Fantasy Oriental Night (highlight) Video

I was very excited when I finally got this video. Finally got the DVD on the Fantasy Oriental Night 2011!!! 

Thanks to everyone who came out to Fantasy Oriental Night 2011! Thanks to all the performers, awesome performances !! You did rock the stage t!!!! And a super big thank-you for all audience who came to support Fantasy Oriental Night,  I  hope you enjoyed the show :)!  

Here is the highlight of that night event....Enjoy it. If you want to order, please email me at annie_arbq@yahoo.com

A Little Things ....Activities not exactly dance related.

I  attended  my company family day yesterday, it was compulsory attendance.  I think the most excited one was the  lucky draw with exciting prizes. Many  staffs  walked away with fabulous prizes. I got  a smallest one, a gold medal for sport activities & coffee cups and saucers set for lucky draw prize, not too bad though!  Whoops…I was totally knocked out last night.

 Bukahry's Staff - from several departments

Activities - Contest Making Ketupat

Hmmm…. preparing for the 4^th annual gala show event  has taken a lot of commitment,  I do get a little down during my busy schedule, my mind became gradually disillusioned by negative external influences.  I felt that running as a dance teacher of my dance business is quite challenging,  especially not to negatively set an atmosphere of problems whenever I am in the studio. 

I noticed that my chronological of event  appears to be going backward in time. Wow, has it really be that long since I last update? Holy cow! I have to keep consistent in the backward chronological order of events.  I really have to do is put focus on  own personal meditation daily, keep myself stay motivated  and excited all the time, that is  my responsibility to keep upbeat, happy and encouraging as I am the one who set the tone. I must trust myself !!!  Having say that, it doesn’t matter what I do, as long as I am  doing something that expresses my passion, whenever there’s belly dance world, and there’s my world! Then I will excel and I  gain satisfaction. 

Anyway, now that we are down to the wire with this annual show  and practices are going to be even MORE hectic and longer than usual, I've reschedule new intake class in December 2011.

4th Annual Exotic Raqs Sharqi Gala Show,

My dream :  Mercedes Nieto Workshop &  4th Annual Exotic Raqs Sharqi Gala Show, it became a reality, finally I want it a gala show!!! 

 

 

Hey all…. be ready,  I feel like I get tense, my dancers get tense, all my new dancers have bit of stage fright, but they  work really really hard to practice and practice! 

I know is that I'm really set on making a good impression, especially among other belly dancers who can be your toughest critics.  I am super willing to support any of  my dancers  that gets out on that stage. I feel that the act of putting yourself forward and giving of yourself as a dancer deserves respect and support. I am target to sell 40 tables. We have sold out the front roll tickets (19 tables) and 2nd roll of 8 tables. Hurray...more are coming!!!  

The end result is we do our best shows, and more importantly, we want to  have fun and have a good memory!

My Busy October !!!

Busy busy busy….. I’m happy to be flipping the calendar page. It is worth remembering that I actually don't mind getting back to work so much,  it always gave me a sweet memory on  Fantasy oriental night! I love the photos taken by the photographer – Joson Oh, and whenever I see this,  it makes me ridiculously happy. 

Me & Serkan Tutar

Serkan Tutar & Veil

Finale

Interact Audience

Short Chero for Finale

My Kids - Raks Assaya (Cane Dance)

Finale - Rock it  Together

I have almost forgotten to post my topics. I had an extremely busy week and wasn’t online most of the time. Usually, my weekends are not that much different from my weekdays—it's work, work, work and dance dance dance.  After all, it's almost time to start gearing for  November show and workshop.  This month is another busy month!

8^th October  2011  -  Tribal Festival Hard Rock Cafe Kuala Lumpur

15^th  & 16^th October 2011 – Sandra Workshop in KLPac.

21^st – 23^rd October 2011 - Wael Mansour Workshops and Master Class

22^nd  October 2011 –  Judging  2nd Taiping Open Dance Championship 2011

27^th October 2011 -  The Fitness Mom Contest, Alor Setar

28^th  October 2011 – Belly Dance Party  at Park Avenue Sg. Petani  

30^th October 2011 – My cousin wedding at Wangsa Maju.

Whew! What a wonderfully busy month!

Serkan Tutar’s Show and Workshop 2011

Argh….. The Fantasy Oriental Night and  a great Serkan Tutar workshop in Malaysia finally ended. I am back at work after  sending  Serkan Tutar off to Taiwan for his next teaching workshop. But my heart  still rocking, my feet have not landed yet! I have been overwhelmed by the excitement and response from our audience and have really appreciated the phone calls and feedback from well wishers that continue to flood in. If you are not lucky enough to have seen  the show, I would say, you really really really missed  the boat!

Thanks to all the amazing ladies, you all show a great work on Fantasy night. Now let’s all just take a moment to pat ourselves on the back for having a really fun, highly inspired, respectful, positive weekend full of great music, friendship, and community! The  performers at the show  not only showed up with enthusiasm and support and rocked right out in their dancing feet. I appreciate you all so much for supporting the show, supporting community, supporting the arts, and supporting each other! I am going to upload all the photo  on the facebook later. I missed out taking photos with all the beautiful performers, even forgot to take photo with my family. Also, if you have some great photos of performances (or anything else) from the weekend, please send them to me annie_arbq@yahoo.com . I would  love some pictures for this blog! Thank you Thank you Thank you!  

My Arabesque Kids on the show!!!

Serkan Tutar

Veil Workshop

Me and Serkan Tutar

Crazy Drumsolo Workshop

If you missed Serkan Tutar Workshop on Saturday/Sunday, I'm sorry you missed out on an amazing workshop that can't be duplicated, but I have a good news… Serkan Tutar is back in 2012. So keep your eyes on the details coming soon. I love Serkan Tutar’s  professionalism in many ways! He has been showing his great teaching! I am crossing my fingers for 2012 would be the great one!

Finally going to bed...this days was enormously exhausted, mentally and physically...but what keeps me super excited despite everything is the fact that in exactly 2 weeks, we will rock again!

3rd Malaysia Open Dance Fest 2011

Finally the 3^rd Malaysian Open Dance Fest  (MODF)  had passed!  It was very hectic trip and  I've been super super super tired after a long day of judging! When I got back to the hotel,   I can't sleep well on that night.   I just can’t drink coffee that late in the day and especially shouldn’t drink the fully-leaded that late. This  happens sometimes when I drink fully leaded coffee.  I’d learn…

I can't wait  to tell you all about my students results – Again, we got the Champion in belly dance under 12 and 1st Runner Up in the belly dance novice junior  by Grace Heng Song Yang , 4th Place by Carolyn in belly dance  intermediate open (with her own choreography). Jia Ying and Angeline didn’t do so well in belly dance this time, this is  probably because the contingent was even larger was expected. The novice open were categorised  in  junior 0-12, teen 13-20, crystal 35-44 and diamond 45-54.  Jia Ying entered  in  teen 13-20, out of which only 12 were selected for the semi-finals, it wasn’t easy either as this was her 1^st time  and there were more than 20 participants, after fighting in 2 preliminary rounds, she was not able to make it to the finals.  And same to Angeline entered in belly dance under 12,  she didn’t get through to the finals. She didn't expect to win anything - and didn't,  but it was a great adventure, at least she did it! 

Over the years, the MODF gradually improved and improved. I'm always looking for that special time of the year when I can finally go back to see more and more belly dancers fall in love in the art. This year, there were all 6 belly dance adjudicators  from all schools and all with excellent qualifications, including me!!  We  have one adjudicator - Joey Bay from Singapore, she is such a wonderful belly dancer!  All of us are definitely individuals, with strong opinions!  Besides that, during the judge,  we were not allow to talk, so there can be no easy collaboration - and there were always plenty of people keeping an eye on us.  We have only 2.5 minutes to rate at the end of each dances to fill out the score sheet, and we can barely see our own sheets after we handed over  to the organisers. Ha! I tell you, judging can give one a bad case of brain burn, it is also so much fun!  There were contestants I can remember over the years for good things or bad. There were one  or two contestants  wasn't there to respond when her tag number/name was called. I don’t understand if you are keen to enter the competition, why you left the dance  hall?  And I was impressed by Bronya  Bishorek, she was the professional emcee for the event, she know  exactly what to handle  and sound great for the event.  A good professional emcee  is like another pair of arms and legs of the organizer, she is awesome!!!

The  intermediate/advance open category was the  tough one!! The advance  music is one of my favorite song. And the song only distributed on that day when you collect your tag number.  I can see where the first placed dancer gained points. She accents different parts of the music and she knows the music, her movements are strong and  clear. Some  dancers definitely has more fluid movement, but I can see where she lost points.  Some dancers  tended to accent all the strong beats, the  BIG accents could be seen and that for me was over the top.  And some did accent to the music in different ways, but for me she did not feel the music, she was just imitating the styles of somebody, and it really  obvious that it does not come naturally to her. I am by no means saying  who  is a bad dancer or that she didn't deserve to win.  This is only my assumption. I'm just very picky about what I like and don't like in dance.

Troupes have slightly different guidelines for the judging, but it comes to the same thing - are they the best they can be?  Innovation is so important! Most of the participants were so nice to each other and so supportive that it was a very positive experience. And it always happy to see more troupe are  joining in every year. There are always new ones, and that also makes for a lot of fun!! 

Thank you for my students who joining the 3^rd MODF and traveled with me,  and I wish you all to experience it at least once in your life. I think competitions are great for developing work ethic, ability to push yourself and promoting proper technique. It is a very special feeling, and it really helped me to stay focused in the "arts".

Well…. I am now try to take a rest during the Hari Raya Aldilftri and Merdeka long holiday  break (1 week).  Selamat Hari Merdeka and happy holidays! Mean time, stay tune for 4^th Malaysia Open Dance Fest 2012 is going to held  on 25^th August 2012 at Manhattan Grand Ballroom, Berjaya Times Suare Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, see you there!! I am sharing some of the photos taken by Jason Oh, Thanks so much to him, I just love the photos!!! 

Belly Dance Troupe Competition, photo by Jason Oh

Jason Oh's Photo

My little Grace Belly Dance  Competition, photo by Jason Oh

Jason Oh's photo

Jason Oh's Photo

Belly Dance Troupe Competition, photo by Jason Oh

Jason Oh's photo

My student, Carolyn Belly Dance Competition, photo by Jason Oh

Me with Joey Bay from Singapore, one of the adjudicators of the "3rd Malaysian Open Dance Fest 2011"

My lovely students in 3rd MODF 2011

Champion Belly Dance Under 12 category

2nd Place Belly Dance Novice Open Junior

4th Place Belly Dance Intermediate Open

Just An Update....

Almost forgot about to blog, its not because of my laziness but the time constraint, it was so limited. Been busy for  the  competition, show, workshop  preparation, and additional class practice ….The more I do, the less time I had.... ! Right here it would be a great time for me to spend a few minutes to expel the things that I want to type for a few words....

Well, these days there's nothing outstanding happens but it just about busy  marketing Serkan Tutar’s workshop.  I think my hard works was rewarded, only  2-3 space left for the workshop, 22 days to go…so I am still  pray for the best! Show time is on 16 September,  I do not have any opening dance as some of  my students not able to  travel to Kuala Lumpur,  but I have the  simple and great thing to ‘wow’ Serkan. I have around 8-10 students are going for  our troupe/solo dance, and their parents will support!  I am so proud of them.

3^rd MODF,   The students are ready and we are coming….!!!! Very excited!  click here for the  program details  : Programe List . Good luck and all the best for all  the contestant!!! Stay tune for our  results!! 

I recently asked  an expert in online marketing for businesses, I asked a lot of questions about making businesses work on the Internet. He sent me  an e-book of Marketing Art. Reading through a few pages, I know this was what I was looking for! It shows a range of typical problems that most people in business have. It delivers practical steps that you can apply to overcome them. It is great to learn from someone else’s problems. I need to print out to read so I can  enjoy reading slowly. Eyes strain and blur vision if spend too much reading on the screen! Once I finished reading,  will share it with you!

Thumps Up For Cow Girls Belly Dance

What a crazy jam packed for the last weekend, high energy and hot weekend that was! WOW is all I have to say,  I had an amazing weekend last week plus the energy that came from the crowd during the dance performance at  KEAT HWA SCHOOL'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION on  29 Sep 2011.

 For the  100th years anniversary celebration of the school event, the  Keat Hwanians really  made it very very grand. And honestly, I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. I’m sure you don’t want to  miss it if you are in Alor Setar. There were many volunteers in the event, some ex-students came all the way from other state  to help out. That was a fabulous thing because the school has become a pasar malam/promotion/gathering/performing area, and all of sudden, the quiet school turn into crowdy and noisy environment.

Belly dance was part of dance event. We were only allowed to perform in 6 minutes. We combined our Cow Girls Belly Dance and Tribal Fusion. So getting the Cow Girls Belly Dance costume together is not very hard. No sparkling costume this time -  It’s a simple style costume we dressed up for a  fun-loving cow girl. So a pair of an old jeans, a simple leather belt with an oversize buckle , checkered western shirt, boots and hat.  The best part about being a cow girl is we need nothing at all fancy, just  simply to brighten up our costs. Thanks to Li Pin, Ly-Ann, Siew Kiang, Carolyn and Grace Heng, you all  put a lot of work into your performance  and we really made a great show. I appreciate  your positive attitude and desire to improve - keep working hard, Thanks all, and get some rest our next rehearsal start soon! !  Upload some pictures to share, visit my facebook to view.