Wild and organic times with Lorna of Cairo

Lorna of Cairo has been back in the UK for Ramadan, and included in the dates for her UK tour were a performance and an afternoon of workshops in her home city of Edinburgh. I was lucky enough to organise them, as well as enjoy them!

The lovely ladies at Lorna's "Organic Style" workshop

There was sunshine on Leith when Lorna performed at Mimi's Bakehouse on The Shore, Leith. The sun was blazing through the window as Lorna danced and a wonderful audience of her hometown fans enjoyed.

Lorna and cake, in the sunshine at Mimi's.

Lorna dances saidi-style with a stick, which pretends to be a cakestand.

Even better, it was cake for dinner! Mimi's specialises in afternoon teas - scones, little sandwiches with no crusts, and cakes, on a tiered cake stand, with lovely tea. The only difference for this performance was - it was the evening, not the afternoon! What a luxury - not only wonderful bellydance, but cake for dinner!

Lorna also spoke to us for a while about the changes she's seen in Cairo as a result of the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt last year. Sadly, the changes have not been all good. Feelings of hostility towards non-Egyptian women have increased, and many ex-pat women have felt less safe and less welcome in the country. It was sad to hear that people who have chosen to live in that city, because of their love for the city and its way of life, are feeling less comfortable as a result of what has effectively been, increased democracy.

Lorna's workshops were fantastic.  There were two sessions: Organic Style, and Wild Saidi: Swing your Stick with Style, and both were well-attended and very well recieved.

For me, the key message of Organic Style is about letting your own background, dance style and personality determine your bellydance. We worked on leading the moves from the solar plexus as well as the pelvis and core, and on how to build your own moves, getting away from the "stock phrases" that most of us continually fall back on. Lorna showed us so many beautiful arm movements which evade me so often, and Lorna suggested that this is because I am more inclined to think about arm positions rather than movements. A lot of work is needed - for me, at least - to really incorporate what I learned into my dance. So much food for thought.

Lorna is one of the few dancers working in Cairo at the moment who has developed her own defined style of saidi, and she taught us the principles - finding th heart and essense of saidi dance, and making it your own. We had a wild time, going right from stick basics to, in the end, working on our own stick work in not just saidi style, but in baladi, pop, ballet and even sha'abi style.

I feel, again, very lucky to have the chance to work with such a giving, helpful and talented dancer and teacher - and to be lucky enough to count her as an extremely good friend.   

Bellydance Flashmob (and how you can join in)

If you don't already know about the Bellydance Flashmob planned for Sunday 1 July as part of The Big Dance, this is your invitation to get involved!

What is a flashmob? It's when a group of dancers turn up unannounced, dance, then leave. Have a look at this one:

Our flashmob will happen in Central Edinburgh at lunchtime on Sunday 1 July. I will tell you the exact time and location shortly before it happens - it's important that we surprise the public!

There will be:

• a veil introduction, and dancers with veils will gently "clear" the general public away from our performance area (30 seconds)
• an opening Egyptian-style bellydance choreography (1 minute)
• an improvised American Tribal Style section (1 minute)
• a bit more Egyptian style choregraphy (40 seconds)
• a tribal fusion/Bollywood section
• and finally everybody will dance together for another half minute, before posing for rapturous applause and leaving, as suddenly as we appeared.

Fancy it? I hope you do! You can dance as little or as much of the flashmob as you like.

As many people are possible are invited to get involved. The choreographies are designed to be easy-peasy - so that anybody - beginners, improvers or advanced dancers - can learn them, turn up and join in.

You can wear whatever you like - full costume, jeans and a hip scarf, or just your everyday clothes. It's up to you.

If you'd like to learn the choreographies (apart from the Americal Tribal Style section, which will be improvised), they are available on a playlist on my YouTube channel.

If you want a written note of the Egyptian-style choreographies, get in touch with me.

There will be a rehearsal for the Flashmob, at Dancebase on Sunday 24 June, 3-5pm (tbc).

I really hope you'll get involved and help make it a success that people won't forget! And please, feel free to invite anybody you know who might be interested. The more dancers who learn the choreography and join in, the better.

The choreographies have been put together by me, and Roberta Beakbane; Susan Tonner is in charge of the ATS section, and Moyra Banks is heading the veil girls.

If you want to know more about The Big Dance and the myriad of events taking place over the weekend of 31 June/1 July, visit bigdanceedin.co.uk

A Bit More Cairo on Duke Street

Leith Festival Hafla
Tuesday 12 June 2012, from about 8pm (but you can come any time if there's still room to get in)
The Parlour Bar, Duke Street, Leith

Event poster by Shelley Skail (who rocks)

This will be the second Leith Festival Hafla I've organised. Last year's was fantastic, and despite the downsizing of the Festival, we're going ahead with another one.

Me dancing at last year's Leith Festival Hafla

I've tried to get as many dancers from Leith as I can. New to Leith is the brilliant Moyra, an established dancer and teacher, graduate of Shafeek's stage school, the UK's first and only professional performance course in Arabian Dance Arts. Leith and Pamela, Leith dance stalwarts and two-fifths of local dance troupe Zahira, will dance in duet form. Beautiful Beth has performed at Shimmy by The Shore, and is exploring new fusions in her bellydance. I can't wait to see relative newcomer Ruth perform, another Shimmy By The Shore dancer. Newcomer (to Edinburgh) Emily will be dancing at her first Edinburgh hafla. And there will be more!

The venue is The Parlour Bar on Duke Street, now established as a smashing, friendly pub which serves smashing tea and biscuits,  well as the usual shandy-business, plus a tasty range of drinking snacks including Monster Munch (all flavours) and wasabi peas. During the day they regularly entertain smaller customers with boxes of Lego and colouring-in.

If you would like to come along and enjoy the performances, it's free entry, just hitch up and get yourself a comfy seat (there are settees as well as bar stools). Come on out for a fun, schoolnight hafla and catch a wee bit of what's left of the Leith Festival ambiance!

Great bellydance depends on a great audience, but don't worry if you've never been to a hafla before, I promise I'll be gentle with you. You won't have to get up and dance - unless you want to!