Season's Greetings

I've had a great end to the term.

My weekend in Orkney was lovely. I met some great ladies and we had a lovely workshop. Laura, Ruth and I also had a great weekend, despite some truly terrible weather and a rather noisy night.

Ruth and I at Kirkwall Airport

Laura and Ruth outside St Magnus's Cathedral. Sorry it's sideways.

The final week of classes were focussed on fun! We did some bellydance style ceilidh dancing and had a festive playlist, with customary trips to the pub after each of the Dancebase classes. At Fisherrow there was the usual party night with drinks and nibbles. Some of the Helwa Hurdies shared the choreographies they'd been working on this term, which were very good and lovely to watch - well done and thank you Cheryl, Carol and Margaret!

The final gig of the term was the Dancebase Christmas Show on Sunday 4th December at The Queen's Hall. A big professional venue with a ticket-buying audience of non-bellydancers, and a big, slick, show featuring Dancebase's classes. The Bellydance Improvers were performing, and a group of 7 of us took to the stage for veils, sticks and a drum solo. It was a great afternoon and marvellous to get to dance with these ladies - my first time performing with them.
 

So that's the end of the dancing term. I'm looking forward to getting my Christmas cards written and having five - yes, five, wow! - weeks off! before the spring term. During which, I will, of course, be working on my playlist for the new term, seeking out new students and working on improving my dancing!! I'm also coming up to a bit of a crossroads in my life - my youngest child is starting school in 2012, so I am weighing up my working/retraining/"proper job" options. So this holiday will be time for a bit of research and heaving duty thinking.

I am sad to say that Dancebase's bellydance class at the Thomas Morton Halls in my home turf of Leith will not be running next term. Dancebase are scaling back their classes in Leith to just two evenings plus Saturday mornings. I'm really sad that this is happening - not least because I've really enjoyed teaching there, and have had a lovely group of ladies dancing in that great venue. But also because it would be great to see Leith dancing more. I would have loved to have seen all the Leith schools and community groups getting the chance to dance in the Thomas Morton Halls, or classes from the Halls getting involved in the local community. Sadly it's not to be, which is very disappointing.

Have a lovely festive season!

Teaching in Orkney

I am really excited to be organising a class in Orkney!

Bellydance for Beginners with Elspeth SwishandHips
Saturday 26th November, 1230-1430 at the Pickaquoy Centre, Kirkwall, Orkney. £8
Everyone welcome!

If you know anyone in Orkney please let them know about this class and help me spread the word.

This class will be suitable for everybody, no previous experience is necessary, just be willing to have fun. Whatever your age (although under-16s should be accompanied by an adult please), shape,or  fitness level, bellydance is for you. 

And - as always - you don't have to get your belly out (unless you want to!)

Grooving in Glasgow

This weekend was GFAD - Glasgow Festival of Arabic Dance, organised by Glasgow bellydancers Ann McLaughlin and Sarah Pullman. It's a twice-a-year event featuring workshops with local and visiting teachers, and a hafla.

I really enjoyed the workshop I did, with the legendary UK teacher Candi Bell. It was my first Candi experience, although I've been a fan of her website for a long time. She was humourous, clear and helpful in class, and taught entrances and exits, a class that helped us with making an impact in a range of styles of Egyptian music.

The hafla was really enjoyable and was a real showcase of west of Scotland talent - lots of classes performed, as well as local teachers and other soloists. I was there with some of the Helwa Hurdies, and we performed our khaleegi number, which got a good reaction! I did a solo meleya lef number, which I really enjoyed - my first hafla appearance with the meleya lef! If you're on Facebook you'll find my performance on my page.

GFAD is a great event, I hope it goes from strength to strength!

Next stop is the Edinburgh Egyptian Dancers Hafla at Revolution Nightclub, Chambers Street in Edinburgh on Sunday 20th November.