I am so gratefull to have received the first two of many more guest posts to come! Please welcome Aspa as she shares her journey into belly dance!
We Are All Dancers
By Aspa
I was never a woman who was comfortable with her body. As we know, there are a lot of social influences that affect women’s perceptions of their bodies. Being academically inclined, I had the additional challenge of always thinking of myself as a brain with legs. When I turned 40, my life changed drastically because of external circumstances I could not control. It was at this point that belly dancing came into my life.
There was so much change already, so much that was new. I think I had to challenge every limiting thought I had ever had about myself — including about my body and my relationship to it. My body was more than just a carrier for my brain, after all.
So I took a class. And to my amazement, I learned to move my hips — in front of other people no less! Flash forward in time, and I am showing my cousins how to do the camel at Christmas dinner!
When friends or colleagues ask me about belly dancing , I always tell them how important it has been to building my confidence and my self-esteem. I always tell them, too, how wonderful it is to see women of all ages and body types expressing themselves and their femininity through this form. More and more, too, I am growing to enjoy the sense of community I see — belly dancing brings together women from all walks of life to celebrate the beauty of movement and the strength to be found in that.
Ever being in the pursuit of knowledge (not everything in my life changed!), I have also come to appreciate learning about different cultures through belly dancing — it is truly cross-cultural. I have been fascinated by how belly dancing persists as a form not only across cultures but across time because it adapts to context. We can see this with the newer styles of belly dancing, which are very much adapted to contemporary times. This ability to adapt is what keeps belly dancing so alive and so vital as a form of expression.
I still consider myself a beginner belly dancer. But one thing I never say any more is that I am not a dancer. Because I am! I learned that I could be graceful and sensual in my movements, and that we are all dancers. The limiting thoughts I once had about my body are gone now. I have gone from “I can’t possibly do that” to “I can do that — with patience and with practice.” And a touch of bravery.
Belly dancing came into my life in a time of crisis. The crisis passed, but the dancing stayed, and for that, I am grateful. Through belly dancing, we honour our uniqueness and our strength, our ability to endure just as surely as the form itself has endured the centuries.
Aspa is a student of Zena’s at Dance with Alana Studios.
Instead of doing the laundry, I slept in. Instead of exercising, I couch surf. Instead of washing dishes, I dirty more by trying some new recipes.
Well, that’s only because it’s the last week off from classes and I will need to get myself in gear by the end of this week in order to be ready to start teaching again next week! Actually I need to get myself in gear by this afternoon as I have a huge list of to-do’s for this week in regards to all three of my businesses [ well the three that I can count today – there are more when I break it down!]
What’s on my lists, you ask? Or not – depending on how busy you are with your own lists!
TAV Creations has a lovely January wedding on the roster! Yay! I don’t always get January weddings but for the past two years I have been blessed with them! Nice for the alleged “downtime” to not be downtime! 3 bridesmaid dresses plus the wedding gown means I need to get my space cleaned up, vacuumed, and ready for action!
Halyma’s Belly Dancing For Fun has a couple of events to prep for next weekend – January 17th brings us to The Bay at Bayshore for the “Beauty @ the Bay Beautiful Skin Event. This event is all about wellness and beauty in 2009. There are several components to this event, skin care regime, sun care, health and diet, fitness and well being.”
Then Halyma will be performing later that evening as part of the multi-dancer show: Uncle Louis’ Restaurant Belly dance show/Hafla Still room to book a table and come out I am sure for a fun evening of Lebanese food and dancing!
But before that, my classes resume on January 12th, 13th and 15th at all of my usual haunts, and I am looking forward to getting moving again! I really do use the classes as my own personal workout time since the rest of my days seem to be involved with sitting and typing or sewing.
And the new baby: Eco-TAV has lots of work waiting for me to do for it as well! I will meet with a co-op this week to see about sewing help.
I need to contact a list of stores regarding carrying the products in house – but I need to make more stock first so that i have it on hand when I approach the stores! I still have a good amount of cotton and some hemp available [hint, hint] !
I also want to/need to do some major tweaking on the website and am looking at setting up my products on an online market place – but I need to get photos and descriptions organized for that before I go much further!
I am supposed to be working on that lovely wedding, my time can only be split amongst so many projects before workmanship suffers!
That’s an exaggeration of course, workmanship never suffers! Organization skills and phenomenal talents are my magical powers! At least that’s the illusion I like to keep up! and only as long as I schedule in fun time, rest, relaxation and time with hubby!
We won’t even get into the sewing videos, newsletter look update[ not done yet!], DVD3 [ not happening anytime soon, kids] or any of the other creative endeavors that I happily explore when I have a spare moment!
So, now that I have listed off most of what I want to do, I should really check on the soybeans I have cooking on the stove. I am trying a variation on the wontons that my friend S and I made back in December, but a vegan version with soybeans and mushrooms as the filling.
Maybe some other veggie stuff in there too – we’ll see! I was able to get the wrappers at a little chinese store in the market, so I am ready to go once the filling is !
Let me start by saying I feel like I spend a lot of time praising Ottawa’s Belly Dance community – to the point where I am wondering if it is starting to sound like a broken record! So I am hoping that some of you will add your comments below~ so that it does not just seem like me saying how fabulous Ottawa is!!
Gorgeous backdrops
Random shot of the Dancer’s BAzaar
Michele Roy’s displays
Michele Roy
This past weekend, of which I believe I have now recovered, issued forth two great events in which our community could participate [ the Zombie walk notwithstanding!]
On Saturday evening, the Belly Dance Teacher’s Fundraiser gave many local teachers the chance to strut their stuff in support of three charities close to the heart of the organizer, Catharine Crerar, owner of Daisies and Dragons Daycare. Money raised was donated to Kids Help Phone, Bereaved Families, and the Distress Centre.
While we all find ways to comment, constructively criticize, and whine a bit – we are human after all – I feel that every event has to have a benevolent dictator to make it happen. Committees can work, but often too much discussion amongst equal powers leads to inertia, so I would rather have one person lead the way, with a strong bevy of volunteers to help make it happen. This is also how I run my events, so I am a bit biased!
Catharine began these fundraising events years ago at Hartwell’s, and when they were moved to the Glebe Community Centre, the ability to serve food/ a meal was added. Some may not see it as a bonus for the evening, some do. There are waves of energy that put out the thoughts and comments that the ticket price is too high for the community to support, but perhaps the question we should be asking is, why would we not be able to support a $25 ticket price? If contrasted with other local Fundraising events I have seen advertised, $25 is nothing. I have been invited to $60,$100 and more events, some with a full sit down meal, some with only cocktails and some entertainment. Maybe we need to rethink our approach to these fundraising events from a bigger picture perspective.
And then, when I looked at how full the room was as the evening began, and there were plenty of folk willing to pay $25 to come enjoy an evening of beautiful dancers! For all of the comments begin tossed around, our hearts are in the right place and we do know that the right thing to do is support each other’s endeavors as best we can!!
The show was great – with lots of fabulous donated prizes – which I did not win – wonderful dancers and great volunteers. I could write an entire post just reviewing the show – maybe later once Lainie has posted pics!
Another topic of interest for me as a participant, volunteer, and general busy body at the event was hearing the energies brought up by the presence of the modern dance troupe from Makin’ Moves.
As I am primarily a belly dancer, and choosing on a path to enlighten those around me that belly dance is not derogatory, not shameful, not negative. The cliches, the assumptions, the inuendos are still there that it is a “hoochy dance“. Seeing it from someone else’s perspective though, are we suffering from an extreme case of denial? We undulate, we wiggle our hips, we pop our chests, we let our arms snake about sinuously – are we not aware of how sensual and sexy it can be? Maybe, just maybe, it is not wrong to be sexy.
This is your new mantra: It is not wrong to be sexy. Oh wait, positive phrasing required: It is good to be sexy!
This is the power we are creating when we dance – embracing that feminine energy which comes from our grace, our flow, our sensual energy. So, if we can embrace this kind of thinking – and maybe you disagree – leave me a comment below, I want to hear from you! – but if we can go on the journey of allowing ourselves to be the sensual beings that we are, why do some of us look down on these other dancers? The Dollhouse Dance Company were covered completely – albeit some great thighs were shown, but the shorts covered lots, and the tops were full coverage, so, nothing wrong there…A lot more flesh is shown on television on a regular basis that we saw up close and personal during their routine.
And they are strong dancers! I challenge most of us who only belly dance to take on some of those moves for flexibility and balance! I admire their strength, and their journey. I took a moment to talk to them after their show, because I was so impressed by their routine. They recognize that their style of dance may not go over well at a full-on, children in attendance, family event. For them, Catharine’s fundraisers offer them the perfect venue to show their skills in what could be considered a sister field of dance. As we chatted, they reminded me of the very things I spoke of above, the undulations, the hips moving – all very strong female power moves 🙂 Maybe we can think about the idea that, just because the costumes are different, the moves a bit stronger, we are still all sisters in dance.
Anything else I need to express? Hmm, well, I do re-iterate that we are a strong and community minded group here in Ottawa. We still express ourselves quietly in back rooms – perhaps the influence of it being a government town – we then come together, pull up our bootstraps and get down to helping each other. So good for us! Please feel that pat on the back!
About a week and a half before the Dancer’s Bazaar, I realized that I only had three volunteers, based on the emails I had received at that point from those offering to help. The other responses were from about 5 of my previous crew members who had other obligations and would not be able to attend!
AAAHHH !!
So, I hit my Facebook group up with a message to all of the Attendings and Maybe Attendings. My plea for help was answered whole heartedly by 12 people!!! And many more wishing they could help!
These fabulous souls showed up at various times through the day and did so much to help out that “thanks” is SO inadequate! I am hoping that the Brad cookie and drink helped express my heartfelt appreciation!
The day was beautiful, so I was very pleased to see that over 340 people had come in by 3 p.m., when we handed out the final door prizes and opened the stage to Zahra Haddad and her drummers. After that, though, even more people came through, so I am sure we hit closer to 370ish before we closed off at 4 p.m.
The vendors put so much work into bringing their goodies, and setting up their displays! I am always impressed by how creative these entrepreneurs get! Thanks to their participation, I am able to give this community a varied selection of products that hopefully everyone was able to find what they were looking for on Sunday.
And if you could not find it, you know you can contact me for some custom sewing work 🙂
So, immense thank you to everyone who came out, sent good wishes if they could not attend, and especially those who shopped!
Reminder to check my Dancer’s Newsletter to find out about more of these amazing belly dance related events! Workshops, Shows, mini bazaars, you never know what is happening next unless you check it out online, or subscribe!
Sunday morning, bright and early, with the sun shining off of the sparkles and glitter of the dancers as they lined the Rideau Canal to welcome to participants of the ING race weekend!
GeeGee Robinson is one of the matriarchs of our belly dance community here in Ottawa and has led the Shen Dancers as they perform and share their love of belly dance, middle eastern dance, Raks Sharki, whatever name you would like to call it.
Along with many of her former students, and friends in our dance community, they created a fun and joyful atmosphere with music, drums, zills and cane dancing!
I was glad to be able to pop by to take some pictures of them – deciding that two dance events in one weekend was enough for me.
I had been at the Indo-Caribbean Cultural Celebration performing on Saturday evening, and then was heading off to dance and teach for a friend’s party around lunch time. So, I offered some moral support and documentary assistance to the group of lovelies!
Congrats ladies – there were a lot of smiling faces as they passed you by!
The Runway for the Cure Fashion Shows at Mambo restaurant have been a great adventure!
Thanks to Estrelita who asked me to provide entertainment for it, and to Marisol, the owner of Mambo, Kinki and Helsinki, who has been a gracious hostess to us!
The ladies who came out with me benefited from the opportunity to get out and dance for strangers and friends in some cases, without the heavy obligation of remembering a routine. The crowds have been lovely to dance for, we could always find someone smiling and moving to the music to play along with. Thanks to Shade, Anastasia and Megan for joining me! And thanks to my Thursday Creative intermediate class for their patience and understanding…next week = full workout!
I have benefited by getting some more exposure for my own classes and for “Halyma’s Belly Dancing For Fun Dancers”, my business of providing belly dancers at events. An entirely new flock of people have seen how much fun it adds in a friendly, family oriented and yet still exotic way!
And the event benefitted from entertainment and added energy to their fund raising – what a win win situation for all!
Number 2 of the Bay World Gala events, and so far they have each had their own set-up, style and energy!
No stage for this one, we just danced around the cosmetics area – which could have been odd…
But it was great! Thanks to Liz and Andrea who graciously came out to cheer us on and dance with us a bit! It was great having some familiar faces. And I was able to self-promote to some of the women working the counters!
A lovely young couple stopped and watched until I wandered over towards them, and then I scurried off to get them a card after she had inquired if we “do weddings” – you betcha we do!
And the food – sushi, fruit, little desserts, a chat with the Egyptian women who was serving hummus and tabouli… was all good!
I am now looking forward to later today at the Experimental Farm where the Ottawa SuperCities Walk is happening. At about 11 a.m. a wonderful group of dancers and drummers who have volunteered their time to come out and “welcome” the walkers to the Finish line will be joining me! YAAY US!
Another day, another show under our belts! It has been a pleasure working with Shade and Anastasia for the Mambo Fashion Shows-Runway to the Cure. Next week will be our last show and it will feature Shade and I – maybe someone else too – we’ll see!
The audiences have been fun and relaxed – smiling and clapping along at that subdued, “we just ate a lot” pace – but that’s all good!
These volunteer events are such a great way to share our love of belly dance with those who may not have seen it up close and personal before. I have a previous post all about my opinion on volunteer dancing so I won’t go on about it again!
We were able to sit and chat with Tara, from the Ottawa Cancer Foundation, last night and she was so enthusiastic about how much fun watching us dance was – it is great to hear! And she is also involved in the Weekend to End Breast Cancer – another event that we are going to be participating in – first weekend in June!
This weekend brings on three more volunteer events for me – The Bay World Gala events: today at 4 p.m. Bayshore; tomorrow at 1 p.m., St. Laurent and the MS Walk at the Experimental Farm on Sunday morning. I am very proud to be a member of such a strong community of dancers who are willing and able to come out to support these events and share their skills!
