Hey folks,
it has been a while! I’ve been fabulously busy with my sewing work! But I wanted to get these shots up so that the wonderful ladies who came out with me for this show can see how great they looked!Click on the photo to see the whole set!
My thanks to the lovely ladies who came out with me for these two events!
The Bay: Farasha, Shade, Isaden, and Ameenah! And Miriam, who took the pics! And Tom of course who shot video – but we are still working on getting that footage up!!
The National Women Show: Jewel, Zamira, Shade, Isaden, and Bollywood For FunAnd Miriam, who took the pics! And Tom of course who shot video – but we are still working on getting that footage up!!
I won’t go on too long – suffice it to say I am very lucky to have such gorgeous ladies to work wit – inside and out! Click on the pic to take you to see more fabulous shots of this fun event!
Also please check out the Current Events box on my website for all of the many shows and events we will be appearing in – a variety of ways to see what fun we have!
Okay – on to my next events this weekend! Sleep, thenHersource!
This is a guest post from Renee – enjoy:Remember to click on any coloured and underlined text for more detailed info!
Bellysurfing #3 Jalilah’s Journey by Renee
Back in January, I signed up for a beginner’s belly dance class at the Greta Leeming dance studio . Our instructor was Lorraine Chamas or Jalilah.
Click on photo to see more pics by Howard Sandler
After a few classes, I began to notice that Jalilah had a diverse approach to belly dancing. She taught various forms of shimmies that I had never seen before. She diligently dissected dance movements and emphasized the importance of hand and arm co-ordination with each step. As I watched her demonstrations, I almost felt that Jalilah had a spiritual connection to her art form.
It turns out the Jalilah has been practicing Oriental dance or Raks Sharki since the 1980’s. She travelled throughout Europe performing with “The Musicians from the Nile”. She danced in 5 star nightclubs and hotels in Egypt and Morocco. She was featured in two television documentaries and in a Spanish TV production and she had something else, music. Wonderful music.
Around lesson five, I knew nothing about Jalilah at this point; I had to ask her where she bought her CD’s. In her lovely gentle voice she replied, “I sell them.” At first I thought that she meant she sold them for a friend or bought them through a distributor. I couldn’t have been further off the mark. “I’ve produced 6 CD’s, “ she said. Produced? Did I hear that correctly?
Jalilah happily conveyed her business adventures with Piranha musik , the German record company and with Ishan Al-Mounzer , the composer/musician that conducted and played on the recordings.
Below is a short interview about Jalilah’s musical journey.
Why did you want to work on this project?
I lived in Berlin, Germany from 1980 to 1995. I went there originally to study and got involved in the dance in 1984.
Around 1989, I was performing at least 5-10 times a week, and going to Egypt regularly to study with various instructors. I worked with Piranha, which at that time as well as producing CDs was an agency for artistic talent. They were booking tours for me, and I knew that they produced records as well.
Piranha music started sending me samples from recordings sent to them by various artists to ask my opinion. These tapes were often heavily synthesized, even the violins and the qanoon on them weren’t real, and I didn’t like most of them. This was the type of music that was very popular in this genre in the late 1980’s and early 90’s: lots of synthesized sound.
What was the motivation behind the records?
I told Piranha that I liked the style of music that I heard in Cairo during the dance performances. This music had a full orchestra with violins, oud, qanoon and nays. There are excellent albums of this kind produced in the 70s on LPs. By the late 80s, there really weren’t many productions with that type of sound. Nowadays that is no longer the case.
Dancers today don’t realise how lucky they are to have so many good recordings! After listening to all these new synthesized music tapes, I asked myself, “Why don’t I produce my own music, in the traditional style that I keep hearing in Cairo?’ and so the idea behind the “Jalilah’s Raks Sharki” series was born! I approached Piranha, and while they were hesitant at first because of my inexperience recording, they decided to give me the go ahead.
It took two trips to Cairo in 1990 to find and interview people to work with. I was up against a huge barrier: I was a woman, a dancer and from the West. They had the image of me as a “dumb western dancer” and did plenty to test me. People would come up to me, with tapes from old productions that had been already done years ago, and try to pass them off to me as original. Or would ask me to pay them outrageous sums. It was unreal. But I finally met Mokhtar Al Said, and knew I could work with him.
He completely understood what I wanted. He was easy to work with, so I decided that he would be the one to help me with the album, and I returned to Germany to make the arrangements. In October 1990 I returned to Cairo for the recording. I was in the recording studio the entire time of the production (dancing I should add!) as well as during the postproduction, mixing and so on. The result was the first CD “Raks Sharki- Mokhtar al Said.”
Aside from playing finger cymbals, I don’t play any instrument. But as the Artistic producer I find the arranger and his musicians. I select all the songs, decide their order, and which instruments highlight in each song. I write most of the sleeve notes on the CD cover as well.
Where did you find the musicians?
I always let the arranger pick his own musicians. It is easier that way, however I always insist on taking a dancers drummer and not a studio drummer. At first I had to really fight for this!
Who is your inspiration?
Aisha Ali an American dancer who in the early 70s went to Egypt, Tunisia and Algeria to record music.
She put out 3 LPs, Music of the Ghawazee, music of the Oulid Nail and Music of Tunisia.
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Jalilah is also an accomplished writer herself, with her latest article on the Gilded Serpent, an online magazine with fabulous resources!
Sometimes I like to sit and make lists of all of the events, workshops, classes, and shows I have in my calendar for the next while, just to get my head wrapped around it all and sort of my timing.I’ll be performing in a few charity shows, as well as baking cupcakes! I’ll be teaching along with a colleague of amazing status how to out together fabulous belly dance costumes! And I’ll be promoting my eco friendly products, in the hopes of spreading some awareness and joy!
I hope that if you are in Ottawa during the next few weeks that you’ll be able to come out to paricipate in some of these fun activities! Be sure to say HI!
The first will be in the afternoon and I’ll be participating as a baker at the first annualOttawa CupCake Camp.They are hoping that over 2000 cupcakes will be there for the tasting!
In the evening, I’ll be part of a group of creative souls raising money for another at the Mercury Lounge in Ottawa….Halyma performs at:pARTicipate! A Benefit for Hollis Hawthorne.
Not only am I, TAV Creations /Eco-TAV, in theOttawa Eco-Stewardship Fairduring the day, but that evening I will have students performing as part of an eclectic charity ” Belly dance” showat the Glebe Community centre! It promises to be a great show with a wide variety of performances demonstrating the evolution of belly dance!
Guest Post: Am I Pretty? Exploring How Costumes Can Make The Dancer
The following is a guest post by Halyma [aka Tracey, designer, TAV
Creations]. She is a belly dancer and costumer, however, she offers
pointers and considerations on costuming, color, and expressing
oneself through their own creations …
Sunday, February 22, 2009 brought out over 20 vendors with oodles and oodles of belly dance wares, music, chocolates, health make-up, and more to the Knights’ of Columbus Hall at 260 McArthur.
It was the 19th Dancer’s Bazaar organized by me, and run with the help of a pile of fabulous volunteers, and my wonderful partner/husband/floor manager extraordinaire, Tom [ aka @wtl] .
The Hall set’s up the table, and then we arrive at about 8:45 am to survey their work and re-arrange based on specific vendor requests. And signs go up outside, and balloons are blown up and attached wherever they will look effective and eye-catching.
By 10 a.m. the main onslaught of vendors begin arriving, though a few arrive earlier and help with the pre-set up. And the volunteers get to pre-shop and help the vendors as they set up.
It is a crazy and fun morning setting up for the potential of 100s of shoppers coming through the doors starting at noon.
We had over 300 patrons come through for this one, and many bags were seen dangling of their arms as they left, so we know that some serious shopping was done! Yay!
Upcoming events were advertised, photos were taken, door prizes given out and Zahra Haddad graced us with a wonderful drumming demo and our favorite Bazaar floordancer, Mel, came through and provided some energy feedback as she usually does!
Thanks to all of the volunteers – I feel like I am being a slacker by not mentioning you all by name, but you know who you are – so thanks! And Congrats to @elkae as she won the volunteer door prize!
Thanks to the vendors who make the trip to join us for the day – some coming from as far away as Montreal, Sherbrooke, Mississauga and Barrie. And the local folks are providing gorgeous stuff too – so I am glad to provide a place for us all to showcase our stuff!
Plans are in motion for the next one, but I’ll focus on other things for a few weeks!
This past week brought two completely different but equally important events to Ottawa’s Byward Market.
On Sunday, February 8th, Shakti Fusion presented the Dark Fusion Cabaret at the Mercury Lounge. The evening featured local tribal style dancers, raks gothique, and dark fusion performances.
This type of show brings “belly dance” into the community in an artful and creative style that can be appreciated by those who enjoy a darker flavour to their entertainment!
ATS or American Tribal style belly dance has been around in the US for a while now, and has been making great headway in Canada. It offers a different approach to belly dance that appeals to many dancers, be it in the costuming, the structure, the group dynamics and/ or the music.
Raks Gothique, and a variety of darker fusion styles also appeal to new dancers who are more interested in dancing in a belly dance style, yet to music that is less arabic in nature { although there are some amazing pieces that bridge the styles for sure!}
The second show that happened this week was presented at the Ottawa Twestival on Thursday evening at Suite 34. I am a member of the international online community/social media network,Twitter. In a very short time, one of the Canadian members, Amanda Rose, took it upon herself to start the ball rolling for a one day fundraiser to raise $1 million for the Charity: Water.
And it worked. In over 200 cities, all over the world, February 12th brought out many twitter members to their local Twestival events.
When I first heard about it, I realized that this might be a fun opportunity to bring the Belly Dancing For Fun Dancers out to play and asked the organizers if they thought this would be of interest. @bitpakkit and @sassymonkey { their Twitter ids} were my main contacts and they were very receptive to the idea!
I contacted the ladies and we made our plans! We chose costumes and I mixed some classic cabaret tunes into a 15 minute track that allowed us to create an energetic and fun improvised dance show!
We had a blast bringing the awareness of cabaret style belly dance to a community of social media folk who, for the most part, have not actually had the opportunity to see belly dance in person before this!
I think we are already booked for next year!
Click on the main pic to take you to @WTL‘s flickr page to see more shots from the day!
The Dancers’ Bazaar has been an event that I have been organizing since June 1999. It began with 7 tables in the community centre that I teach at in the Byward market, expanding to two room, then moving to a larger, and larger hall for the first 5 years or so.
Since I cannot make costumes for everyone, and I knew of teachers who were importing and making pieces themselves, it made sense to bring us all together and let the students and pros see everything in one place! And so it began. I have seen many of my friends and colleagues give it a go in one form or another, from selling hip scarves to jewelry to cleaning out their closets!
It is one of those projects that I do because I see the benefit of it to our belly dance community. It helps me feel l can be a part of something larger, which is important when self employed in my cozy home studio during the day!
The events I organize are always done with the intention of creating a “win-win” [ I apologize for the cliche] situation, and I learn a lot through producing them. I won’t get into all of that right now, but maybe a future post will share my learning!
This time around, on February 22nd, we’ll have new vendors coming in from all over the area, as well as many of our favorite exhibitors. I am pleased that there are so many new faces to show their wares – and many non-belly dance products coming to light for our shopping pleasure!
Chocolate is a big thing these days at markets, and a new vendor will be coming with specialty chocolates. Hoping the kids who frequent the Bazaar will not get too much in their little hands!
This one will help me warm up a bit more to the development of my Eco-TAV line – sharing this concept with those in my main community face to face will help get the word out of their existence!
Eco-Tav Food Napkins and Pouches! Saving the planet, One Napkin at a Time!
While I could rave on and on about how fabulous the Dancers’ Bazaar is, I am thinking that you’ll just have to come see it yourself to enjoy the community atmosphere, social aspect, shopping frenzy and belly dance spirit in action!
Come join us for the afternoon! 260 McArthur, Doors open from 12 noon to 4 p.m.!
Last week I had mentioned the name Hossam Ramzy who was the friend and fellow performer of Samy El Bably. Hossam is by far the most recognized percussionist of the Middle East and he has written, performed and directed with the some of the world’s best musicians.
Serena and Hossam Ramzy
You might ask yourself, where has the illustrious musical master been lurking and if he’s so famous, why haven’t I heard his music? Astonishingly enough, he’s already been on your radio, in your DVD collection, in your CD collection, in your belly dance class or at a dance recital!
There is so much information about Hossam on the internet that it’s almost impossible to find a dead end. Interestingly, the paramount feature on Hossam’s website is dedicated to his wife Serena Ramzy, an outstanding belly dancer. You can watch her perform on Youtube below!
Here are a few websites to start your journey. Just click on the words to check them out!
Holly, a lovely young woman, also known as “the Chosen One” has been making some major efforts to get of her comfort zone for the past three weeks.
As the winner of a contest being held by Ottawa’s Hot 89.9 fm, she has been meeting every challenge set before her in order to win a nice stack of cash at the end of it all.
At the beginning of this week, I received a call from Josie, one of the hosts of the Morning Hot Tub radio show, inquiring about coming out to my class through the Old Ottawa South Community centre.
Now, I don’t actually listen to Hot 89.9fm. I had no idea what was going on, but I am sure Josie thought I would have some clue about the contest so did not really explain too much about it. As far as I knew, it was a cool idea, and that Holly would come, try the class, and if she liked it perhaps she would sign up afterwards.
I have a policy of “First Class Free” to encourage people to try it, as they either like it and sign up right away, or at least head off knowing that they were given a generous chance to experience it.
On Monday, I got a second call asking if Holly could recruit some people to come out as well. I said , yeah, sure, it is a small class, so there is room for some extra people, no problem.
That evening, I had arrived early as usual, was all set up and then headed out to the ladies room since I did not see anyone yet looking like they were lost. Oh – they were in the hallway, getting a bit turned around! I yelled down and pointed them in the right direction while I dealt with my trip across the hall.
I got back into the gym where I teach the class a few minutes later, and they were chatting excitedly about Holly’s new hair style [ looked very nice], some of her other challenges, and life in general as the ladies she had brought were friends.
Jenny, the other co-host of the show, had come with her, and was taking photos of the group { hope to see those soon} and everyone was having a pretty relaxed time, but there seemed to be a bit of underlying tension or uncertainty.
Since none of the other students had arrived yet, I thought I should try to connect at least a bit and was curious about the contest, so I was able to get more info about the whole thing by asking a few questions and joining in the conversation a bit. Then I started taking pics of them, so that also helped them relax!
Eventually, the regulars arrived, the 4 newbies were sheathed in chiffon veils, and we started class.
My usual caveats of “knees bent, hips tucked”, and “if it hurts, stop” were issued, and off we went.
They did as well as anyone would at their first class, and some of the group were actually already dancers I think, so they caught on pretty quickly!
Overall, I think they had fun, and while they may not take it again, I think there was some new respect generated for this fabulous dance form!
He completely understood what I wanted. He was easy to work with, so I decided that he would be the one to help me with the album, and I returned to Germany to make the arrangements. In October 1990 I returned to Cairo for the recording. I was in the recording studio the entire time of the production (dancing I should add!) as well as during the postproduction, mixing and so on. The result was the first CD “
