When I tell people I belly dance, that’s one of the “admiring” statements I hear.
And my brain says, “WHAAT?”
and my heart says, “sigh…”
I would love to write an inspiring post that would lift up the self esteem and belief systems of everyone who says that to me, so that they can see how belly dance is SO MUCH MORE than just dancing.
I would love to flick that switch in everyone who says, “I can’t do that”, to ” hmm, I want to see how I can do that”.
The most I can do is continue to share my love for this dance form, educate those interested in learning more, and flash a small smile to those who might be on the fence and encourage you to give it a try.
It’s okay if belly dance is not your thing. Maybe you are a runner, maybe yoga touches your heart, maybe walking is your happy place – and to all of this I say “YAY. you go!” And the best way to find “your thing” is to try out all of the potentials – when the right activity comes your way, you’ll feel it!
My approach to this dance form began with the phrase, “Belly Dancing For Fun” and I still use that to describe our performance group of rogue dancers, the nature of my classes and my general philosophy. If it’s not fun, why bother.
Belly dance can be fun – when one chooses to:
accept that it’s a journey
smile and laugh with classmates/troupe mates/audiences
slow down { journey, remember}
no really, slow down
take that time to explore what CAN be done
revel in those moments of achievement – you are learning!
breathe
go within and focus on what you are doing, ignoring the grocery list
BE THERE – in class, in the performance, in the moment
Slow down.
Belly dance saved me.
It brought me into a group of whacky women with whom I could not have found myself.
It brought me the courage to leave a deadend situation for a much better one { married to the AWeSOME @WTL since 1998!}
It allows me to play! Halyma has fun sparkly costumes, has fabulous long hair, a sense of feminine empowerment that permeates all of my life!
And while I never considered myself uncoordinated { except for those moments when I am taking a workshop with a master teacher and trying to figure out, What the heck?!? – then I slow down…} I never thought I would be dancing for an audience….
As I sit amongst a slew of costumes, paperwork, leftover bottles of water, and general mayhem after a night of barely sleeping { don’t have a burger at 10 p.m., just don’t}, I am grateful to read a slew of Facebook comments and emails that have been coming in since last night.
The simplest was:
Thanks, Tracey.
Great show. It was a lot of fun.
M
And others include kind words of support for a job well done { by more than me, but I’ll get to that}, awe at my costume { thanks to Shibori Borealis who created the skirt fabric}, and this snippet:
Just wanted to drop in a word to let you know that your performance yesterday was absolutely spectacular. The precision and the swiftness that you play with those bells (the ones you wore on your hands) is beyond me. And I have to make an additional comment to let you know that the best part I loved about your dance were your expressions and the way you connect with the audiences.
Makes me wanna take up belly dancing 🙂
And yes, a super duper congratulations to you for yet another successful event! D
And to everyone who was confused by the postcards with the dog on them – this is Sprocket and she was the dog on the postcards:
My students – you all did your best and I hope had loads of fun! Hope to see many of you in 2014, if not in my classes, dancing somewhere at least!
The teachers: Safiya and Anna, Antonina, Marina, Siddiqah, Eurika, Zamira, Lois, Jalilah, Suhani, Niki – thank you all for helping make this even happen by encouraging your students to perform and spending the time and energy getting them prepared to show up and show off!
The Sponsors { and the ticket winners – email me if your number is below – I have these prizes as yet unclaimed!}:
Eco-TAV – Claimed by Siddiqah on behalf of her student!
Live2Dance – Claimed by Loulouh for her student!
Kalyani- prize claimed
Leila – Prize claimed
Eurika- Prize claimed
Zamira – Prize claimed
Anna & Safiya – ticket # 225
Jalilah – Prize claimed
And the guests:
Without your support, coming out to see these dancers do their thing, there would be a much smaller event happening with a lot less energy and desire to be the best we can be. We all get into this for ourselves, and only some of us move into performing, but when we do, it’s because we want to see the look on your face when we do our thing. so thank you for honouring us with your presence and allowing us to glow a little brighter with your positive feedback!
There is a business aspect to these community events that goes beyond having an amazing crew of people who donate their time and energy. While I choose to invest time and money into creating this opportunity for all of my students and those of other teachers to be showcased, sometimes the numbers are very close to the line. Thanks to some very wonderful people who gave more than their ticket price in financial contributions, this show, though we did not sell out, did cover it’s expenses and allow me to look at donating a little bit to some of my favourite charities. Thank you- a LOT. I hope it’s okay that I am not going to single them out, but I know who you are and you know who you are, and my gratitude to you is immense as you helped reduce the burden so much that I can in turn pay it forward.
I have also created an invitation only flickr.com group where I am hoping folks will share any great photos they took last night with respect for each others wishes on public sharing { it’s not public unless you want it to be}, and you can message me { halyma@bellydancingforfun.com} if you would like to join.
Thanks again – and remember to SIGN UP FOR THE DANCERS’ NEWS :
TO SIGN UP:
Simply send an email to news-subscribe@bellydancingforfun.com and within a minute you should get an email asking for you to confirm that you want to sign up to the mailing list. Just click reply and then send! Thats it!
TO SEND IN YOUR INFO:
Send your text only information to: newsletter@bellydancingforfun.com with “Belly Dance news” in the subject line [or something equally creative!].
I had a few thoughts occur to me this week after participating in a wonderful class party hosted by Siddiqah of Fat Cat Bellydance here in Ottawa. My Bellywood with Halyma ladies came out to test drive our latest routine and one thing I had asked them to start considering at last week’s class was to create a character and start to play with that character for the routine.
The nature of this routine has a silly little story, which the audience is unlikely to notice, but it gives us as performers a direction to come from when approaching the moves.
So, upon seeing the execution of the routine at Friday evening’s party, I realized, as a teacher, I can help enlighten my students more by actually spending a few moments focusing on the dance persona and the difference between the everyday person and the “superstar” or “Diva” who graces the stage.
So first, let me introduce Tracey:
Tracey peeling fish…
Tracey sews, bakes, has a fabulous husband, is sometimes seen as grumpy or scary { both usually pre-coffee/ in need of food, or peace and quiet}, enjoys camping, canoeing, cider,terrorizing their dog, Sprocket, and generally being a creative problem solver with introvert tendencies. She loves food, walking, and wearing comfy sweats and simple clothes that allow her to move and work with her sewing. She can sit and bead for hours, even longer when coffee and a muffin are supplied! And she enjoys quietly working alone.
And then there’s Halyma:
Slightly over the top, smiles as much as she can, plays with the audience, always wants a new costume and new music for every show, and tries to make sure everyone gets a chance to see her. She loves to invade your personal space until you smile too and likes to try to look pretty – even if Tracey has been over indulging in the carbs! She’s happy getting out and talking to people and introducing more and more people into her fave dance forms!
And yes, obviously, they are both me. But I was Tracey a long time before I met Halyma and started to get to know her.
When I first began dancing publicly, which I did not think I would do when I first started taking lessons, I looked at the floor, I did not smile and am grateful the early videotapes of my performances have all disappeared. But I did watch myself after every show and realized where I needed to change things up a bit. I am not talking about self criticizing where all the time is spent putting oneself down. I am referring to watching for ways to improve, enjoying the moments of, “Oh yeah, I felt great at that spot”, through to, “Oh, that’s what I look like when I am thinking too much…”.
And now, I teach, so I should also teach about ways to self-improve to my peeps! Sorry it took me so long, ladies! But now there’s no excuse, I’ve brought it up in class and have a blog post about it!
I asked my students to think about:
What do you enjoy when you watch another person dance?
What aspects of how they choose to present themselves can you relate to and start to emulate?
When you watch yourself on video, how can you improve?
What are the positives that can be built upon and exaggerated into your own magical Dancer?
And if you already have a dance name { not everyone does, not everyone needs/wants one, but it really helped me}, let her come out to play!
I realized I should express a bit more about this, and so…
Why do you dance?
Why do you perform?
And some suggestions that may or may not help 🙂
Even if you are trying to be sultry, coy, or anything seductive in your facial expressions, make sure your eyes are smiling.
If you are nervous about performing a choreography and how you might forget the moves, ( I relate, and forget quite often) keep it professional on stage – you screw up, it happens, KEEP SMILING and catch up. And practice- seriously practice.
If you are not sure, practice in front of a mirror. I remember having a discussion with an actor once as she commented she hated seeing herself in the mirror as it distracted her from actually bringing out the emotions from within, and I totally saw the point of that. Dance is like acting a bit, but it’s also like modelling, and it’s about creating beauty. Sometimes you need a bit of feedback to know if you’ve got the look you want. Practice with a mirror , then close your eyes and feel what your face and body are doing. Or use a camera and record yourself and again feel what you want to express.
There are so many more intense directions one can take as a dancer to help explore your dance persona – acting classes, other dance forms, using make-up and costumes to help develop your style.
I welcome more suggestions if you have found ways to help get out of your everyday person and becoming the goddess of dance within – please share them – we can all benefit!
I’ve been percolating on a few things for the past few years, as enrolment in my classes has shifted downwards a bit, we’ve seen attendance to events like the Dancers’ Bazaar decline, and am pretty sure I am not alone.
What to do, what to do….?
When I started taking lessons in Ottawa, OMEDA { Ottawa/Outaouais Middle Eastern Dance Association} was a present and active force.
Halyma circa 2004 at Uncle Louie’s
It’s volunteer members organized events from shows to workshops and a fairly regular newsletter that was mailed out to the membership. It was through this association that I found my own Goddess of Dance, mainly with amateur parties where I could try new things, play, and learn by watching other dancers and meeting other creative souls. I am still friends with some of the fabulous women I met through OMEDA.
I know that my own activities when I first got into the local community, way back in 1995, were in conjunction with OMEDA and I did my own small amount of time volunteering with the association too, but really did not want to take on too much responsibility, preferring to support the events as best I could while developing my own side newsletter/ events when I could be a benevolent dictator.
🙂
Over the years, I’ve been honoured to take part in other local events too, as many others have done their own thing and tried to include the community at large.
At the Fire and Ice show – 2013
So, all in all, Ottawa-Gatineau still has a great core of dancers/ teachers and events that can be sustained, to a degree.
But where can we rejuvenate?
Are there new and upcoming students and potential performers who would like to show off their dances, but are not comfortable at the OCCP? Or even the theatrical fundraisers of either Catharine or Anna and Safiya?
I know I can only accommodate a limited number of dancers, and the same is true of the other fundraisers run by others. And these more theatrical events need to continue for the more advanced dancers who are polishing their skills and developing their stage presence, but…
Can we revisit having some relaxed, open invitation dance parties in Ottawa again? Pack your costume and cd/memory stick/ipod and sign up when you get there and dance type parties-how much fun would that be?
Will this type of event also bring new people into our classrooms when they can see the fun and positive energy that this dance form brings to us?
I think it’s great that Studio Oasis is also thinking along these lines and has the ball rolling with their Nov. 23rd Galabeya party!
I can see, if other people feel welcome to take on an active roll, having an assortment of these types of events throughout the Ottawa-Gatineau area.
I am not thinking of getting too crazy with this idea, just looking to see if we give it a try for a one time event this winter, will others be open to setting up something in their part of the city, a couple of months later, so that everyone can start to benefit?
I am interested in opening up a conversation with you: teachers, event organizers, professional dancers, and active members in supporting Ottawa’s Middle eastern/ belly dance community.
Do we need OMEDA again?
Do we need something new?
Or can we come together as Rogues { my Belly Dancing For Fun dancemates know what I mean} and create a fluid community that benefits everyone?
If you would like to share your thoughts publicly , please comment below.
If you prefer to share them privately, message me: halyma@bellydancingforfun.com
PS/BTW – the reason I chose the photos of only me is that I wanted to get this post out there! While I have some great photos of people from the various events throughout my years dancing, I don’t like to publish anything without permission. Just know there are some beauties who are part of this great community!
As a belly dancer, bollywood dancer, teacher of both, and generally a person always open to good clean fun, getting a last minute email request for help in replacing a Zombie Dance group cancellation just makes my day!
And then I share the opportunity with some of my playmates!! (Read- I email folks to ask if they will join me!!)
These dancers are students, teachers, friends and fellow creative forces that come together when they can, under my long time umbrella rogue group, “Belly Dancing For Fun”.
There are more than these ladies who come out for volunteer events, and when it’s a real last minute rescue mission, I like to hand pick the ones who I think will be able to pull it off with me! And if the first picks can’t make it, I then move along the list as Ottawa is Full of great dancers with whom I have had the pleasure of working and playing!
This round of dance fun, Eurika, Zamira, and Pink Pandemonium graciously accepted the challenge!
Combining solos and group numbers, culminating in a grand finale which challenged our brains due to the last minute versus busy lives syndrome, we had a stressful blast! When the organizers came to us and told us how pleased they were, we all breathed a sigh of relief!
Volunteer dancing at charity events is something that gives us a chance to give back, doing something we love and bringing joy and awareness of both how great belly dancing is for all ages, as well as how creative we, as Belly Dancing For Fun, are without the limitations imposed by classic middle eastern dance styles.
We hope to have more chances to perform for both charity and corporate and private events, showcasing both our classic middle eastern dance skills and our creative fusion styles that bring together cross-cultural energies in a fun and sometimes creepy way :/)
Be sure to keep us in mind for your events and give us more than 2 weeks notice and we will bring the house down!!
Had a wonderful time sleeping in, having breakfast with the hubby and then heading out to the Ottawa Dancer’s Bazaar that is now under the helm of Eurika and Farasha.
And we got goofy:
Leila and LindaLeila and Halyma/Tracey
And I had fun!
Socializing with vendors who used to come when I was running this show, and meting new vendors that joined the fun at Erika’s invitation, it was a great community event – as I always aimed for myself.
No this isn’t all about me – but bear in mind, this is my blog, so I’m going relate to it from my perspective even as I happily acknowledge the passing of the torch.
The first joke of the day was arriving and seeing that Shibori Borealis Daisymobile had taken my fave parking spot – and Linda pointed out how I am no longer the “queen bee” of the day 🙂
Totally correct!
And so I took the spot beside, and after quickly unloading my stuff with the help of the fabulous volunteers, and then got set up and got more help from them as they found me an extra table, and set up my racks, I thought – I like being a vendor only – it’s WAY EASIER!
So kudos to the new organizers, the great folks who help them and the vendors who keep on coming out to join in the fun!
Now back to our regular workload – busy sewing day ahead and more dancing to come!
Every morning I try to get a walk in before I start my day. I am grateful to live near views like this:
Today in particular.
An example of the kind of day that keeps me going:
1- first appointment = chill bride happy with the progress and plans are ready for finishing and pick up after the bazaar.
2- 2nd appointment at Luxe – a bit rushed but I was able to meet a lovely new potential staff member and connect her with local quilting info. Oh and the dress barely needed any work!
3- fabulous dance mini workshop with Eurika as Bollywood For Fun! Sunshine. Park space and a great group of kids to show how to do some fun moves!! And we got pumpkins on top of our fees!!
4- the Sprocketmonster: out in our nearby park, sunshine, friendly folk, happy dogs.
and now I’ll be a heading off to hang with new folks, trying a new experience or at least semi new – with my fake rosary, purple and black robe ready to go. And a cheese platter.
Happy Thanksgiving All!
UPDATE:
Anyone wondering why I did not include @wtl in this Gratitude post should note that I try to tell impersonally every day how much I appreciate him. Just so you don’t think I take him for granted!
Of course, September mens back to school. And for regular students, it began a coupe of weeks ago. For me it began this week.
Teaching evening dance classes as part of the City of Ottawa and Old Ottawa South Association community centre adult courses, September always brings with it a sense of renewal but also uncertainty. I never can know how enrolment will be until the week of the first classes. The same happens for all “luxury” type courses. When money is tight, or the enrolment system is not easy, potential participants have to choose what they best options are for their lives and sometimes our classes don’t run.
This fall my schedule has reversed itself from normally having Monday classes and my Thursday classes not running, to having no classes on Monday evening and a single class on Thursday. Thankfully Tuesday’s two classes have a minimum number – and while there is still more room in those classes, the changes there involve location – so nothing is ever the same!
And what? My sewing level 1 class is full to overflowing! That starts tomorrow so I better get on that today too!
Being self employed allows me to, er wait, forces me to roll with the waves of change. My sewing business has been rocking it on an upswing, especially with my linking up with the ladies at Luxe Bridal, and my own constant intentions to provide good service for all of my clients. So as the dance classes shift and change each season, I have learned to take advantage of their slowing down { at one time I was teaching 9 classes a week, between Community centre courses and private lessons} to happily focus on bridal – which is really an all year round business now.
So, this morning, I know my dance schedule for the fall- other than when the heck we are going to schedule our Bollywood For Fun Practices as Diwali is coming! I have dresses to work on, and the final stages of the Ottawa Browncoats fundraiser on September 29th to co-chair.
I also get to look forward to some October events that I am NOT planning, but will be attending and am enjoying the freedom that comes with attending and helping, not herding the cats.
All in all, Back to school time is the most wonderful time of the year !
