Serendipity weekend (Kalash), Devon

What a stupendous time Kay and I had in Tavistock!  Serendipity took place in the appropriately named Mount Kelly’s Boarding School and we had 2 days immersed in workshops preceded by a wonderful half hour of meditation to set us up for the day.

On Saturday night Kelley and Jacqui had organised a Halloween party where Kay and I performed our sword duet.  Huge thanks to all the lovely teachers who kept us going, and to our featured guest teacher Liz Malcolm: it was a joy catching up and dancing with you.  Kelley, Jacqui, huge thanks for what I think was the first of many xxx   

Kristine Adams & Anita Lalwani FCBD®, Black Forest, Germany

It’s always extra exciting to be attending a new event in a different country!  In this case, I’d signed up to a 5 day ATS® Intensive hosted by Gudrun Herold in Offenburg, Germany and lead by two eminents of FatChanceBellyDance®, Kristine Adams and Anita Lalwani.

This was too good an opportunity for me to miss – in addition to the ubiquitous polish and tweaking I’m always looking to accomplish, it allowed me to catch up with my lovely Kristine Adams (aka lady dynamite) and at last to meet the lady fierce herself, Anita Lalwani!  Although I wasn’t feeling on top of my game physically, I was able to put in quite a bit of dancing, take plenty of notes, learned a lot, and met a whole host of new dancers which is no doubt why I came back wonderfully spent!

Thanks a million Gudrun for putting this event together!

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

After an absence of some years, Kay and I were able to attend the local WWF fundraiser hosted by the Loreley Rice Dance Group; we’d decided to showcase sword followed by a fast number.  It was lovely to catch up with friends and acquaintances, especially for so a worthy cause.

Thank you ladies for your hospitality.

Splash of Pink

Mr Vader and Stormtroopers getting in on the action

Back from our Splash of Pink gig this morning in our Market Square at Abingdon and we managed to escape any showers all sorts of people showed up from within and without the galaxy and all wonderfully appreciative!!

And in true Ashnah form, we all ended up noshing in a restaurant.

Rutherford Lab event, Oxfordshire

Brand new location today where we performed at a small fete organised for the employees of the Rutherford Laboratory.  Joined by Nirzari - thanks ladies for coming all this way!!

Wallingford Bunkfest

Our most favouritest event has been and gone and what an absolutely glorious day it was! Our Kaleidoscope line-up included Ashnah and Nirzari along with our treasured Oxford Drum Troupe. We already have 2018 lined up!

Let the photos speak for themselves..

Chilli Festival, Abingdon Oxon

Had a fab outing today with Iridescence, Fiona, and one of their student Hazel.  We all trundled off to Abingdon's Chilli Festival and mercifully the weather held for us.

Thank you Dawn, a successful day indeed - enjoy the photos.

FCBD® Tribal Pura, Essex

Carolena Nericcio-Bohlman and Megha Gavin jetted in from San Francisco and Texas to teach FCBD® General Skills, FCBD® Tribal Pura followed by FCBD® Teacher Training in Essex, an event hosted by Philippa Moirai - what an exciting combination!!!

Rita and I jetted in (or in our case drove down the M25) to Essex to partake in the 2 days of Tribal Pura workshops which was about basics, technique, combinations, formations, drilling and performing.  We met old friends and made many new ones from France, Italy, The Netherlands, Russia, Germany and many parts of the UK (one can never have too many ATS® friends) ......

Such a rare experience when the expectation not only gets met but is surpassed – which was the case at our Pura weekend where everything aligned beautifully.  We were able to stay at Marek’s in his lovely garden house (all mod cons and gracious service!), and for our dance weekend, it was a case of chemistry and flow meeting energy and the whole resulting in beautiful synchronicity.

Pics below complete with a 'live' video from Megha:

CLICK HERE FOR VIDEO

FollyFest - Faringdon, Oxon

Ashnah (Kay, Rita and Cat) were again joined by Marek this year who travelled all the way from Southend to come dance at this great event.  The sun came out as we entertained the crowd and though there was a sprinkling of rain before we finished, people sat under coats and brollies and continued watching.

After we all lunched at The Bell hotel in the garden (Sunday lunch is a must here) ... and sheltered under a MASSIVE garden parasol when the showers passed by.

Thank you Marek for coming to dance - what a fabulous day!!!

Wads Stock, Wootton, Oxon

l-r Mel, Angela, Rita, Shereen, Kay

Our lovely dance friends Nirzari along with hubby Thurston and gorgeous baby Cillian (toddler now) from Farnborough to join us at Wads Stock - a great family event of music, singing, dancing, stalls, beer, children rides and more.  In the morning we performed at Wantage Presents (in Wantage), all piled into The Bear for much needed refreshments then moved onto Wootton for more performing.

Cakes, shortbread, ice-cream bought ... the rain held off ... just, which began as we were leaving.

A fabulous day with our wonderful dance buddies - thank you so much for coming.  Sharing events with you is always such fun!!

Wantage Presents

Mel, Angela, Shereen (Nirzari) and Kay and Rita (Ashnah)

Ashnah were invited to entertain folk at 'Wantage Presents' - which is about local performing artists busking outside The Bear for fun, entertainment, charity ..... or however it goes!!

We were performing in the afternoon at Wootton with our dance buddies Nirzari from Farnborough, so they joined us for the Wantage stint and we collected £14.60 for Cancer Research - thank you to all.

After performing we all trooped into The Bear for lunch (along with our entourage of husband and baby too) for needed refreshments, before later heading off to perform at Wads Stock in Wootton village.

Thank you Howard too for inviting us perform.  A great idea!!

Scummy lunch at The Bear

Festival of Colours, Milton Keynes

We just celebrated The Festival of Colours in Milton Keynes and were joined by Shelly from Zoku - all under a most glorious sun.  We danced in the parade accompanied by Indian drummers, and were interviewed on stage about our style then people joined us from the audience to try it out!!  The day was finished off on top of the hill looking down, with ice cream in the shade where we watched the paint throwing!  Exciting!

Thank you my lovely Zoku sister for .. lending us your body for the occasion.

Oxford Mela - Celebrating Diversity in Oxford 2017

With Rita away in Morocco the line up for this (our 7th mela) was just the 3 of us at this time - Kay, Pips and Cat.  Dancing here since 2011, this years event was a sea of colour, dance, music, singing, stalls selling clothing, jewellery, henna, delicious food and happy smiling faces, and was held at the Rosehill Community Centre - it was simply heaving and was again !!

Our performance included improvisation with baskets, followed by an impromptu piece of dancing amongst the audience with the aim to get some to come up and join in, followed by a well deserved drink and yummy Indian food.

Thank you Kanta for inviting us to the celebrations.

Kristine Adams FCBD® workshops - London

Philippa and I travelled to London whilst Rita travelled up to Newcastle for the weekend - all 3 of us to take Kristine Adams workshops but in different cities hosted by Philippa Moirai and Angela Noble.  Once again we met old friends and made new ones too, we tweaked steps, learnt new, danced and adjusted till we ached.

Totally worth it once again!!!