The summer roundup!

HELLOOO DANCERS!

I am back from the void!

So first thing, I have to apologise for the brief absence, summer is supposed to be my downtime when I teach less and get my affairs in order, but this one has been fairly hectic! So here's a bit of a round up, starting with the all important new-term's class information.

Glastonbury classes continue in the Goddess Hall, Mondays at 11.30am. By request I am going to be focusing on Tribal Fusion style this term, so we will be looking at the stylisation, musicality and evolution of this style.

Bridgwater classes recommence on Tuesday the 15th September at the YMCA at 7.30 pm. In October and November there will be a slight time change to 6.30pm, just for those weeks then back to normal in December. I've been looking at some classic Golden Era dancers for inspiration for this new term.

So what's been happening in bellydance this summer?

The summer break began with the hafla. We had a brilliant day of workshops. Demelza Fox was absolutely bewitching, both in her teaching and performances. I've had a lot of excellent feedback from those who attended her class. Samantha Riggs gave an energetic workshop which resulted in a brilliant performance where she turned the attendees into her own Bhangra gang. I was extremely proud of my workshop dancers, who all opted to join in and perform my Dark Cabaret choreography at the hafla.

Sam dancing Bhangra - photo by Angie Budd

The evening hafla was a roaring success. We had some fabulous performances and I have to again thank the lovely performers who came along and shared their dancing with us.

During my "teaching break" I also ran two workshops for a group of dancers visiting the area, one on tray balancing and one on stage presence - that was a marvellous weekend which wrapped up beautifully when I got to watch them perform in town for the Glastonbury Fringe Festival, great to see them putting their stage presence tips into practice too!

I've also been up to Manchester teaching a workshop for a large exhibition, a couple of hen parties and of course Glastonbury classes have continued, Bank Holidays and Goddesses excepted.

I've been working on some new choreography, which I am very excited about. I've been enormously inspired by training with Alexis Southall this year and I've been taking things in a whole new direction. I am also working on a super secret collaboration with an amazing dance partner, but I have already said too much.

Then, on top of it all, I discovered one of my favourite fellow dancers, Dawn O Brian teaches a monthly drills intensive in Bristol, so I went to that, which was awesome.

Somehow I still managed to find myself missing the dance community, so I started a group on Facebook, to help dancers in the South West to network, socialise and organise themselves.

Doum Tekka, our resident drummer organised an event in August. Originally planned as a picnic on the Tor, though the weather sent us undercover. No spirits were dampened however, we had a whole bunch of drummers from all over the place, including Ommadom from Wales and some visitors all the way from Ireland. The Ommadom dancers rocked their thing and even took a turn out by the Market Cross to cheer everyone's Sunday afternoon. It looks like this will be a regular event, so I am looking forward to that.

So it's been a dancing, drumming, teaching, costume making, conditioning and planning kind of summer. I can't wait for the new season of classes to start so I can take a break.