God So Cruel….Human So Cruel...

Cruel…Suddenly it’s true! No longer that I choose. When someone is cruel towards me personally, the hurt can be devastating, particularly when I have done nothing to deserve the unkindness or cruelty. I may even ask, why are people cruel? Why are God so cruel….?

Ok, so this blog has nothing to do with dance but I'm human and just like everybody else. I can break down!! Somehow the encouragement I had repeated in my head all day was gone… The last few days I can't get my mind off of someone who hurt me, and I feel just awful. I curling up on the couch with a great book cheers me up. And I keep reminding myself that I am worthy, my mind keeps telling me positive things.

Crawl into God’s lap, and let myself cry there; let him stroke my hair, and whisper to me that this time will eventually give me enough strength to see the light that eventually shines through….

I sat down and I opened my happy notebook. I am touching and Thanks for everyone concern. I am sorry for my last blog post that made my students worried. I cancelled my 3 teaching classes to calm and relax. I felt better now. A thought has occurred to me. I keep myself busy…ya…I love being busy, I love having my room filled with my costume, books, accessories need me to tidy up, I love all of the problems that want me to solve, and even the ones that don't get solved can teach me something.

I will be strong and continue to learn, No big deal! This “little” cruelty did not affected me. I know I have a journey ahead of me, but I plan to go on this journey strong in my faith, and knowing that the outcome will be a good one. God you willing response to me?. I am waiting to hear His voice right now…..

Cheer Up! Cheer Up!

I suppose to be very happy today when I got these messages :

"You are all in white, with your arms extended, your wings ready, opened to embrace the universe. I would like to share this inner glow. It attracts me irresistibly. Will you be my friend on this facebook. Women are Goddesses.”

"I love your Hafla theme and and your white costume and wings. You look like a Moon Goddess in the spotlight! Fabulous planning. You look very beautiful”

Thank you for your kind words, Maryam Dominique Ghassémi. She is one of Nanci student. Thank you to so many good friends and students. Thank you for all the good wishes! That’s all because of belly dance passion that make me plan, think, do, move and creates magic in my life.

Every day I am amazed my passion grow for this beautiful dance. I do need encouragement from time to time, when things aren't going well or when I feel unsure of myself, I need it more often than others. But during that time it's good to know that there is someone who is always there to give me all the love and all the encouragement I need every day.

I am crying when I would have to make some sacrifices now, I feel like everything I worked for is gone! It stinks! It hurts, stings...hurts, it’s uncomfortable. Well, I would take a little while to get over my hurt feelings. I tell myself to cheer up but tears come all too naturally.............. I am a crying Goddess today!

Mistake on CDs Again

It was my Big mistake again on the CDs. My troupe supposed to continue to dance to the 2nd track song after their 1st dance. Remember we got performed on the 12th night? Just 2 days before the hafla. I forgot to put back that CD and it was kept in another bag outside the ballroom (with my maid). While you girls were posing after the 1st track on the stage, it's too late if I walk out to collect the CD from the maid, finally I decided to let the emcee announced the technical error on the CDs. A bit disappointed let you off the stage! I apologies.... All in all, you girls did a good job on the 1st track. I always make a check list of what I need to bring - and I did this one week before eh...something went wrong again!

And helper members arrived late, it's true eh.... a bit ‘karang-kabut’ when some were no experience in handling. I briefed everything about the event a week before, come early so you can find out where the changing rooms are, where to get your seat, get the program to check the time for your turn etc...but some of you don't know where to find your sitting table. Thanks for your time - not puncture students, you missed out the group photo fun before the event start !! You guys finally got to see what goes on on hafla. The table was overflowing with yummy foods and the ballroom smelled amazing and the lights and tapestries gave the room the most wonderful atmosphere! In conclusion, tell me about your experiences on this hafla.

Magical Wings

I absolutely love my white Wings. I have wanted to dance to it for over a year. I finally found it...I appreciated so much the techniques I learned the bird arms to hold, to swirls and learned which muscles move when practice. Thank you to Asyhe private workshop. I got a ton out of this workshop. What I can say is that it was incredible, the best workshop experience but I honestly can't really talk about it. Anybody who want to learn the completely wings techniques, stay tune for Asyhe workshop, I will let you know when these are, as soon as I’ve finalised everything.

However, I am proud of my performance as that was completely improvised from my heart. I don’t smile when I danced with my wings but the music made me move gracefully with them, I love the sexy dance walks with wings, I made myself sexy...hehe. This was a lovely experience. Ayshe said this : Wings are absolutely unforgiving: used in an amateurish manner, they will exaggerate postural ineptness and inadequate muscular control. Oh my wings...I am pushing myself harder than ever maintaining the "line" of the body, a strong, elongated, arched silhouette bespeaking thoughtful study and practice. I'm looking forward to the end result almost as much as I'm enjoying the journey.

Well, my white costume really work for my barrel turn, the flow and the music. I started sewing the bra top just before 5 days of hafla. Thankfully, it is not heavily sequined, so even if my shimmies were fairly small, the stage lights reflecting off the sequins made them visible.

My friend wanted to borrow my white costume, I’ve been wanting to work on a new costume for awhile now. I have many inspirations that are helping me to create a look that is my own. I want to create new bra, harem pants, and a skirt.

It was magical with wings...... Hope to see you there next year!

Our Grand Hafla Party!

Back to work today! I am still recovering from our 3rd Annual Hafla this past Saturday. It was such a long day but well worth all the effort as the hafla was a huge success and everyone had a Blast!! So nice to see everyone enjoying themselves in the Putra Ballroom. I have no words for this night. At 7.45pm we started off the performances. You rock girl! Big thanks to Seow Ping - it was her debut as a Emcee and I thought she did an awesome job! We will have teacher & students celebration on this Wednesday Night in Sentosa Regency Hotel at 7.30pm. Upload few pictures here.... Hope to see everyone there!!

Rehearsals Month

We just finished our rehearsal in the hotel last Saturday. We sweat a lot because no air conditioning supply during that time and we only have 2 stand fans. It was pretty tough and we did many rounds for the group dance. Every year, I have new students, and they never attend the hafla before. Usually I will encourage them to perform if their confidence built up.

I ‘screwed’ my students when they don’t pay attention. We have so much to do and so little time! We only have 4 hours for the rehearsal in the hotel. Ugh... So sorry... When it comes to performance, there are rehearsals to attend, choreography to learn, costumes, accessories and some extra make-up to purchase. There are photos, video need to be taken, tickets for the show for family and friends, etc..& etc. So here to remind you, every performing is expensive!!! Aside from the money, there is time commitment! It is good manners to show up for all of these rehearsals, so that is a major time commitment.

Group Dance - We had spent the entire month of October learning and practice. The back row dancers is sometimes more important than the front- especially when in formations. Plus, sometimes it's easier to see the back dancers depending on where we are sitting. Performing can be one of the greatest experiences in your dance studies. Just remember, enjoy this moment and keep in mind that you are part of the group.

By the time we done with the rehearsals, we were exhausted. I came home and I was a zombie for most of Saturday. I just do nothing and went in bed at 9pm. More rehearsing tomorrow, my stress levels are going through the roof! I have dances to learn, so I’d better get back to it. Okay, time to get some sleep. See you very soooooooooon.

Beautiful Art of Oriental Dance

Oooo!! This is my favorite of Oriental Style!!

Power Of Softness - Oriental Dance

Received an email from Hadia and knowing that she is back in Canada now. She return to Budapest, Hungary after a 3 year absence and she was in a truly inspiring week with her very talented student - Mercedes Nieto.

Mercedes Nieto is one of Hadia’s student and if you ask her she will tell you that Hadia is her #1 teacher and mentor even though she takes classes with other people all the time to keep growing.

Hey! despite the belly dance superstar, the world is full of fabulous Stars ! I watched Mercedes Nieto's video when Hadia told me about her in March earlier. Since then, Mercedes became one of my favorite dancers now! She is adorable! Her interpretation of the legendary Oum Kalthoum song is absolutely stunning and lovely!!!!I Her expression, movement, emotions, flow is an incredible honor to watch it all day long.

To be honest, I began to see the differences in the dance styles. Earlier years, I began dancing in American Belly Dance style. The “Belly Dance” in local is usually the American Belly Dance comprised of various components taken form different areas of dance. The result is not a traditional or culturally of Middle East culture or dance ethnography. And some do-it-yourself dancers are skipping lessons and turning to YouTube learned by observing and imitating. Of course, it’s impossible to stop people from imitating. It’s also unreasonable to blame the YouTube. I am here to say dancers would continue to hurt themselves while trying to copy what they see. It remind me Hadia’s made the elegant statement for her fabulous warm-up and cool down, and a section on body alignment. She really stresses posture and where the movement comes from, muscle-wise. Dancer need to take a good honest look at your dance talent. Don’t make the leap to professional dancer if your skills aren’t up to the level necessary to be successful. Keep Taking Class and Learn – Sure you could have danced for 20 years at your home but if you’ve never taken a class with the train instructor, your picture and resume are going in the trash.

Enjoy the video! If you say Mercedes Nieto it isn't enough good, please show that you can do it better.

What's Going On This Week

I got up and first thing this morning I had to drive about an hour away to a studio where we had our practice for the group dance that is going to finish by today. Most of my students are from different groups, to do something special in our hafla event opening, I created a choreography suitable for all level from different disciplines to shows "the team work” . All students need to learn a routine where all of us get there together. It was actually really funny having all of us train and practice together and the choreography was cracking me up. I was watching them do some of it and they were watching me and we were both laughing hard. Good thing is everyone's energy and enthusiasm kept us fully motivated!

Well, it is time to start to think about the opening. Here what I did before :
1st Annual Hafla 2006 – dancers line up at entrance and shimmy all the way to stage
2nd Annual Hafla 2007 - Live Drumming with Rosmadi & Wong Jui Siang (Drum Instructor/Percussionist)
3rd Annual Hafla 2009 – Candle Dance (make plan come and see it on 14 Nov)

I just wanted to remind everyone that the shows starts at 7.45pm. The show is going to be fun and yummy, featuring several performers who are coming to perform. I am looking forward to it!

Today is another day where I hope I get things done. A little anyway as I am already tired now. But I'm not letting my tiredness get me down. I got some good news, too! We have to perform on 12 Nov 2009 in one of Malaysian Chinese Singer’s wedding dinner. That is 2 days before our hafla event. Not bad! We will see many of Malaysians singers in the audience.

Get Stress In The Class??

Some of my students are eager for advice, always asks for help and likes me watching them and giving them feedback – these students get improve very fast! Some will ask for help occasionally when in real need and tend to not care if me comes around. Some are the type to really get nervous when me comes around, usually will not ask for help and prefers to ask her dance mate next to her or learn privately. And me, sometime I ignore when someone is teaching someone because, when ever I asked them, they replied " bo la... bo la" (nothing)

I always aware when I stress students out. I have to be careful about what I say in the class? What about being honest and saying what I see when a student stood in front of my eyes? So here I just want to send out a message to all my students to tell you not to worry when me come around to you. I am not judging you, I want to help you become the best dancer you can be. As much as it feels like you are on display it is always beneficial to get feedback. And Not because, you couldn't get the routine but I think most of you lacking practice. So even though I know I am stressing the nervous group, I will still approach you, watch and give you advice. Do not feel uncomfortable, as I said, I too struggled the same feeling when I was a beginner dancer. That is my job as a teacher, if I don’t tell you, I feel like I am not doing my job or giving you the best experience possible.

I know how you get busy, you make plans to do things and then you don't do them. It's ok, that's life!!! But remember, keep learning and practice. Take other dance classes and exercise classes to improve flexibility, agility, strength, choreography and more - hip hop, jazz, ballet, yoga - everything helps!!

Rehearsal + My New Choreography

More practicing with my students this week, which is a good opportunity to learn & polish their dancing skill! Last week, we did our 3 hours of rehearsal. It's just that we only manage to spend about two hours on actual dancing most times because there is always ‘SEMBANG KUAT’ (so much talking)!! No idea why so much talking when girls meet up… I want them really dance most of it, and I never stop the music. It was awesome! They worked really hard. Then we will start video recording next week.
And tonight we have another session for All students practice. I am not sure how long we can do it, some of students make noise because wanted to leave early and I do have to leave at 9.30pm to travel to K/L. Again, my fault for not communicating as well as I maybe could be, but we have all been busy at work, so tonight, be PATIENCE to wait for your turn to dance.
My new Choreography! My 4 minutes new piece! It's a great challenge to dance it with the energy. I don't think I've ever driven myself so hard this time, especially in time to music, I dance – Relax! One of student used to worry a lot more about how her danced compared to other people. I mean she bothered and worried about what people say and think about her… Makes me shiver when I think about someone bitching with someone else about me being ugly stupid or whatever… It’s kind of like, well you are surrounded by their big rolling EYES!!! Ah, here’s where I share my epiphany with her. I told her just be yourself lah… No matter how hard you decided to try, you'd never be somebody else, better or worse. And she replied this : "Yes, I'm ME now, As of right now, be myself, act as myself!! So much so that I always see myself from the mirror..."
Well, don’t want this turns out to be so ‘Cheong Hei…(long winded)’ I had so many dance-related thoughts that I've been having a hard time concentrating on just one of them long enough to write a whole blog about it. There's also so much crazy things have been happening in my life. That's what this entry is dedicated to!!

Before Show Pep Talk

Just a quick update for here...as it's been an eventful week....too busy to blog! what a busy and tiring week so far, but it's also meaningful that I am doing the never-ending task of organizing my belly dance stuff !!!
I am preparing the ‘candle’ for our opening dance. The dancers will hold a ‘candle’ in a cup in each hand. The group choreography is really nice and simple for all level, the song is upbeat famous superstar song. My student is worrying the ‘candle’ will drop and their hair are going to set on fire! Haha... I promise, we don’t need fire brigade or a fire hose on the night. We will dancing in safe! Of course I try to keep it a surprise to them until I show them the ‘candle’! I just got the cup today but the shape, size and color of glass is very simple design. Be patience, give me sometime to decorate the candle and the cup!
I am racking my brains on this one - hafla program. This is our 3^rd year of the hafla celebration belly dance, so I already know pretty much what to expect. This year, Beside my troupe dance and 5 of my students are doing their solo dance, we have hip hop team from Penang to perform. Woohoo! The program timing is very tight! One of my student brought up our program matter, and I agreed on her point of view! We need impact, we want more and more people to understand and appreciate belly dance as an art form and as a profession, no dance competition whereby we are all in learning stage.
One of my class have currently been suspended as a lot of time is being put into rehearsal class. I can see my students are so excited. They arrived early in studio get the before-show peptalk and have a short session for the dress rehearsal. Our costumes are all different, we have red, blue and white for opening dance colors. One has an all out cabaret costume, another a colorful gypsy skirt, yet another a fancy custom-made costume... It was fantastic!
My student are ready to go on stage. I have no new dances ready, so should I dance? Again racking my brains on this ....

Hafla Tickets Sold Out!!!!

What a busy few days... ! I made the decision last minute to go Hat Yai for 2 days while my students are so excited for the dance rehearsal. I go CRAZY buying materials there! Wooo hooo....of course spent more money shopping than I did!

Yee hah, My Hafla ticket reached out 31 tables out of 33 already!! In fact, the interest has been so great that we are now SOLD OUT!!! In my early plan, I limits my tickets for 28 tables, and now I printed another 5 tables. My students will get free ticket if they perform on Hafla (which is 2 tables without Numbering standby for students). My intention is to encourage my students to freely express themselves and build their own personal style and artistry from these endlessly of this traditional art form.

Each year, the Hafla has grown so much and we are so excited as this promises to be the best event yet! Thank you all very, very much for your support. Now it’s a matter of getting better and getting ready to dance. We are going to dance for the crowd! SO excited about it! Again, listen to the music, dance from heart, take it within and allow Spirit to dance the dance….

My Baledi Drills

I recently started teaching a drum solo class. The music brings together rhythms, which incorporate short sections of DD S T D TT, D T DD T, D T S T D T, D T T D T! It varies from traditional 'heavy' baledi to modern Egyptian pop. Haha..my students got torture by the oriental rhythm and my voice singing the DD S T D TT.....
Baledi or Balady means “ My lovely Country’ and also refers to the village or region of origin. Baladi is a Style of dance in Egypt. It is the dance of the people. You will find the Baledi in village and urban weddings and parties. It is also classically part of the Raks Sharki show.
This song was my favorite pieces and not too difficult – it comprised of three basic. Taxim/Baledi/Drum Solo. It starts out slow and gooey then gradually speed up, but never too crazy fast for the shimmies. I love baledi progressions, when I watch a professional belly dancer dances the baledi progression, especially improvisation with a live band, to me that is the "essence" of belly dancing, No matter what I see a dancer do. I love they way she convey the essence of femininity, her magnetic smile, feeling the music, and shimmying like it's going out of style! Oh her baledi will make me move
Baledi, belady, balady...so many different spelling? Doesn't matter, It just a spelling. The important things is I know how to play the rhythm on my laps and stomach for the "dom" and "tek", haha... Thank you to Hadia's Teacher Training! Egyptian way in this dance making it believable. I simply love it!

Big Mistake on Performance CDs

Kher Ting, Titi, Grace & Joey

I took up the offer when Arabesque kids are invited to perform at Star Parade Shopping Complex in conjunction with the properties fair event last night. I went together with my 4 kids and their parents. The kids get to dress up and dance for 20 minutes show – 1 group dance and 3 solo dances. When Kher Ting did her last solo dance, Sigh…. The CD starts skipping in the middle. Everyone turns toward the DJ and wonder why her music CD sucks. I saw Kher Ting was so disappointed on the stage. So I leaded her off the stage! I must admit that was my big mistake! The only time I played this CD in my car while driving. First - I didn’t listen through from start to finish. 2) I used the ‘cap ayam’ (cheap) brand compact disc! 3) it may be an issue with any CD or DVD burning software.

See, I always take great care in preparing the music that when I wish to belly dance to, but this time I did not present my belly dance in a professional manner!

It's a lesson for me, never never use the CDs that have never been tested. I must treat my CDs very carefully in our next performance.

The China Press Interview

Well, woke up by a phone called from The China Press advertising agent. I was told that my free newspaper interview ads published today. This interview was conducted and arranged with the help of friends in China Press, a leading Mandarin language daily newspaper based in Alor Setar. To help win friends and garner support in the advertising industry, I signed up the - The Smart Zone Advertising magazine and I get free of half page ‘about me’ in today Newspaper local news and information. Of course I have to pay the full page amount of advertising fee at Smart Zone!!

The half page was a good looking marketing mix. Woohoo… I am moving into brand marketing. When I read the whole scripts, I felt I am a super hero right now!! Yes, I agreed that newspapers have a unique talent for aggregating both the content and the sources for that content in ways that best meet consumers needs.

Anyway, the bottom line is that I am in the business of selling good feelings through dance. Beside observing my student’s progress in class, I am happy with my current level of business engagements and feel no need for additional advertising. I have met many dance teachers who are nice, competent dancers, with good technique and a business attitude. Some of dance teacher I communicated through email (3A Gurl Singapore), These people are willing to share information freely, they are friendly and pleasant. These people are successful. This is reminder that it’s easier to get a customer than it is to solicit new business.

Pesta Tanlung - Kids Show Talent

The Pesta Tanglung is organised by the Young Malaysians Movement (YMM) Jalan Putra in Alor Setar Mall last night. Kids love to show off, another chance for their talent show!! The show began at 6.30pm. Six of my belly kids joined the talent show. Wow…when I arrived, I saw many little belly dancers lineup in this event. Yea,,, a kiss for belly dancers!
Tonight, Kher Ting did the cane dance! It was her first solo cane dance. Thanks God her cane didn't fall on the floor when she danced. Haha… she worried too much and keep falling when practice in studio. She was much less nervous when she moves with the belly dance cane. Again Grace dance to Ana Yalli Bahebak. And she does a good job!
4 of my little girls were dancing to the same dance to show off their talents. The audience seems to sense that – BORING!! Boring to the same steps and same track!. As a teacher, how can I stop the student if they want to dance? This time, I would say they were just being brave to go on stage, and I felt they really dancing and looking good. I posted some pictures here. Be sure to take a look!

Busy with Computer

Writing Blogs - I am not a real blogger but it might be my favorite thing to blog about belly dance.

I’ve realized that way back when I started this blog the intent was for it to be mostly about writing my belly dance story, my experiences and my thoughts on dance, travel, story, costume, characters and etc. And now it’s become mostly about everything, including editing video, music, convert video/music to different format. Not only I expected to post my profile and work schedules, I realized that I need to be more tech-savvy because there are now technological expectations. Example : When I have to edit the music, or upload videos to appear on youtube. I want to update or change my website. Even more, I want to pick from around the web or even a creative work of my own. oh...oh.... I have so much things I didn’t expect to learn as a dancer. Just today I spent few hours trying out different programs to get our performance dance photos/videos convert different format and get it organize… Oh my goodness, that was the longest hours I've ever spent, so many hours have been wasted!! To bad I am non-technical background!

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri

I announced in the class that the studio is closing on 20th till 24th. (Sun - Thur) . Means that 1 whole week no dancing class. Wishing all my muslim students “Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri”. Those of you already stopped dancing for a month, remember to come back to practice and get ready to go on the stage.
Yea...Yea... I actually take this apportunity to do my own things – solo choreography, otherwise my student will complain if I don't dance on that night. I prefer to improvise.
My opening dance for 3rd anniversary is Candle Dance. The candle dance I wanted to do long time ago. This time I must create a fun movement on different levels, so every one can learn and challenging each other with our new dance moves and gestures.
One of my friend in K/L called me about the performance & the hafla event. Her new student never attend hafla before, she would like to join. I welcome her to join and dance together with us. She asked me what candle I use for the candle dance. Oh… this will surprise you on that hafla night. Counting down A very enjoying enening start now.

China Press - My Very 1st Advertiser!.

Ms Teh, my aerobics dance teacher recommended to share the advertisement. We discussed and finally signed up for 2 full pages. Yesterday the advertisement magazine published. I don’t have chance to read the magazine because I am in Ipoh now. Here is the advertisement softcopy I received from the China Press when I called them up.

Belly dancing is considered part of my work. So even though I feel like I ‘work’ about 18-20 hours a day now, much of the work is fuelled by passion, fun and creativity. The fantastic thing about being a Belly Dancer is that a lot of the work is creative, energizing and great exercise for my body and mind. It came to a point where I had to make some big choices about how to balance my life. The crazy number of hours spent in front of my computer formulating class plans, event ideas, creating new opportunities, organizing schedule, confirming reservations, doing paperwork, promoting belly dance, updating website, replying emails, blogging… …etc & etc (haha.. really a joke! Everyone is doing such a thing)