San Francisco - here we come!!

from top - Deana Lawman, Carol Buckley, Kelley Beeston,
Kay White, Philippa Moirai, Philippa Watts,
Jesse Stanbridge, Rita de Chadarevian

This is a first - a post before the event has even happened!!

So ..... Ashnah are off to San Francisco in January, to the Mothership - the home of American Tribal Style® created by Carolena Bohlman-Nericcio in the late 1980's.

11 years ago I read about the journey of 2 UK dancers visiting FCBD®, of their experience, and I dreamed of doing the same one day, but never thought I'd ever do it.  Well, here I am ...... along with my lovely Ashnah ladies, counting the days down.

We have a full on schedule - workshops with Carolena and Kristine and performance rehearsals at the FCBD® studio, numerous workshops with Wendy, Anita, Kristine, Carolena, Sandi, Marsha, Kae and Terri at the Homecoming event, sightseeing and not forgetting - performing with Troupe Britannia!!!  There are 7 of us travelling from various parts the of UK and will be performing together at the Homecoming event along with Jesse Stanbridge from FCBD®.

Looking forward to meeting all our American Facebook friends and hopefully our Ariel from Ashnah who returned home for a year!!

Now where's my suitcase ........

Barefoot Hafla, Aylesbury

This party was so chilled and fine – we all had a blast and to top it off, we also bumped into a couple of our Nirzari chicks, Shereen and Lulu, who were there to give everyone the once over!   The location was a brand new larger venue which was well-attended without being overly crowded (which I like).

The programme mainly tribal offered a nice variety.  It showcased Gypsy Caravan, ATS® both improvised and with props (mucho dramatico swords).  There was also a lovely flowy skirt dance (watch out for the really nice photos I managed to take).

Deadre and company, thank you so much for your warm hospitality.

Workshops with Jesse Stanbridge of FCBD®, London

Totally eventful weekend and an absolute blast! Kay and I signed up to the Jesse Stanbridge workshops which Philippa Moirai was hosting and which was tremendous.  Practice, drills, light bulb moments and everything wrapped up in good humour and laughter.  On Saturday, at the end of the afternoon, we all quickly got changed and made our way to Tower Bridge which was the elected backdrop for this year’s London Flash Mob.  The weather was on side and the cast totalled approx 35 dancers.  It was all so uplifting and no one wanted it to end so we decided to carry on across the bridge and rounded off the evening with drinks.

Sunday came around and ended too soon.  It was such a pleasure to see everyone, to hook up with old friends and to finally meet Facebook ones (Marek).  I hope you all made it safely home and I can’t wait to see you again.

Maho Workshop

Back by popular demand, Ashnah had managed to agree with Maho Beaumont an Abingdon stop-over while she was on a mini-European tour. We literally had her for a couple of days and managed to make the best of her time taking her out to Helen Sleiman’s party of the Saturday night but ensuring she had a good night’s sleep before putting her to work on Sunday!  This time around, the two workshops focussed on spins, turns and flipping performances.

A good and productive time was had by all which culminated in tearful goodbyes as Maho was returning home to Japan – sniff sniff!

Helen Sleiman Hafla, Swindon

Dance-wise, our weekend kicked off with an evening hosted by the Sleiman family and fronted by the delightfully unstoppable Helen.  The programme featured showcases from Ceroc to Irish dancing, bellydancing and of course ATS®.

As usual, it was a great opportunity to catch up with everyone for a good ol’ natter – fab times and huge thanks to all the Sleimans!