Mia Shauri Workshop

Last Friday,  I went to Penang attended Mia Shauri workshops - Samba belly dance and Flamenco dance. Mia Sha'uri is from  Puerto Rico. She has the most beautiful classic length hair and she is gorgeous! I have to say I am still ‘high’ with her Samba belly dance! I love the way she teaches and I enjoyed the unique way of mixing bellydance with other fusions. From the slow and sensual, to fast energetic steps, the technique of each movement broken down, I love  many of  movements compliment Middle Eastern dance with fancy foot work and rolling hips. It was truly a new experience to spice my dancing. 

When come to the Flamenco dance workshop, Arghhhh!! The art of flamenco dance is always difficult to dance,  the sweeping arm movements and rhythmic feet stomping, it was not easy for inexperienced dancer to dance. First of all, you need stronger flamenco passion and technique to pick the flamenco choreography. So in this 3 hours workshop, Mia taught posture, turns, footwork, strong arms, graceful hand and floreo (arm work), structure, and some major palos of flamenco. She drilled each combination many times, the music kept playing and she kept dancing and  we were all following all those little combinations without thinking before she moved on. That is when we got our surprise at the end of the workshop, everyone have to pick two movements to dance to  those combination.  It was a good, useful and fun day. She was such a patience  and keep  reminding our bodies  correctly aligned when we dance. Mia also gave as much information include history, and interesting topics about the flamenco dance.  All in all, I was happy  to attend two workshops with Mia Shauri,  it is always useful to learn something new!

Saturday was a WBDD show, my students and I didn’t  attend this time.  I did not attend Sunday workshop. But I had an awesome time hanging out with friends, it's good :-))! 

Me with gorgeous Mia Shauri after the workshop.

Meeting with Nanci Traynor

I just came back after visited Nanci Traynor. Knowing that she is leaving Malaysia in June, I feel sad too..... :( And as always, all good things must come to an end! Nanci told me beside teaching Yoga and Tribal belly dance, she cant earn enough for a living expenses in Kuala Lumpur, Ya…the field of dance is highly competitive nowadays. She made the good decision for  her dance career in the future by leaving Malaysia. 

Nanci Traynor  organized Beatrice Tribal workshop today, 13 May 2012, I would love to be there,  but I really cant go due to my very tight schedule.  I am already back and working now in the  office. Nanci only expected 10 participants and I hope she manage  to get more.  I hope our local belly dance teacher dedicating their full attention to their dance. It does not matter what kind of dance you are pursuing, either.  Most importantly, fully committed to dance! Remember, experience and exposure in a variety of dance styles is important for creating versatile dancers.

  

We talked a lot about dance in belly dance circles. A lot of time  the dance community did not see her. I don’t know what’s wrong?? I guess because she is very honest and straight forward, and I really admire that.  Most of the time Nanci is doing Improvisational Tribal Style Belly Dance. She didn’t choreograph it! And there was no choreography in 30 hours workshop, which we were studied with her last time.  I have to admit, some of the participants felt frustrated because there were too much art involved. But I was  impressed by the way she balanced content and technique. I have to say that I don’t get a negative feeling of that, I respect what she do. Part of what we learned was the arms, the posture, the formations, cue and move. Nanci add a cue that is consistent with the format and add something fancy such as a turn. The moves are changed through a series of subtle cues and transitions made by the lead dancers. It was interesting that we lead again and again  during the workshop. The beauty of the dance is you can dance with anyone else, anywhere in the world who also understands the 'language’. You don’t need the choreography.  May be some of the dancers prefer the choreography more than improvised.

We discussed our views and the way others view belly dance, things we’ve struggled with, and how our journey within the dance has been. I believe hard work and dedication always win out in the end. If you believe in yourself, never give up, and work until you see your dream become a reality.

The dinner was great, no one drank, I am  happy to have a chance to say goodbye to her! We didn't have much time together, but I appreciate our teacher student friendship & I hope you will remember me always! Looking forward to see you Nanci, what we promised somewhere out there, very soon!

Traditional Chinese Dance Competition

Last week I was called to  judge Chinese Traditional Dance Competition in conjunction with the University Utara Malaysia (UUM) Cultural Festival 2012.  I am honored and grateful that UUM have invited me as a chief adjudicator in the dance competition. Over the last 3 years, other than UUM,  I have been involved in the School  activities  judging  the Chinese Traditional Dance Competition.  The other one was Northern Region Chinese Folks Dance Competition (吉北華小中華民間舞蹈觀). Many of you may only know me as a belly dance teacher,  are you surprised I jumped the fence and reveled in the opportunity to judge Traditional  Chinese  dance competition? Some of you asked me do you charge when judging? Of course YES, I charge my judging fee and  I dont judge for free!!!

So for all of my young dance students  that I meet in class, competition, I hope that I can make their  dance life happier and healthier and mostly,  MORE FUN!  It’s such a great as  their  teacher, such a fabulous life style, such a rewarding return when I see they fall in love in dance.  I am happy I have been fortunate enough to wear many hats in my dance journey. Beside from  managing studio,  be a  competition judge  several years,  and done almost every job behind the scenes of running a performance from lighting design to stage managing. Dance has played an integral part in my life. I am thrilled that I am able to share my passion with you. 

So far the Dance festivals in school  include competitions for teams only, it’s simply serve as a cultural event focused on  a competitive element,  develop   a great team bonding exercise for a dance group. Serving as a judge in dance competitions is not an easy task.  Different judges have different predilections in what they want to see, some might be especially interested in technique, while another wants to be moved by musicality and expression, but both factors are obviously important and need to be considered. To me, many times this is an unappreciated job, yet the dancers’ supporter/family often make unkind comments because they disapprove of the competition's results.  When you sit there for hours, watching then judging groups of dancers,  some dancers don’t come in — they leave something of themselves outside of the dance. Others come on the floor make me looking  and  keep on looking. I see that spirit in every move,   in the expression in the eyes and their energy, they made me remember them. 

To clarify the judging criteria, for me it is more about the traditions and the costuming too. Costume must be something that isn’t what everyone else is wearing when competing.  So I look for teamwork first of all, then emotion and togetherness in the spirit, Energy is exciting to watch. I've noticed that, it always seems to be the most energetic group that wins. But the energy must be controlled, not wild and the rhythm throughout the whole performance, all  the elements that combine to create a beauty story. I feel this is the same across all kind of dance. Other judges may see and feel differently, but that is my criteria, of course, most judges held their own opinions, and try to do the best and most conscientious job. 

Keep My Dream Alive!

With the end of April fast approaching, each day I continue to work hard to keep my dream alive even though I am having really hard/stressful  time during the past few weeks. My mom had kidneys failure and she has been on dialysis, three times a week for the rest of her life.  We all  love her  so much but  there's nothing to be done to really fix her health problems.  There are so many other things that my family members are  going through -- too many to list. Thanks God that her  first dialysis went well with no problems. She had to change her eating habits and  this has completely changed her  life too. We are  try to make her  life better as much as we can. I've been by her  side through this whole horrible process, and I'm not going anywhere.

I have lots to do!  I will not stop during my stressful time. I  start to go  back to my dance routine and went to Hadia belly dance workshop, only Saturday. So happy to see Hadia, she is one of my respected dance teacher!  As usual, I still participated in her ‘Body Logic workshop’. What Hadia did was to start with technique, she had us drilling proper move many times.  She was giving so much information through the entire 3 hours to help the new participants understand the nature of oriental style dancing. I can see some of the new participants  felt uneasy of her Body Logic combination sequences.  That was very useful and I am really glad to polish my technique, I love that!  The afternoon workshop was the drumsolo!  You know me well, I hate choreography, I never dance it and never teach it. I always choose to create my own choreography. The drumsolo workshop was great cause I rehearsed many time in her  technique class, I actually felt I was dancing a lot in this workshop,  I was exhausted by the end of the 3 hours.

I had an amazing rehearsal last week  with my students. Not only the class was great, the students  are all working hard, they are all so respectful. I have loads of interesting news and events to spice up your dancing life!  I am starting to think about the beginning of May. This time of year always reminds me of celebrations – Mother’s day and Penang World Belly Dance Day charity event. I am participating  my solo dance, wish me luck to complete the whole choreograph.  

Vietnam Trip

I am back at work today! I'm thrilled that I'm getting better. When I went into my workspace this morning  to grab a few things, First - I tried to remember what I was doing. That's what it has been!! A week of discoveries….first – my Vietnam trip photos.

My Vietnam trip was easy and free holiday! The people and culture of Vietnam have certainly made an impact on me. So much to tell all of my adventures while in Vietnam, and so much that I'm sure I have yet to realize and recall in last 3 weeks  and not immersed in the fascinating Vietnamese culture.

First was the motorcycles!!!!! There were motorcycles everywhere. Seriously, it’s impossible to cross the road because of the motorcycles! Our young tour guide said if you don’t have motorcycle in Vietnam, you cant find a girlfriend. 

We  visited to Cu Chi Tunnels! Before entering the tunnels we watch a short introductory video showing how the tunnels were constructed. It’s was an unique experience and a feel of what underground life in the American war time. There were also a numerous 500 pound bombs craters made by the bombers. At Chu Chi tunnels they even have a shooting range where you can shoot  M16, M60 or AK47 & etc. I bought  5 bullets to shoot the M-16s, First time in my life for shooting. After the small shooting we then return back to hotel. We took a quick shower and headed to the Ben Thanh market! The Ben Thanh markets  (shoppers paradise).  It is  located within walking distance from our hotel in district one.

Visited to Mekong Delta next day - which is known as the rice bowl of Vietnam. There are lots of islands and towns around the Delta and we visited many of them and travelling around them by boats!  Passing by local villages we can see their peaceful daily life. Then we got on a small rowing boat (a sampan) to explore the narrow water ways around the island. We went to another island , where we were shown how they make coconut candy, rice noodle, visited a bee farm, sip special tea with honey,  enjoy tropical fruit and  watched a Vietnamese traditional music! Then had lunch and some of our tour members went on a bike ride to explore the island and local village. But we just sat relax and enjoyed the local Vietnam coffee in the restaurant. In the 3rd day  we went to Cai Rang floating market . See the beautiful scenery and daily activities of the locals. Walk around a village, visit a rice mill. Have lunch at a local restaurant on the way back to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)

We only had I day trip in  Mekong Delta - it was a great escape from bustling Saigon and a chance to see how Vietnamese people live and make a living.

These are Delicious!!!!  Hot Nuang (BBQ Eggs)

Boiled duck eggs!  One of  Vietnamese Ah Pek  spoke very well mandarin to me, he put the eggs on our table while we were taking dinner,  he recommended me to eat the boiled duck egg.  I jumped up from the chair when I was told that  the duck eggs have been incubated  for fifteenth days,  they believe it’s good for health. So cruel!!! 

Hair shampoo in small pack still can get in Vietnam city.

Painting Shop

Petrol station on Mekong River

Motorcycles!!!  I watched how the traffic police man control the traffic! I began to salute him!!

Post Office

Tourist Shopping - Ben Thanh Market

Row row.... row your boats (sampan)

Life on Mekong River!

Boiling water at roadside stall

Business Mekong Delta in the morning!

so desperate to earn a living

Coffin carried by boat

Visit Bee Farm

Chu Chi Tunnels - There were also a numerous 500 pound bombs craters made by the bombers.

Chu Chi Tunnels

beloved family buried beside the house

Busy Transportation on the river

I'm Recovery....

I have done my Laparoscopic surgery on last Tuesday. Although I was scared at first but I am happy after the monster tumors out of my body. I will not to suffer anymore in future (for heavy bleeding ). I am also thankful no abdominal incision (the abdominal incision, one in the base of the belly button and 2 smaller incisions near the hip bones) needs to be made.  My  surgery was an 'outpatient' and I was discharged by late afternoon.

I have peed blood, fever on 2^nd day,  think that carbon dioxide gas from surgery made me feel like dying - the pain was in my neck and shoulders. And now,  I felt fine not really pain, but  soreness when I tried to bend over, reach for something or sleep on my side. I was told not to drive, lift anything heavy, no heavy housework because there is still healing to be done internally. And the hardest part is  I was told no dancing for at least a month :(.

I am going to see my doctor again on Monday, before I drive back to Alor Setar. I hope I can drive as long as I’m hyper aware of my energy level and don’t overwork myself.

No complaints from me. I am resting  for a while longer, and will be back to dancing and building back some of my strength and energy once I’m healthy again.