Variety Show, St Helen & St Katherine School

Ashnah were invited to take part in a most worthy cause - a show in aid of Against Breast Cancer and Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals Charitable Funds. The wonderful Variety Show took part in St Helen & St Katherine school theatre on a most humid, sultry evening, which proved extremely difficult for those wearing layers of costume!!! The show consisted of wonderful acts - a singer, comedy, magician, pianist, flute player whilst we opened the show and also our 2nd number closed the show at the end.

In between acts, we waited behind the scenes, nibbling on snacks, drinking plenty of fluids on this hot evening and amused ourselves trying different accessories we stumbled upon in the prop box - numerous styled hats, face masks with various hilarious expressions, ghosts, a coffin (mmm), rabbit's ears and even the pantomime horse complete with 'human legs' got a look in too. We did draw the line when someone came across a blow up sumo wrestler though .........

Enjoy the pictures!!

Planet Egypt, London

Ashnah's most major and anticipated bellydance event came upon us on the 28th April, and after setting off to London by coach we checked into our hotel, re-boosted our flagging energies with the most delicious pizzas at a local Italian, then proceeded to pamper and preen ourselves in preparation for the night. With much amusement to the taxi driver having 4 costumed ladies in his cab we duly arrived at our venue, Darbuka. By the time Ashnah's performance was up, our costumes had generated so much interest that they got a mention in our announcement!! Our 'sassy chicks' dance performance went across beautifully and left us all buzzing!! A few numbers later (and after what was for me a quick change), my solo was up. As usual, good vibrant music had the audience on side cheering and clapping. It all went well and was certainly an experience not to be missed, culminating in our hostess paying us the best compliment by inviting us back.

report by Rita

Video from the evening

The day after our performance, still in London, we took in the wonderful atmosphere of the Royal Wedding celebrations with many other like minded people, cheering at a huge TV screen we happened upon in a bar in Victoria. People were sitting on the floor, bar stools, standing in doorways, craning to see 'that kiss' on the balcony, and rushing outside to the fly past on the planes.

Truly a wonderful 2 days!!

International Day of Dance 2011

Abingdon Town Council hosted the local International Day of Dance and showcased a rather varied and eclectic programme. On show this year were Indian, Thai, Swing, Scottish, Irish and Balkan dancing, and of course Abingdon's own Ashnah performers. The event was compered by the inimitable Town Crier John, and none of it would have been possible without the sun coming out to play and bringing along a nice big crowd.

picture courtesy of This Abingdon blog

FatChanceBellyDance training

March - I travelled to Rochford, Essex for a 4 day intensive dance training course with the wonderful Carolena Nericcio (pictured presenting me with my certificate yay!), founder and Director of FatChanceBellyDance, and hosted by Morai and Tribal Unity for my General Skills. After watching the spectacular show Tribally Inspired featuring 7 of the UK FatChanceBellyDance Sister Studios and seeing Carolena perform (magical), the next 4 days were incredibly hard, not only on the body but also the mind, remembering all the FCBD moves, floor work, formations, cues, hand placements (how many floreos went with what??) ....... In between dancing, I met old friends, made new friends, dined, socialised, and gained my General Skills certificate at the end. Brilliant time!!

Report by Kay

Swindon Shimmyers, 19th March 2011

Ashnah video link

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

Ashnah video link

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

OMEDS

Oxford Middle Eastern Dance Society (OMEDS) hafla was the highlight of December for many dancers who gathered together in their finest attire to showcase their dancing. Once again OMEDS put on a well organised show with some fabulous dancing by all who took part. Sadly the bad weather claimed some victims with sickness and some being stranded.

We were delighted to be able to do our sassy Bulgarian number followed by improvised ATS, and were joined by Ashnah's newest member Esme .. yay!!



The lovely photographer Agata Lucka-Ahmed took the these photo's and many more of the dancers. Check out Agata's pictures at Exumbra and don't forget to book her for your special event!!

Ashnah welcomes........

Ashnah is pleased to have 2 new members on board - Hannah Godfrey and Esme Gregory!!! Hannah also attends lessons with Loreley Rice, and Esme danced and taught at OMEDS in Oxford. Welcome, welcome, welcome..........................

Photo's and bio's to follow.

Christmas is coming...... the cat is getting fat!

A little shopping trip enjoying a bit of retail therapy went nicely, starting off with luncheon at Noodle Nation and then heading off to the shops followed by a relaxing break in Costa coffee shop. Purchases were a sumptious teal wool and mohair long jacket with a tantilizing little frill along the edge for Kay (moi), a soft satin panelled skirt in hues of taupe for Philippa whilst Rita plumped for ................. cat food. Seriously woman!!!!

Pips & Rita enjoying a coffee break - let's hope that's not Rita's purchase on her plate................

Hafla - Zanoba October 30th

October - and we travelled to Faringdon to perform at Zanoba's winter hafla organised by Ann Clarke. What a fabulous atmosphere it was - the room was decorated with drapes, various low cushions to sit on with tables (though I couldn't get down to the cushion with my layers of costume ha), a souk to shop at, an array of various foods laid out and plenty of performers and onlookers. There was such a wide range of different dances - Egyptian, Steam Punk (oh those shoes), Tribal Fusion, umbrella's, Tango, Gothic Tribal complete with mask (woo hoo) solo's and absolute fun pieces. We performed our sassy chicks number followed by our improvised ATS tribal style with zills.

Hafla - Wantage Civic Hall

Oooh la la Ashnah performed at this annual fundraiser organised by Loreley Rice, which is certainly becoming a firm fixture on the local and not so local calendar. The successful evening raised a whopping £764 for vital conservation work across the globe. Ashnah, minus our very pregnant Agne, premiered its sassy chicks dance and costumes consisting of bodices, feathers and Victoriana booties – oh the joy of it.

Splash of Pink - October 9th

Ashnah was again invited to join in this worthy cause and although the weather person predicted sunshine, we had clouds! Regardless, as normal nothing could have stopped us, so minus our much missed and expectant Agne, we strutted our stuff.



Rita and Philippa 'Rock-ing the Casbah'

Bunkfest 2010

Our beautiful Agne with expecting baby leads the dancers

Our favourite festival arrived, and again so did the sunshine!  This year we were delighted to be joined by drummer Karl Greenow who plays for The Keeling Curve, and also Peter who played for us last year.  A huge big thank you guys, it was so very much appreciated.  Hope we can do it again!!  This year at Bunkfest we again met up with Isisters, met new Morris dancers and watched the wonderful Zulu, all the way from South Africa - watch their VIDEO HERE - fabulous.  We performed in various places and had a wonderful time, some of us staying on into the night to watch some of the bands.

Watch the Youtube Videos under the Video Link and Vimeo HERE.

Alzheimers Show (see Video here)

AfroFusion

Saturday 24th April 2010 couldn't come fast enough! Jo Saunders of Arabian Fire & Cairo Kittens put together a brilliant show in aid of the Abingdon Alzheimer Hospice at the Amey Theatre, Abingdon School. Despite all being tucked away in the ladies changing room, we were able to watch all the performances on a big screen. Oxford Drum Troupe opened she show with their infectious drumming and were later joined by the amazing African dancing sisters Grace and Sarah of 1AfroFusion Rhythm. The Middle Eastern section was made up of soloists Niki Livermore, who strutted her stuff with everyone's favourite tabla 'artiste' John Sleiman, my teacher Loreley Rice who weaved her magic with her mesmerising Isis wings, professional Indian Bhangra dancers from London, fantastic Capoeira dancers with flamenco dancers Camino del Flamenco with teacher Rosie adding a much exciting exotic touch alongside the Argentine Tango couple, whilst Ashnah represented the tribal fusion style and performed our much loved stick dance and our improvised tribal ATS style dancing with Oxford Drum Troupe too. Check out our new Ghawazee coat/dresses made by Kay White woo hoo!

AfroFusion

It was a great evening and we managed to raise approximately £2,000 - indeed the show was so successful that there's talk of making if a permanent fixture - roll on 2011!!! A big thank you must go to the entire supporting team made up of Jo Trafford, Sonia Black, Janet Avison, Kay O'Reagan and not forgetting the lovely Sorcha who looked drop dead gorgeous in her wowing brown dress.

Bellydance Bonanza - Saturday 22nd May 2010

Yet again, this year the programme was well-balanced (Loreley Rice, Afra El Kahira, Dodo Pratt, John Sleiman to name but a few) and this year's prima guests were the diving Maria D'Silva (whom I'm completely bowled over with) and the utterly glamourous Anne White who only has to stand there to hold attention (total hussy and she won't mind me saying so either!!).  My apologies for beingunable to mention everyone, but a shout out must go to Helen Sleiman who's turning into such an accomplished dancer blessed with great choreography and imagination.

The day was beautifully rounded off when 35 students and teachers descended on our favourite Lebanese restaurant, The Riviera, and shimmied the night away.  Thank you Nikki and Neil!

report by Rita

New Design...... mmm

Just trying out a new design for our blog........ mmm not sure.....

Against Breast Cancer

April came and we were once again invited to dance in the Market Place for this fabulous cause 'Against Breast Cancer'. Here we are posing with a one of the lovely organisers in the fabulous warm sunshine. What an array of hues of pink again!

Gypsy Caravan Collective Soul Level 2

March - I travelled down to Lewes near Brighton for a 3 day Collective Soul 2 course again with the lovely Paulette Rees-Denis founder and Director of Gypsy Caravan Dance Company and hosted by Louisa Thomsen. I stayed at the delightful Dubois B&B (an absolute must stay at place!) which was about a 10 minute walk from the town.

photo - Angela & Paulette in 'Bills'

Lewes is fabulous and bursting with interesting independent shops (check out Bills, mmmm) and only a short drive to Brighton.

Anyway........ the first day we all met in Laporte's cafe - Paulette, Louisa, Angela from Tribe Zuza and Chris from Four Hundred Roses (who I met on the Level 1 course), and after hot chocolate and coffees we all trouped off and got down to the dancing. After the first day I didn't think I cope for another 2 days......where had my fitness gone??? Well, we worked hard, studied hard, ate at fabulous restaurants, laughed and chatted and on the 3rd day Angela, Chris and I were awared with our Level 2 certificates! Yay! So, I am definately 'certifiable' again!!

Paulette takes our photo whilst we huddle in

Celebrating with a glass of wine, and chilling on the chaise lounge

Hipnotic, Jazz Cafe in Reading

February saw us all travelling to Reading to perform at Hipnotic at the Jazz Cafe (check out the link, but better still pay them a visit for a brilliant evening)!

We cheered on the other dancers, took part in a few of the classes there we then performed our improvised tribal style dancing. A great evening was had by all. Check out the pictures.

Seeing the New Year in

Woo hoo, catching up on what's been happening this year starts with Kay, Philippa, Rita and Jen (belly Jen, we have 2 Jens, the other being tribal Jen), saw the New Year in celebrating it in the Dil Raj Indian Restaurant in Abingdon, eating sumptuous food, slurping superb wine, watching our belly dancer friend Jo performing yay, pulling crackers (paper ones of course), wearing hats, blowing them tooting blowey things, dancing - oh yes .. much dancing, singing Auld Lang Syne (or was it old Langs eye I sang ... mmm ....), you know, the usual kind of New Years stuff we all do.

Well according to the few pictures here, you can tell we had a blast! Enjoy the pics..................

Don't forget to go try the Dil Raj too!

Report by Kay

First Drum Performance

Our djembe drum class was asked to do a 'piece' for the Lake Street Community Centre Christmas do, as this is where we practice every week. It was a great open afternoon, with many families milling around eating mince pies, various cakes, mulled wine etc, whilst being entertained by various acts. Great community atmosphere! When the brass band stopped, it was our turn yikes! The Oxford Drum Troupe professionals drummed various fabulous African rhythms, whilst the people who thronged the room clapped and swayed and the children danced and jigged up and down. We were then invited on by the Drum Troupe for the last piece where we played 3 short rhythms with a drum call to swap from to the other. It went down well and we got a warm round of applause at the end. A big thank you to our drum circle teachers yay!! Afterwards we called into the Four Pillars hotel for a hot cup of coffee, tea and beer to celebrate.

Photo above - the professionals showing us how it's done


Photo right - Kay, Philippa and Rita getting ready

Another Birthday........

December loomed and with Christmas shopping done and presents wrapped, tree up, last card written, fairy lights turned on (yea, but not by me)..... Pippy's birthday jumped out at us suddenly, so at her request we all trouped over to her house each with a dish of food to pool into a birthday supper, with presents to swap and plenty of giggles to share. After sitting down to our feast of an array of English, Turkish, Polish, Indian food with salads and puddings, plenty of wine etc etc, (with Philippa wearing her new fairy wings heading the table) we exchanged presents and then 'hung out' and watched a dance DVD. Much laughter was had by all. Alas no pictures were taken on the big day, so I found this in our archives. Pippy modelling a piece of costuming in our dance studio....... great leg warmers! You go girl! Report by Kay

Christmas Celebration Performance Platform

November 2009 and 3 of Ashnah dancers, Kay, Jen & Rita, travelled to Swindon to take part in the Christmas Celebration Performance Platform organised by MADN (Mosaic Arabic Dance Network) held at the Phoenix Theatre at New College. Performers were plentiful and to name a few were Loreley Rice, Soraya with John Sleiman, Isisters, Helen Sleiman dancing to her fathers drumming (John Sleiman), Hazzaz, Negoum el Leyl, Afra al Kahira, Tracey Jones, guest dancers the fabulous Zehara Dancers led by Nikki Franklin performing their own Zehara tribal style and our very own delightful Ashnah dancer, Rita Maria who performed her new solo. There was a mix of various dances - Turkish pop, veil dances, isis wings dances, solo's, group dances, Egyptian pop, drum solo's and many more, whilst we performed our tribal dance to Harem with zills. After all dancers posed for professional photo's (which will appear in the next issue of the Mosaic magazine), we headed off back to Abingdon for an evening in the Thai Orchid which was simply heaven!!! Report by Rita

Halloween - or maybe not in our case

Hubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble - Philippa suggested we have an evening at hers, a trip down the pub followed by a takeaway. Last minute suggestion from me was 'let's dress up at it's Halloween'. On collection of Rita I was greeted by this ....... thing ..... bright red hair, pointy hat and a painted star over her eye ha! After much cackling all the way to Pippy's, and more shrieks of delight when she clapped eyes on Rita, we trotted off down a narrow lane in what seemed like the darkest depths of Peru, in the pitch black to the local pub. No torches and my mobile phone light wasn't bright enough eek!!!. Gingerly we held on to each other, me trailing at the back keeping an eye out for ghouls and goblins, Pippy leading the way with Rita in the middle cackling all the way. The locals eyed us with suspicion when we entered (though I think they stared at our wicked witch from the West actually), and we supped our tipple with quiet cackles (wondering who was for our cauldron). Another trek back up the darket depths of Peru back to Pippy's house, ordered our takeaway and flew there on Rita's broom, oh sorry I mean drove in my car. Again we were viewed with caution (bewilderment I think was more like it), and we drove back with our catch of Chinese food to gorge over.







Strange thing was, it wasn't Haloween! I'd got the date wrong doh!!!!!!

Tribal Vibe 2009

Following on from the Collective Soul course, I indulged in a weekend of dance workshops at Tribal Vibe held at Aylesbury, organised by Steffi Colbert of Barefoot Bellydance. I took part in Paulette Rees-Denis's Trance workshop which was wow and a must to experience, and her Shimmy Queen, Solo's in Tribal and her Formation workshop too which has given me plenty of 'food for thought'. Friday night there was a welcome party with food, wine, shopping followed by group dancing, individual troupe dancing, solo's and just get up and join in with whoever was leading, and continued on into the 'chill out' room until the early hours.

Philippa joined me on the Saturday evening and watched the show which I danced in. Afterwards Paulette got everbody up and dancing, Barefoot band played long and hard with Paulette lending a hand at drumming too, followed by more chilling in the chill out room with pizza's, wine, chatter, people being 'henna'ed' with various designs and collapsing into bed about 2am again.

Sunday loomed only too quickly and Philippa left ...... along with my hotel room key (yep, and with my luggage still in the room)!! Doh!! ;-)'

Report and artwork by Kay