Casbah Cafe Hafla

Well this is something I haven’t done in many years - performed solo!!  This is the second Casbah Hafla I’ve attended, and this time I went along with my lovely Swindon ladies, Iridescence.  Chris and Fiona danced a lovely duet and I danced a solo.  It felt strange not to be in the traditional quartet formation, but going solo means you can break the rules a little and spread your wings.

And here’s my performance video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZvGApje46Q

Abingdon Pride

Esme and Rita

Ashnah were invited to perform at Abingdon's first Gay Pride event - and what a fabulous event it was!!!  I've never seen so many people gather on the Market Place for an event, and the weather played its part too.  

There was a whole host of superb professional acts performing - opened by the Mayor of Abingdon and Layla Moran MP, there was singer Andy Robbins, Ashnah (yay)!, Christopher Haul singing, steam-punk capella group Horatio Kuppa T and the Zeppelin Crew, Attitude Dance doing burlesque, the amazing Jelly Cube, Sophia Blackwell and Nina Jade.

l-r Rita, Esme, Kay, Philippa

Many thanks to all the organisers who, I believe, put all this together within 3 weeks!

What a fabulous community spirit!

Make Music, Abingdon

courtesy of Abingdon Blog

A new event for Abingdon - Make Music which is part of a global celebration of music in over 120 countries every 21st June.  From 3pm onwards there were numerous singers and musicians performing at the many venues across Abingdon.

We were invited to perform and danced in the evening on the Market Place.

Performing with Kalash

clockwise from L back - Kay Kemp White, Jo Taylor, Philippa Watts,
Lesley Chapman, Kelley Beeston, Tash Churchill, Bonita Davis

We were invited by Kelley Beeston to perform with Kalash at the North Devon Diversity Festival in Barnstaple and then in the evening at Nikki Livermore's Hafla in Minehead, Devon, where Kelley was also teaching an ATS® workshop.

Iridescence (my Swindon students) also performed a very well put together dance - was full of moves we'd recently covered in class and the flow was sublime.

Kelley kindly offered myself and Philippa a room for the night and along with Jo Taylor who also came to stay, we had a fabulous 2 night stay in the in famous (15th Century I believe) farmhouse.  I must say, the gin went down well ......

Thank you Kelley and all the lovely Kalashies who welcomed us and for sharing the dance floor.  We had a fabulous time!!!