Wednesday, April 20, 2011

3rd MALAYSIA Open Dance Fest Competition


The 3rd Malaysia Open Dance (MODF) competition coming up!!! MODF  is a Hip Hop, Line Dance, Jazz, Belly Dancing, Latin & Ballroom dance competition and dinner hosted each year by the World Dance Academy in Kuala Lumpur.  It is a full day event and takes place annually on a Saturday each August.  It will be held at  :

Venue : Berjaya Time Square Hotel, Ballroom!

Date/Day : 27 August 2011

Time : 8.30am – 3pm (Day Event) / 6.30pm – 11.30pm (Evening Final)

Belly dancers/students,  are you ready to gear up  for your  belly dance  competition?  Huh huh…Dance competitions can be exciting and fun.  The artistic and athletic aspects of the performances, the flash of costumes, and the intensity of competition leave a lasting impression. But  it can also be a pain of your effort and time you put it. Remember, You're there to have fun, show the new moves you have learned and  impress the audience/judges, pick your favorite  dress that draws attention so you  can stand out in the crowd as you performs your routine. Don't get too wrapped up in how many dances you placed at, or how many medals you won. You may or may not take back medals, but with the right outlook, you'll definitely take back memories you'll enjoy for many years to come. 

Belly Dance Competition music for individual & troupe event (all dance present in 2.3 minutes)

Junior under 12 – Albi a Shiaha

Novice – Habibi Ya Elni

Intermediate – Layali Al Sharq

Belly Dance Troupe – Habosso

Tribal Fusion Troupe – Saplak

Advance – Music will be given on the competition day.

Register and Tickets is open.  Please submit your registration and order your tickets early to avoid disappointment. Please take some time to visit MODF for more details, it can also be a pain if  any number of small details  go wrong that ruin your day.

All the best and Good Good Good Luck to all!!!    


Monday, April 18, 2011

My Morning Pages - Focus!!!!!

I had a good sleep in last few night! I am fully-recharged and Zombie Zombie Zombie get off me!!!

I just can’t wait to get back to my teaching class!  After a week off, our dancing class started last week. At the studio, I’ve been doing some oriental dance classes. This is where I put on music, have no plan (no time to plan) and just dance. With basic step of course…so everyone can follow and just dance.

I have too many songs and too many things in my head and it keeps me going throughout the day!!! I need to be prompt, work hard and focus on my choreography. And here’s what I discovered : Learn to take criticism from my pro course feedback,  any  feedback  to be digest and converted into my strength. That is SO encouraging and challenging! So yes, I believe in no pain, no gain, I viewed in a positive way and it can spur me to do better.

Oh, I need to start my morning pages! Morning Pages have been on my “to-do” list since last year! What that means is, every morning, as soon as I wake up, straight away I went to my Morning Pages’ journal. It’s become my habits and that helps me get out of bed. My Morning Pages took away my negativity and helped me focus on what I wanted. Since then, I woke up 30 minutes earlier than I usually did and grabbed my journal notebook and wrote my Morning Pages. Then I got ready and went to work. Of course, sometime when I was too tired I can lose track of my thought, I just leave it blank or I write “I don’t know what to write” ;) Hmmm…. these pages are just for my eyes, only me can see!

So this is something that I’ll have to focus on doing. I need to wake up earlier in the mornings so I can get more done since my full-time job sucks so much time and energy out of me. I am definitely going to give this a try again! I am ready, I will pick it up a pen until I finish three pages. And write them every day from now. Consistency is key to results - – Hurray for me!!!! 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Oasis Hafla Night 2011


What a crazy night!!!! Me and Hadia were late,  it was 9.15 when we  arrived and we missed the exciting dance.  I had the greatest fun night with the belly jam!!!  Enjoying so much watching Hadia’s Oriental dance & drumsolo (12 minutes)! Enjoying so much with the sexy dance performed by Lynna!!! Thank you all from my whole heart that you came to support, it was a pleasure to dance with  you! Special thanks to all girls came  to see the show...Love you all! More photos on facebook! 



 






Professional Course Training in Jarkata.

Last week was my busiest week. Five days Professional Course Training with Hadia in Jarkata, hafla and 2 days workshop in KLPac! I had the greatest day even though it was crazily hectic! Jakarta was like my working trip nothing too exciting really…we have no time to explore the city. I would like to stay for a few days but the budget and my management wont let me!

Jakarta is famous with traffic jams and congestions. One thing that I like the Blue Bird taxi service, the driver are polite and always keep the car doors locked at all times while driving/riding in. Street vendors  are everywhere and they  sell almost everything that you need. From cigarettes, food and drinks, newspapers and magazines, arts and handicraft, music cds, toys, clothes and many countless items. Most of the street vendors  lay down their merchandise on the roadside or hold them with their hands and move about quickly from vehicle to vehicle during a traffic jam. So these vendors will take this opportunity to sell their merchandise. The conditions that they operate is tough, tiring and unsafe. But they have learn to adapt and work in such harsh conditions.

I have seen many beggars in the streets of Jakarta. Some of these beggars are children. Children should not be begging, they should be attending lessons in schools right?. Every child should deserves an education. Anyway… this is not the topic here… I feel sad whenever I see young kids begging on the streets at night.

The Professional Dance Course is a very tough training that I am looking to learn! Knowing that Dance has its own vocabulary, knowing that how vocabulary translates into your body, it is like an open doors for any dancer/performer, no matter what age you are. The benefits extend well beyond dance, a good sense of movement, breath and space is all so important, it really improve every aspect of performance.

Our class was a very small class, so everyone gets lots of individual attention. Hadia talked like mad throughout the class. My body uncoordinated, and unable to contend with the kinesthetic approach to learning that dancers embrace so naturally. She constantly verbalized how to think about the steps, explained everything, giving lots of verbal feedback, unlike in a other dance workshop, where there can be very little use of the spoken word. Hadia not only teach how to dance, but how to look at choreography they might be given in auditions, she gives the tools to understand how choreography is structured, how the counts are organized, and how to approach specific steps. in such a way that dancing doesn’t look boring! On my 2nd day training, I cant control my emotion, I cried so freaking hard when I was on  way back  to  hotel, from emotions and from laughter with Hadia how she want everyone transfer love right to the dance/music.

Hadia has a wealth of knowledge and some of it is knowledge that no one else can offer me. I feel that it really has made me excel as a dancer. As a dancer/performer, we really need to be in dance classes all the time, because we need to be continuously in charge of our bodies, not matter what your capacity or roles are onstage. So glad I went through the training! Each course have been my most insightful and influential Oriental dance training to date. 

Well, I would definitely need some more hours to sleep, but many things need to be done, music chosen, but no time for choreographing, costumes ready, flyers, programs ready...now it's working time.... lalalalala…:))))

P/S : I didn't take many picture while in Jakarta. But got a few shots while eating time.
woke up late and missed the hotel breakfast buffet, we went to Plaza M for yummy local food.

Ice-Kacang, but it is too sweet for me!

My favorite lamb satay, Yummy yummy!
Amaris Hotel at Panglima Polim

Passing time in Pasar Raya, my friend tried the bonda hair wig

Passing time in Pasar Raya - fixing  straight hair wig


Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Last Minute Change.....


Opppss…..Our Belly Dance Class will be closed  from  3rd April – 10th 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 3rd to 7th 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 7th and I must  fly back on 7th 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..... 

Thursday, March 24, 2011

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 1st 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 1st 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 2nd 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.  
 




Monday, March 21, 2011

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… 

Monday, March 14, 2011

Farewell Party


Farewell Party!  19th 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.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Hadia Asia Tour Teaching Workshop

April 9th & 10th, 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!!




Saturday, February 26, 2011

CNY Gathering


Some  photos  during Chinese New Year -  we had small gathering at Yin Shu’s  house. She then flew to Taiwan pursue her studies last week. Her dream finally came true! I hope she is doing well.....Happy Weekend to all!









Re-Mix Routine!



NEW Belly Robics class : starts this Monday, Feb 28th  7.30pm to 8.30pm!  

What do you get when you mix the ancient arts of belly dance to a modern dance music??  I already teach a beginner and intermediate cabaret belly dance class so this is a step in another direction. I have a great core group of students are looking for an exercise workout than a disciplined dance class.  Yay… I am going to start a new class is influenced by the new modern techno music  -  belly aerobics class.

This is pretty Re-Mix Routine classes for the "just exercise please" market.  The routine is  simple movements, non complicated moves that are least likely to cause confusion and or injury.  Lots of footwork from side to side and forward to back.  Basically I try to keep the range of movement entirely horizontal or vertical. A song that can be easily broken in to 8 counts, and a maximum of 4 movements/steps in an entire song, repeated and infinitum.  I hope you don't feel  boring. but the proof of the pudding for them is the sweat factor,   It doesn't sound like much, but once you get to the end of a 4-5 minutes song we're all sweating buckets, me too! And am sure your muscle soreness the next day.  Let's see how....

 

Going Back To The Start


I had a nice lunch today with a friend from work, we discussed topic, following our dreams. She has decided to leave the company to do something greater with her life.  Of course I am  honestly happy  for her, she is at a good age where she has no commitments and she can do as she pleases... follow your dreams, this is the best time to do it. We discussed my blog, she gave me her advise  trying to push me to follow my dreams... I promised her  that hopefully one day, and one day soon, I will try to do something wonderful with my dance career!  Thanks my friend  for the great pep talk,  since I am way older then you, I should be giving you the pep talk and I think I did..... here's to you and your dreams....


After Chinese New Year  was all over- I was exhausted and decided to take it easy for a while. It's hard to believe it's end of February. I've been missing blogging!  When I took my little blog break, I  received emails from people asking me if I was ok.  I was touched, surprised that my blog would be missed.  Thank you guys (you know who you are). After not blogging for several weeks, I wrote my first posts today. Yes,  I am start blogging again.  I have lots of random photos that I took from events of the last few weeks.  I'll share them with you over the next few weeks! It's good to be back.  :-)
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All classes back to normal! So happy to see the girls again! I am starting back at the hectic time in my life! Actually  this keeps me alive sometimes when I'm in the middle of the so much work here... It will be so nice. Plus, a new beginners group will start next week! A serious thunderstorm is about  to come!!!  Cant wait to welcome HADIA  back and the  two AMAZING artists who will rock my  world!!!! SERKAN TUTAR and MERCEDES NIETO,  I bring them to you again-united!!!!! Soon I will announce the artists of the gala show as well - it will be really amazing.  

HADIA PRIVATE CLASS
If  you  want a private class with Hadia,  please make yourself available before 8th April, Hadia  will also not be able to come back next year, so you  will have to wait another 2 years before to  have another opportunity to study with her.  Thanks for all your time energy and effort and I look forward to seeing you soon. Waiting for all of you here! Dance, Dance, Dance!!!!!! Oh…… how spectacular this will be!!!! Life is great! :-))))))))))))))

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Inspiration behind the new look & Goodbye!


Finally launched  my new look website, although happy with the content and layout of the site, there are still some of  the banners and need to work with a designer to create a consistent flow of images that depict the sections correctly…and the coding of the intro page still pending:)). 

I have paid particular attention to this while developing design of the new look! I really wanted my main content to be the focus rather than the design of the page, especially the workshop were made to catch attention. I love the colors, the bright green and black make them stand out above the background. I haven't added much work to my art gallery lately as scaling images to fit a design in all browsers is a bit tricky, it took me so long to figure that out.

In my last design I had linked my blog post, for  those who are interested, my website history  tells a story of my dancing.  I've experimented with over the last 6 years ... Has it really been 6years? :)  Wow..time flies! I am saddened to announce that I have decided to stop making posts to my http://arabesquebellydance-annie.blogspot.com site. This does not mean that I will stop dancing and entertaining; it just means that I will stop using current blogspot.com. Thank you for the feedback! I have read every message sent to me, and I have thoroughly appreciated all the kind words and support. It feels good to know that I was able to make days better for so many people. Without support from you, I would not have kept my site going for so long.

So, that is it. But, for now, I say "GOODBYE".

Friday, January 21, 2011

Super Busy Super Calm....



I am still doing my very basic breath meditation. Breathing just happens naturally on day 20th,  I  will be completing  total of  21days journal  and I am bringing to a habit. I am really occupied with my day and night that I hardly find enough time to rest, moreover when it comes to posting updates with regards to the happenings to my life, for sure my life aren’t  exactly dull... not exactly very happening at the same moment but we spent a lot of time practice  (we are currently preparation to perform for  a company annual dinner event) on next week. I watched their practice video, it  made me smile because the girls work hard to practice in a short time. Gosh…. The girls . were   exhausted but still can dance and they just want to dance... and I have too much energy within me.. hahahaha.. Think they  are all HYPERACTIVE like me!!

I was a bit regretted to accept this  offer as the person in-charge  is too demanding! When I had a conversation with him, I know he  has been heavily influenced by non-traditional aspects. First, he personally like that kind of hot and sexy dance uses pop, hip locks and drops, some undulations. I understand it can be very good  entertaining and interesting but I don’t consider it is strictly belly dancing! I  personally do not like that type of dance, and I think its honestly fake,  over done or  trying to incorporate a kind of "sexy" feel too it. It just makes me mad to say that something that is so lacking of culture can be considered belly dance!  I am  insulted  because I can understand what is it call  belly dancing (That's what I've spent my life learning) I think that people should know the amazing thing about belly dance is something that culturally beautiful!  And it is logical that as a dancer you would take the experiences and techniques that you have seen and been through, and you would add that to your dance, I am just most obviously biased because I DO have that opportunity to see and learn many many Egyptian style belly dancing.  

I have also found that many people are defensive about belly dance history. I am proud to say I  learn their  cultures arts because it helps me better understand the culture in a manner which is far more natural for me. Aahh....Anyway, everyone has there own opinion.  As I said earlier,  I never meant to insult anyone with what I said,  if I did I apologize,  I am not going to spend time on this,

As I have mentioned in my previous post, there is quite a lot of happening stuff going on this first quarter  of the year. The Chinese New Year gathering already line up!!  Some of friends and students  start planning  my birthday celebrations this year. I am not greedy,  I do not want to have a big celebration, I just don’t want all of you  waste your money buying  things for me! Hmmm...I am getting my BlackBerry handphone in next two week. Well, unless something happen and there is big surprise from heaven, I want to hear a birthday wish that I haven’t  got it for years. There is really only one thing I want. And I can tell you now that it’s not gonna happen, but it’s the first thing I think of when I start dreaming of birthdayland.

Because of my dance commitments, I just paid the fees  today for Hadia in Jakarta Training from 16th  to 20th April 2011. Next thing is booking the flight and accommodation. April is full of excitement!  Lots of crazy people, cocktails and great parties. I cry...and  my pocket cries with me,  Woo hooo !!