Planning for 2009

Do you know the current economy? Now that the economy is spiraling downward, some of my friends have been getting laid off of their part time jobs. Thus, we all have to save money by cutting back on some unnecessary expenses.

In December, It's very hard to stay focused on my dance schedule because X’mas mood approaching; I need to clear off my annual leave, take long holiday to stay with my family, go to Singapore visit my nieces…….

With my new class schedule, I will be doing the same throughout the years. I’m now planning for the new intake, then I will again embark in my crazy world in 2009! !

Back From Egypt

My trip to Egypt was a very fun and enjoyable in experience the history and culture of the dance I love so much.

Visited to the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt - Giza Pyramids. It was cool! Joo Nee and I got camel ride …hehe….seriously I afraid of falling down when the camel walk fast. The middle pyramid... It's really small tunnel and we have to bend over to about waist height while walking up and down to a very steep ramps... it's not too easy. (Luckily I did my yoga routine every day so I wont felt backache). Huh....It REAL hot inside!!! It's very cool to be inside a pyramid, but to be honest there is nothing to see except a small room…. We stay there for less than 5 minutes. Everything is gone to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and around the world.

We headed to the Sphinx and snap more pictures then head back to the Stables...it is bad that the Sphinx’s nose had been broken.

Headed to Egyptian Museum and see King Tut’s treasures up close. Sadly we are not allowed to snap inside the building. It got so much fabulous stuff, which really makes it amazing... but it's also got so much fabulous stuff that its packed and every room has item after item next to each other...oh! my eyes get tired….it's difficult to appreciate one single item because the tour guide explained fast and lead us to next …..

I took many photos at the Temples and Mosques and feel the awe of such ancient works of art. It was amazing we took a cruise down the Nile and walk through the tombs in the Valley of the Kings. It is also 1st time I learn how Papyrus paper are made.
There is so much to see and experience. This was an experience I did not set out to have in life, but glad I did.
Have you ever try the Egyptian food? I don’t really enjoy the local food there. Among the food, Koshary is only my favorite!

Last night I attended one of my friend’s birthday dinner. It was my big delicious dinner after 11 days of adventure in Cairo, Egypt. I really miss my home cook food after the trip.

Go...Go...Go..

Just a little update from my site. This would be my last blog before I abroad. It’s gonna be a long holiday for me and I start to miss my students, miss the fun, miss the music and miss the laughter in the class. I miss eating lunch or dinner with you and gossiping about others. I miss the laughter that certain students could invoke of me how to do this or do that. I miss teasing the students and them understanding what I am saying about. I miss being able to yell at my student…..bend your knee, flat back, shoulder down, chest up…relax & enjoy in the music…. Haha… but most of all I miss the connection that could be made between a teacher and a student........who spoke the same language.

I just spoke to Cindy. She has not been well for past few week. I told her I want her to rest well and want to see her in my class when I get back. Spoke to Audrey about her private training course and going to discuss further when I get back. Many of you asked me to buy the hip scarves, green, maroon, orange. blue, black as well…..oohhh…I will wear it on and get into the plane if my baggage is full ok?

Thank you for your well wishes and support to make my travel dreams come true! I promise to bring something for you and will share my Middle Eastern Dance experience in Egypt.

Hurray...Hurray for Me!!!!

Wooo huh…! Two more days to go…. Again and I cant wait..!

Tomorrow is my last class in Fei Yang studio… so will see you guys soon!

Hurray for Change… Money Time

Finally…..Finally… I got my Cairo-Dubai seat reservation confirmed!! Tell you… I really pray hard thru the whole week since I was told my ticket stub for an unreserved seat. Thanks God, I am blessed.

I saved for months and months and am now off on my trip of a life time, just the 3 week vacation in Cairo that I’ve been dreaming of.I’m going to money changer, get the best rate to spend. Hmmmm……but I’m on a fairly tight budget. Bad things I have to ensure carry plenty of cash - they are not accepted payment by credit card.

I’m now in count-down mode. I can't believe I’ll be leaving for Egypt this week! It's so exciting, We are going to have a TON of FUN in Cairo!! This will be my most memorable trip ever. Thank you to Paola for putting this together for us.

Thank You For Your Encouragement!!!

I want to take a moment to thank JP who commented or wrote me privately for the encouragement through this never ending journey.

Thank you.. thank you for your kind words, your comfort when things are going bad. They have meant a lot to me!

What a long, strange journey it has been! It is true that I have rough times in the first few year. And along the way many interesting and funny things have happened too. In all of this process, I had to admit that I enjoyed doing. Finally I was helping people doing something that they enjoy doing. It seemed like every person in Kedah who had never danced in their lives was now interested in learning how to belly dance. This was the moment I knew I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

I openly admit I have never won a dance contest. I never claimed to be the Best, the Biggest or the Greatest. I never study dance from an early age, nor have I received any teaching awards or professional recognition whatsoever. I just try my hardest to achieve my goal. It is important to encourage people to make physical activity a part of their everyday lives. Like anything else in life - you get out of it what you put into it.

This is A Never Ending Journey and this is A Never Ending Journey blog. I set it up is not with the purpose to blog about topics of interest me professionally, but it is sharing my learning path. There were plenty of bumps along the way. I will try to bring some past journeys those experiences and how they influenced, and/or still influence my practice and my approach in my belly dancing life.

If you have an activity you enjoy, volunteer as a way to get started, then see if you have what it takes to turn your interest into more meaningful use of your time. Be a good role model. Build physical activity into your daily routine.

Wish you luck.

Shoulder Shimmy...Egyptian Shimmy...

My student Jia Earn is practice Egyptian shimmy…hop shimmy shimmy...! She is a good but for the first time, she looked a little nervous.

I loved you! Woohoo!

NEW WEBSITE COMING SOON!

Good News !!! I just settle my payment for website. I’m going to launch my new website soon. This is the place for the most up to date info what I’m up to. In the meantime, please take a look around here.

Praparing To Cairo...

The evening was spent shopping. I bought some biscuits & snack food. It is something that can help me to save some money. I know I’ll be wracking up a huge bill before I get home, like souvenirs, costume, belly dance stuffs….

Bought some frozen food for my mom, maid and my dog before I leave to Cairo… 12 days is quite long……. I’m going to miss my family, students, friends, dog and especially my warm bed! But I’m excited.

I have finished packing my luggage. I bring only 2 pairs of pajamas, 3 pairs of dress pants, 10 shirts, extra bag for dancing costume…etc & etc….I'm going to think over the dress pants idea a little too. Am I finished or did I miss something?

Just want to share some of our happiness on 1001 Nights. See our future belly dancer here…. This is just a kid belly dancing. Kids learn fast!! This girl follow her mom to my class oftentimes, when I put up the music, she now what I’m going to do for my usual routine. Hey Girl! You are fabulous! Guess how old is she?

1001 Night Beely Dance Party

Thank you to all my lovely ladies, kids & all my dancers.
Everyone had so much fun on our 1001 Belly Dance Party!!!! The foods were so delicious and everyone thought it was great! Your performance have been inspiring to all! Thanks again for the fun and great treats!

Dancing In My Dream

Last week I got sick. I tried to ignore it. I took one day medical leave to rest at home. I thought I would be fine. No matter how hard I tried to sleep, I can’t close my eyes. Of course there is coffee make me awake. I drink coffee everyday to train my mind in a way to stay awake. My student called, and I just told them I was too sick and I want to cancel my class, but she sounded unhappily and hope I don’t cancel the class as she only dance with me once in a week. I did not wait to hear any thing else, I just said to her I will be dancing in my dreams. I got sicker and lying down…. the beat goes on ... till the next morning.

Sorry girl, I’ll replace the class for you.

Going to Egypt.....

I cant wait to travel to Cairo. Cant wait to meet all of you girls on 6th, I cant wait to enjoy the belly dance master classes, workshops, top all of that off with amazing belly dance gala performance, and this is a trip that I have always dreamed.
I am on the verge of emptying all my money in my bank, and wooh!, what am I going to do? Most of the money spent are spent on belly dance stuffs, world master class, workshop…costume... etc. I think I had to save some money for future use.
I and Joo Nee booked our flights separately thru the same company. Yesterday my agent told me that my ticket has problem to book the seat for coming back. But Joo Nee's ticket is OK. They asked me whether I can change the flight for coming back. I told her it is impossible and I don't care how they are going to solve it and I only want to travel together with our group. I mentioned all of the names who are going with me. The names I gave may or may not correct. So I'm wondering whether you girls can give me your passport names so that I can forward to the agent that we are in the same group. My ticket has sent back to K/L to reconfirm the seats. I was so frustrated especially after planning this so far in advance still not able to get a seat reservations to come back. Now I’m praying hard to hope everything go smoothly.

Cheers! Cheers ! See you in airport ya..... I look forward to sharing this trip with all of you.

It's Time To Dance

It’s been long since I last blogged.. Quite busy recently…... My PC get VIRUS again and I had to reformat it and install all necessary software again. I think I had to get a updated anti-virus software asap.
I am getting lazier and lazier.. What the hell is happening to me? Don’t know why, I am getting tired and more tired one day by one day, stress in office, feeling overwhelmed by the amount or work, how I wish I can reduce my works and get more exercise to help me reduce overall stress. Yes, I need music, I need dancing…. as dancing, and as a way to prove to myself that I still could, that I still looked good, that I still had control of my body. I need more time to do my choreograph, then dance and practice. OK ALL RIGHT! I get it! Like a smack in the Back of the HEAD. No more feeling sorry for myself, I'M GOING DANCING.

MODERN BELLY DANCE

I just completed teaching modern belly dance course. This is lot of fun. Yesterday we did a couples rounds practice in the class. Every courses I taught I made sure my dancers learn something new and exciting, I can see my dancers getting better and better which I’m happy to say I finally love to create choreographies.

For one thing, I communicate to students about the technique, the music and the expression of the dance as it is done where it began. Secondly, in the early days there was little available on the market in the way of music. Now there is almost too much to choose from, including traditional and modern Arabic music and fusion music. The music has become a rich field from which to select teaching and performance pieces. Thirdly, I’m teaching more on technique. I remember it took me three months in a studio practicing by myself to figure out how to do a "3/4 shimmy" walk, after seeing someone do it. In my classes, some of the students get it and by the eighth week and most of them can do it. We’ve had years to learn and refine teaching methods, so better dancers can be developed more efficiently.

Also, I don't mind if you use my choreography, either in a performance or to teach your students, but please credit me. Do send me a video of your performance! Thanks!

Raqs Sharqi Movement

I’m teaching belly dancing by levels. Level I, II & III from beginner to intermediate. There are two main topics that I tried to explain to my students: the development of a teaching method for Raqs Sharqi (bellydancing)--what it is and how it changed the dance-and an explanation of how one might define Raqs Sharqi. My discussion of these topics is strictly an outgrowth of my personal experience. I am tracing what I consider to be an important influence in the way that belly dance teaching methods developed in my area and what effect that had on the way that we in the Malaysia perform Raqs Sharqi or Belly Dance.
In Middle Eastern culture Raqs Sharqi is performed by movements primarily of the torso to visually reproduce the rhythmic patterns in the music. In order to teach belly dance, then, we might have a completely different concept about movement, music and dance, the use of pressure points on the floor and the use of the skeletal frame to create torso movements became an important way to coax a reasonable facsimile of raqs sharqi movements.
Usually my classes are small up to 12-15 people max. I give personal attention to everyone’s posture, the way to use muscles, how to learn the technique in basic format, how to develop core muscles. Of course First few classes are usually the hardest ones, if you are patient and consistent, you will see the results in couple weeks. It takes few months to feel really comfortable with the basic belly dance moves and how to put combinations together. Then you will learn the coordination of hips and arms or hips and chest which I also call layering, I introduce basic layering in my beginning classes, but walking/dancing with basic layering takes some time.
You are in the right place if you want to work hard, see results, dance beautifully but strongly, and trim those unwanted fat. I highly recommend also doing yoga and paying extra attention to your nutrition.

Lovely Ladies, Lets Practice Dance!

How are you over there? Do you do your homework after Nigma Workshop? I’m talking about the dance practice. I hope you practice too, a minimum of three days a week, three or five mini practices a day, or five minutes a day, or better yet both. After so many workshops with Nigma, I’m loving it! I even practicing in my mind when I travel to work, of course I cant lead which foot goes where. I just listen the rhythm of the dance, by tapping out the beat with a finger. Sometime I do finger dancing on tabletop during my office hours. It’s only way to help. But you need to get your legs and body involved often also. Muscle memory helps you remember your dance figures, and remember, practice makes perfect if you practice perfectly. Hurry up, make a quick note for a future practice!!

I’m also very happy and very busy right now working on our upcoming event. I will let you know shortly, but, in the meantime, I just wanted to keep you posted on some important message that Nigma has asked me to send her regards to all of you. She is having difficulties in accessing Internet in Bali. If any one of you has emailed her, she would not be able to read your email, so be patience, once she is able to access the internet, she definitely will reply to you.

Here I want to post some info of ‘MED Professional Training for Dancers & Teachers with Nigma in Bali for year 2009. The date has been postponed roughly in September 2009 and the actual dates will be announce soon. Get yourself plan to join Nigma’s next teacher training in Bali. For those of you lovely ladies who are interested to improve your dancing skills with MED Master Teacher, this is not limited to the mechanics of teaching movements, it includes how to deliver a good time by teaching your student dancing. Ideally you educate them and yourself at the same time. As a dance teacher, if you don't make it fun to your class, you'll lose them. This is my teaching experiences.

My knowledge and spirits have been greatly increased by an amazing time with Nigma, so I’m even more excited about the Teacher Training in Bali.

Belly Dance Teacher With Nothing To Teach??

There has been many dancers bringing in many wonderful artists to teach belly dance. There are also many workshops presented throughout the year. I’ve seen the teacher when she first started teaching, she went to workshops and bringing the choreography back to her troupe then performed all over in the local event, I know she teaches none of her own work! it was cool! They just want to perform without creating their own choreography. They don’t have to spend time creating, and it would be good to perform without giving a credit to the chorographer. Hey! they’ve forgot things like copyright issues.

Ok fine! I even seen one of the teacher B she learnt it from A for a while, and she become a teacher after that. And B is teaching the same choreography that A use in her class routine, and guess what, when you go to the showcase, they are all the same choreographies you will see.

I remember when I first started teaching, I spent a lot of time when creating my choreography. It nearly took me a month to finish the whole music. As I grew in the dance, with the right knowledge and a concise process of creation, choreography can be much easier nowadays. It takes time for me to really learn how to teach well. Besides, my ability to teach also grew and I didn't need other people's work as a crutch anymore.

To create an exciting, dynamic dance, all you need to do is mastery of oriental dance technique, knowledge and acceptance of your capabilities and limits, understanding of the oriental culture and music, a good ear for rhythm and instrumentation, and the ability to visualize the effect and feelings you wish to portray.

Choreography is a talent like dance which can be learned, practiced and improved. However, also like dance, choreography is an art.

Life of Teaching Belly Dance ......

I wrote an article for my belly dance in 2006 regarding my experiences teaching dance. Since then, I never write again. But on and off, I will write my blog.

I am currently busy. It's been quite a long time with not even a update in my blog. Shame on me!!! Lots of things happened and if I tried to tell everything, you would be surely bored to death. So here goes some highlights of teaching days…

Since I started teaching, I'm always curious ... I don’t hand out a printed copy of my class rules, and I just go over them verbally. I've taken many classes with other instructors, and I do not recall receiving written or verbal instructions from any of them. Each time when I teach a new beginenr group, I do have a handout that I give out the first night of class, a kind of general info about Middle Eastern dance and the different kinds of styles and my philosophy. I’ve found that this works well.

Sudent asked me CDs for home practice, Usually I never give or burn to sell. I bought those CDs by independent musicians records copmany, and each time I’ll write a review or email to artist. I’m supporting those artists so in turn can get more music in the future! In this day and age, most music is quite easy to find and purchase. I don’t want to reproduce it, which is not a right in copyright issues.

My job is to actually TEACH DANCE, and along the way I want to make that experience fun, challenging, and gratifying, no matter what level someone is working at! Always, whether in group classes or in private lessons, I bring to my students two things : an extensive knowledge of dance and also my ability to communicate that knowledge with skill, humor, and honesty. And frankly, Sometimes it is the student, and their ability, or willingness, and I try to nudge them where they need to go.

I recently completed my intensive yoga course. I have revised my warm up to more seriously address the core muscle issues. My workout is no more that 5-6 minutes in length, but does warm up. This is important for the person who really wants to learn how to dance, I mailed flyers for publicity and all the belly dancers I knew. I want to start a new class for BellyRobics. I believe that this is beyond the "something fun to do" stage and into the "really want to learn how to dance" stage.

Fell in love with ATS Belly Dance

This is a hot topic for me right now. For as long as I can remember I have always loved to belly dance. This time I fell in love with American Tribal Style Belly Dance (ATS). The very first I attended Nigma’s ATS Tribal Certification Program, I was hooked. And it made me understand what is the different of ATS and Tribal Fusion. ATS describes the FatChance style of bellydance, and that the word "tribal bellydance" encompasses other styles, is the copyrighted Tribal Bellydance style of Carolena Nericcio, founder of Fat Chance Bellydance, based in San Francisco, California.

In this training program, we've all been drilled on the moves with finger cymbal repeatedly. I can really shut my brain off sometimes, because the moves are coming from muscle memory, and it's not dependent on what point the music is at, etc. That's what makes an ATS performance so magical, that silent communication that makes us wheel and move like a flock of birds.

I feel blessed to have belly dance in my life as well as the fabulous friends that this dance has brought to me.

If any one of you want to use the phrase "American Tribal Style" or the term of ATS for your dance style in an official way, there are resources available in the form of certification programs developed by Carolena, as well as teacher certifications and sister schools that are beginning to sprout around the world. I wish All Tribal Bellydancers owe a debt of gratitude to Ms. Nericcio and Fat Chance Bellydance Tribe.