Hipnosis & Carassauga

Well, it turns out I'm not a very good blogger!  Some time has past since I last wrote and soooo much has happened.  Some definite highlights: meeting Randa Kamal and the legend Nagua Fouad in Montreal.  In fact, I'm still gushing!  I attended Randa's Workshop and she really kicked my butt!  I gained a lot of new inspirations from her and a huge bonus was her ability to explain her movements and style in English.

Also, performing at Al Haima with the Arabesque orchestra was another recent highlight (see photo).  They were magical as always!

This weekend was a very busy weekend for shows - 7 in total!  I joined the amazing line up at Hipnosis on Saturday night.  This event was put on by Kristina Shea as a fund raiser for the Halton's Women's Shelter in burlington.  It was truly an elegant event and the crowd could not have been more fun to perform for.  My favorite audience to dancer for is other dancers!!  I was very proud of the Sultanettes who performed their new veil choreography for the first time.  Way to go!

I also had a very Turkish bellydance weekend performing at the Turkish pavilion at Carassauga Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.  A big thank you to Celal for organizing the event and being so accomodating.  Also a big thanks to Aysha from Anatolia.  Hopefully I will have photos to post soon.  I also had the pleasure to see the full Bosphorous Project!  I see this band perform at Anatolia on the nights that I dance there and they are always amazing.  What was extra special is that the full band was present (ie a full drum set!) and they rocked!

New Years -

Happy New Year!  Any resolutions?  Mine is to relax more, lol.  

I'm still working on my new website.  I hope to have it up by the end of the week :)

New Years was a blast.  I worked but it is probably the most fun night to do gigs and people are always very generous :D  I did my first show at Anatolia for a party of Armenians who had all lived in Turkey.   What a crowd!  They were lively and so elegant.  It was such a pleasure to entertain them.

My second show was after midnight in North York for a Lebanese party.  Dancing for a Middle Eastern audience is always enjoyable.  They know the music and know what to do with a bellydancer!  I always give 100% but when the crowd is as enthusiastic as this crowd was that night - I give 200%!!

I'm back into to grind of full time classes and working.  This session, I'm teaching more on the weekends which means I get to actually take some dance classes myself!  woo hoo!  In two months I will be finished my web design and development program.  There are going to be a lot of new and exciting changes this year.  Don't worry - i'm not leaving bellydance - no way!

Maha's First Blog

To my family, friends, and students I have decided to start a blog.  Yep blog.

Perhaps it's because I went home for the first Christmas since I moved away from Victoria and realized how much I missed being connected.  Also, through teaching dance to hundreds of students over the years there has been a sincere curiosity into the life of a bellydancer.  I've decided to share the happenings in my life here.  I hope you enjoy them!  

On an aside did you know that the word "meh" is one of the new dictionary words in Collins this year?  Yep right along with "pescatarian" and others in Merriam Webster .  Forgive me while I digress into geekdom but here are a few more new words for you i found here:

Blamestorming - when you're late on a deadline the boss may want to have a blamestorming session.

Swipeout - when the magnetic strip on your card wears out due to use.

Irritainment:  what Brittney Spears is - 'nough said...though for some reason I am uniquely interested. 

Bromance - describes a strong heterosexual relationship between males.

Ginormous - this word I learned from a 9year old a good 7 years ago!  Yeah it's something that is really big!