Last Minute Change.....

Opppss…..Our Belly Dance Class will be closed  from  3^rd April – 10^th Apr 2011!!!

Due to the Japanese Earthquake, Tsunami and Reactor situation, Hadia’s  had reorganized her tour schedule and the date of  Hadia's Magical Javanese Oriental Dance Retreat has been changed to 3^rd to 7^th April 2011. Last minute changed of  plan, last minute  I reschedule plane tickets, last minute I canceled all class, last minute I start to pack, last minute emailed to Christine (the studio owner/organiser in Jakarta) for my hotel reservation  & etc… This is pretty stressful to everyone and I  get a little anxious. 

 

I received Christine's email. She said it will be better if I book my flight for early Friday morning so that I don't have to get stuck in traffic or get stressed. I want  to come back on 7^th and I must  fly back on 7^th April because I have a hafla on the 8th and I have to do my preparation work for Hadia workshop!!! I can imagine that this would get pretty hectic,  but, there are so much positive energy during these few days, that I don't even feel tired when I want to learn something new, I am just counting the day to soak in all of  her  knowledge!

Looking forward to our pro course and our workshops in KL..... 

UUM Cultural Festival 2011

Drove all the way back from Sintok UUM last night,  by  the time I arrived almost 1am. I was exhausted and with numb butts after the long hours drive!!!  

Another experiment judging the UUM Cultural Festival 2011!! It was held at University Utara Malaysia on 23 March 2011. Surrounded by it beautiful greeneries and ample space makes it an ideal place to carry out  Cultural Festival activities. Honestly to say,  I am  not from the National Culture And Arts Department’s people, but I’m  still shocked yet excited and overwhelmed when I was invited to be one of the adjudicator  for this event - the Chinese & Indian Dance competition. The rest of the 4 adjudicators were from Culture And Arts Department in Northern region.  Of course, we knew what our responsibilities  and abilities upon couple of meeting and discussion.    

I reached UUM  at 4.45pm. I was  glad because I  arrived there safely in the rain. Thanks to my good friend accompany me all the way to UUM.  As usual, as soon as all other adjudicators arrived,  a short briefing  and discussion start,  then  we headed straight to the competition hall  for  the 1^st session competition started at 5.30pm. The event attracted 15 teams participated throughout the competition. Each  team usually has 4 - 8 Malays/Chinese/Indian student. It was all 6 teams in the 1^st session. It’s really  cool  when the Chinese girls danced to  Indian dance and  the   Malay group  did  the Chinese fans dance. Of course the fan dance  was  absolutely beautiful! Even if the moves were  simple and easy, it still  hard to get it synchronized, especially moving to a certain way,  I guessed  their  wrist circle must be  killing them  during the practice.

At 9pm, before entering the hall for the 2^nd session,  I heard  the  sound of the kompang (a percussion instrument traditionally played during ceremonies such as weddings and official functions). Woohoo…. excited with the kompang team  were  there to welcome us! The  "kompang" team lead at the front and  2 kompang girls ushered all the  adjudicators to the sitting area. Ahhh..... I sang 'Negara Ku' before the competition  start. Cant remember how many years I didnt sing it!!!

Lots of food were served. At then end,  there was a  supper waiting for us, I didn’t join them, after shake hands with everyone and I made an excuses to leave, it really  too late for me. However,  I still came  back with full stomach and a big token!

Sorry for  not clear quality photo when I zoom in,   cant walk to  a good filming spot.  

 

Dance Making

It's 5:40am…..Yup I was up early again this morning! I was especially impressed with myself this time considering I only had four hours of sleep after I arrived from K/L last night. After spent a few hours re-reading an interesting book in the bus, it got me motivated and it really got me thinking choreographies week is in full swing, plans are going full tilt for November show. I got really excited when I think of this, it makes me feel so alive!!!

The weeks seem like I’m getting longer and jam-packed with more choreography and less sleep. Tons of music to pick and ton of choreographies to do. Today is one of emotion and energy day in my class. I feel I want to cry after watching my student picked my creative combo of Tribal Fusion! It was tough combo to beat!!! Suddenly all the joy, anger, love, passion, desire, sadness and all senses in body and soul comes out like a revolution. It make me overwhelmed. I love my job and I love making dances, especially my students!!! 

Choreographically I am pleased. Dance making - I gain confidence in working prescribe form, I dare to experiment with development ideas that are more personal. What makes me want to create a particular dance in the first place? I am usually inspired by one of two things: the music or the theme, and choose an appropriate form trying to communicate to the audience. Making such a dance decision is important to dance making. Whether performing as a team, a duet or solo, the right music can have a positive or negative effect on the overall performance. 

For our opening dance, I have choose a piece of 6 minutes music. I will keep dance moves simple and flexible, so we don’t waste too much time in rehearsal. My students, be ready to practice my prescribe format with theme and variation movement. Again I feel the most alive when I’m choreographing… 

Farewell Party

Farewell Party!  19^th May 2010 Thursday

Venue : Music System Studio.

Time: 7pm

 

2 of our little kids Joey and Shannen were moving to Kuala Lumpur.  I don't even have time to plan anything but we had a small KFC dinner in the studio! in the last minute decision.  

In May, Joanne is leaving to UK.   A “Bon Voyage” party is a sad one!!!  A Farewell Party Invitation  is a ways for you and me to really make the Party  especially memorable for Joanne Teh!! Considering the sad nature of having to part with loved ones, the party definitely be a lot of fun – a last hurrah to celebrate and savor the people and memories.

I will plan it, check with me your creative ideas, tips and suggestions for making this party one to remember…the kind that will surely create wonderful and warm memories.

Hadia Asia Tour Teaching Workshop

April 9^th & 10^th, I’m counting down the days of Hadia Workshop!!! This is the third time I have brought Hadia to Malaysia. partly because she is one of my mentors in this Oreintal dance and partly because she has such a knowledge  of this dance. I love her teaching elements, the magic of Hadia's technique and doing things small and large, and with proper alignment. This time I want to study Beledi Baledi Baledi with Hadia!!!

Some girls asked about  the private class,  I am very sorry Hadia   is not available to teach. She will go  straight to the airport after the workshop on Sunday. You see,  the workshops are advertised and announced months in advance. Those girls still can not make their plans for things. I think that sometimes they need a baby sitter not a dance teacher. Those knew about the dates from me  and from Hadia and did not even bother to check before they  booked their vacation! Hadia  also not be able to come back next year, so they will have to wait another 2 years before they have another opportunity to study with Hadia. Otherwise, you  might have to purchase  Hadia training DVDs online. This is why Hadia is  working on line DVD project, because people don't pay attention to much of anything these days or even seem to value the fact that qualified teachers come from far away to give them special training opportunities.  I will share with you the  information about this new project and how you can earn credits for free training DVDs online, by referring your students to purchase an annual membership. This is the very best deal as it will give you a new DVD every month and lots of other great extra  support material. Stay tunes!

Japan Earthquake And Tsunami

Today, as we all know by now,  Japan has been hit by one of the biggest earthquakes and left such a disastrous sight.  Even for a country used to earthquakes,  The  8.9 magnitude quake, was of horrific triggered a 4 metre tsunami that washed away cars, and even buildings. Numerous casualties are feared. This made me worried  about Hadia… as I know b this time she is travelling to Japan.  Thanks God I read her message on Facebook  -  she  landed in Sapporo and finally safe  in the hotel.

As I sat in front of my TV and watched the umpteenth images and news  reports , My heart sank! Let's pray for Japan together!

A collection of the most compelling images of the aftermath of one of Japan's largest recorded earthquakes from buzzfeed.com

My Birthday....

I wasn’t really expecting much of a birthday celebration this year, but I was pleasantly surprised! I also have so many “happy birthday” wishes on Facebook, I can’t even count them! Point being, I was touched by every single one of them. This is one of the fun things of belonging social networking! Thank you to all my lovely dance teacher, students and friends, you made me very happy!!