Wallingford Bunkfest 2011

Ashnah dancers with partners, buggy and baby plus 1 dog in toe made their way to this fabulous event. We were all naturally very excited as we were looking forward to a live music collaboration with the wonderful Oxford Drum Troupe (ODT), an Oxford based group who specialise in African music. I personally can’t say enough about the day we had, the collaboration with the drummers, and of course the festival which brings together all the differing and colourful strains of Morris dancers who so effortlessly and colourfully mingle with us Middle Eastern dancers – even Jo and Josephine Public play dress-up with the opportunity for face-painting available to young and old alike.. I will naturally always maintain that such festivals stand and fall with the sustenance provided. The catering at Bunkfest this year was again faultless with Chinese, Spanish, Indian, French and Vegetarian a la carte.. not forgetting the beer tent of course.. and the delicious ice cream and oh.. crepes.. and I almost forget the lovely gentleman who kept my thirst at bay with the most delicious and freshly squeezed lemonade.. If you’re reading this and you happen to be around the area at the beginning of September then why not take the family for a glorious day out - I can’t recommend this event highly enough!!
report by Rita

Oxford Carnival, South Park

Make the decision to throw a big community event and put the call out to musicians, group dancers, singers and any and all relevant artistes, add the absolutely necessary presence of food and drink, garnish with all manner of stalls such as jewellery and local crafts, not forgetting good causes, sprinkle it with 20,000 people - and VOILA - you have yourself the potential for what turned out to be a most eclectic, colourful, and wonderfully musical Cowley Carnival!!! The sun joined the party and ensured a great turn out and a fabulous bash on Sunday afternoon in Oxford.

Ashnah had been looking forward to taking part again this year, and although only 3 of us could make it, I can happily report that we gave out plenty of good energy, caused a most positive stir, acquitted ourselves very well, and had plenty of time to relax and enjoy ourselves.

Sore from the sun and exhausted, we headed for home at sundown.......

Roll on next years carnival woo hoo!!

report by Rita

Summer Mauj-Mela, Sandhills, Oxford

We were once again invited to perform at the Indian Mela at Sandhills, Oxford, by the wonderful Kanta Gopal on behalf on the OHTCCP (Oxford Hindu Temple & Community Centre Project).

What a glorious event this is - full of colour, music and dancing - styles this year were Hawiian, Bhangra, Classical Indian dance and ourselves performing American Tribal Style Bellydance. There was delicious Indian food (oh it was so good), henna (mehndi), singing by the Afropean Choir, drumming workshop by our dear friend Paul Eagles (great fun), whilst families danced, ate, joined in the workshops, chatted and thoroughly had a great time.

The weather held out, though a little windy perhaps, and the sun came out in the afternoon.

Ashnah had a fabulous time again this year and we take great delight in meeting such warm, friendly people and joining in with the celebrations.

What a wonderful day we had!!

Dragon Boats

For the 2nd year running, Ashnah danced at the Abingdon Dragon Boat event, and in all the 3 years we've been together this was the first time we were confronted with chilly damp weather - what a shock to the system brrrrr!!

For 30 minutes we danced a variety of our numbers - a lively one with zills, next a slow and senuous one, a solo from Rita, a stick dance and the finale ended an improvised piece. It's very difficult to dance along by the riverbank as the curse of the long grass dragged at our long skirts causing us to trip as well as the unsure footing in ruts and over bumps making spinning hazardous. Nonetheless, beer, burgers and ice-cream went down well and we all thoroughly had a brilliant time at this fabulous event.

......... wonder if I can fit my lawn mower in the car for next year ..... ?

OMEDS Spring Hafla 2011

The wonderful OMEDS hafla delighted us yet again - such wonderful dancing by many fabulous dancers - what a vast variety to keep many a spectator entertained!! Ashnah dancers Jen, Hannah, Agne and myself (minus Rita and Pips who were attending a wedding) donned our new uniform of striped skirts and headed on into Oxford to perform an ATS improvised number. It's very difficult hiding a tribal costume until appearing on stage - 4 or 5 layers of clothing consisting of pantaloons, two 17 yard full skirts, tribal belt and/or shawl too with flowers and tassles complete with tucking the 2 skirts up into the waistband - all topped off with a tribal coat over the top, we often resemble something out of a Dickens novel with hooped skirts!!!

The talented photographer Agata Lucka-Ahmed was again on hand snapping away at all the dancers, creating stunning photo's. Check out her website!!

The rain washed down that evening, but it didn't dampen anyone's spirits at the fabulous hafla.

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.