend where I was also teaching a Level 1 two 2-hour workshops on Sunday.  I don't recall being away from our Ashnah girls for so long .... but with the hotel being so beautifully situated by the sea, I didn't give them any further thought!!

I knew most of the teachers from my lovely hostess Jan Piggott to the star name of the weekend, Nawarra, who's an absolute doll!!  The numbers were manageable and made for a cozy weekend where people quite quickly got acquainted to some degree with everyone.

My workshop went smoothly and I discovered in Heike Humphries a model student who became very helpful - vielen dank Heike!  All in all, I had a great time reconnecting with some (Yvette Cowles, Heike Humphries) and making new acquaintances.

Thank you Jan for the invitation!

Wallingford Bunkfest

Esme, Shereen, Pips, Lulu, Kay, Cat

Singing is part of this number

Shereen, Angela and Lulu

Kaleidoscope came together for that event, a favourite with everyone especially as we’re joined by the inimitable Oxford Drum Troupe.  While on the one hand it was our lovely Cat's first at Wallingford, it was our Ariel’s temporary farewell gig – she’s gone back home for a
year leaving us all in countdown mode!  Huge thanks to Jenny for the organization and thanks to the lovely hubby of Shereen, Thurstan, we have a huge selection of photos to choose from!

Ashnah & Nirzari as Kaleidoscope and Oxford Drum Troupe

The Summer Oxford Fair

This event held in the beautiful venue of The Fishes inn in North Hinksey was Ashnah’s second venture there, hardly surprising really as it’s such a complete, perfectly packaged event from the beautiful setting, to the pub’s welcoming team, the food that is a feast to both eyes and stomach and of course the gardens which double as a fab landscape for both the displaying artists and their exhibits (paintings, silks, jewellery, and pottery) and for us in all our glorious fineries using the space for performing.

Albert with mummy and his Princesses!

Our day was made more perfect through the acquaintance of our latest and youngest fan, a darling cherub of 3 with the peachiest skin called Albert.  That boy was so Zen and polite and even tempered and had the good sense of calling us his princesses (quite right too).  He fell in love with my fan and in return for his charms, he joined us for lunch where we treated him to fish and chips!  A simply perfect day.

Linslade Canal Festival

I’m blogging about a worthy contender to the runner-up spot to Ashnah’s favourite festival at Wallingford, a brand new destination for us in Linslade, Bedfordshire - the Tindenfoot Waterside Park, a picturesque rural setting by a lake.   At first appearance, we thought the event was contained within the field we could see; were it not that we had to perform on another stage, we’d never have wandered off the obvious path and discovered stalls upon stalls which promoted everything from eclectic foods, to environmental pursuits and various arts and crafts, all running alongside a beautiful lake.

Alongside our performances, Kay and I held a couple of workshops and bumped into a student of ours Jade who was game enough to join in (thanks Jade)!   The weather was mercifully kind to us, the organisation second to none and our lovely hostess Linda Wallis was very helpful.  One last comment, this was one family and dog friendly event so take note for next year ; o)