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As you can imagine, New Years Eve in Melbourne is a busy evening for Belly dancers and this one was no different. I was completely booked out months beforehand and had the absolute pleasure of dancing for an Indian party, then an Egyptian party, to a Lebanese party and then to a Greek party! I love our multicultural city!
Here is some lovely feedback from the team at Travel and Taste. They put on a gorgeous family focussed New Years Eve party in Preston. Indians definitely know how to let their hair down!. 'Hi Yasmin. Thanks a lot for the lovely performance. You got the crowd onto the dance floor and your act was amazing. It was a pleasure working with you!'. I have a new toy and BOY! Are they fun!
Introducing you all to my new toy......LED isis wings. I describe Belly dance Isis wings as big butterfly wings. They look absolutely spectacular for an entrance and are particularly in their element when the dancer is spinning. I usually use them at weddings and big corporate events as an entrance piece. I have extra big gold isis wings and they are actually so big, that I really can't use them in most indoor venues. I tend to hit a lampshade, chandelier, etc. . So for a slightly smaller but still more dramatic effect, I now have some light up isis wings. Here they are in a photo for a recent opening of a club in Melbourne. They actually look smaller than they are because I took the poles out of it. I didn't want them to hit anyone in the dark interior. In summary, they look BRILLIANT when spinning. I'll post a video when I can. :> I really enjoy dancing in Melbourne. In my 20s I used to live and dance in Scotland (random I know), but like many Australians I went to the UK for an adventure and didn't come back for many years. I'm now back and enjoying living in my hometown. Melbourne has a much higher population than Scotland and my weekends are therefore full of gigs. So this is my perspective on a typical evening of gigs for me. I rarely dance in restaurants, and generally dance at private parties, weddings and corporate events. So a typical Saturday evening consists of 2-3 gigs. I sometimes get gigs on Fridays and Sundays but that varies from week to week. Melbourne is a very flat city and it takes a LONG time to get anywhere, so most of my night consists of driving in between gigs to be honest. If you hate driving, then don't be a professional bellydancer! :> The most common event I dance at is a family private party for a 40th, 50th, 60th, 70th or even 80th birthday. I usually make a big surprise entrance with veil or isis wings, make a fuss of the birthday girl or boy and then get everyone up and dancing. This is usually for families of an Indian, Macedonian, Lebanese, Egyptian or Turkish background. I have been doing more christenings of late too and I have to say that they are super fun too. I view my job quite simply as a 'party starter'.....so I pride myself on being able to persuade the most stubborn of people to get up and have a boogie. I have very specific memories of being traumatised as a kid by Bellydancers at restaurants. They would always embarrass me by dragging my Dad up to dance (he would obviously oblige!) and I would hide under the table to hide my mortification. So I try my best to not be one of those belly dancers that pressure family members to come up and dance. I have however figured out a range of other non embarrassing tactics to encourage people onto the dancefloor. They are less traumatic for everyone involved! :> I never use zills. I find them loud and annoying (as a rule) and I only use them for corporate functions because that is the only time that they are requested. Isis wings are always a winner for a good entrance (space permitting) and I only use a sword when there aren't any inebriated folks around. Drunk men do love to try balancing a sword on their head. Sigh! Happens every time. :> A typical set length is 15-20 minutes. Any longer than that and it is obvious that this is enough for most audiences. Unless the party is Arabic, Middle Eastern or Macedonian, I usually advise with sticking to this length. I danced for a Macedonian party last weekend for 40 minutes straight and they could probably have kept going. These parties are my favourite because everyone gets involved. I have kids following me around, sometimes a baby on my hip, and I dance with everyone at the party....no matter what their age and size. Good fun! Aussies aren't big on tipping, and once again tipping only really occurs if they are Arabic, Macedonian or Turkish. Even then, tipping is pretty rare and I believe that tipping used to be much bigger in the Melbourne scene. So I definitely don't rely on tips and anything that comes my way is a bonus. I usually arrive in full costume with a kaftan over my costume for a quick change. I generally have to drive 30-45 minutes or so in between each gig. So if it 3 gigs on a Saturday night then there is a lot of driving. I have to say that the driving is the most exhausting part of this job! I modify my music set for every party and I've recently been more requests for specific songs. Anything that makes the birthday girl/boy happy. e.g. I've had Beyonce, some specific Bollywood tracks and even Pitbull! For (some) Egyptians I am getting Boshreit Kheir as a song request....for obvious reasons. I am only ever asked to dance on a table for Macedonian parties......which was a strange request when I first was asked! But Macedonians seem to love it and they are one of the best groups to dance for. They love a good party! I honestly love my job but belly dancing can be a very isolating. You are primarily gigging on your own so I absolutely LOVE it when I can bring along musicians or other dancers. This usually happens with the bigger corporate gigs or weddings. My favourite job is dancing with this bunch of guys (see piccie). This is the biggest (and best) zaffe group in town. These boys honestly crack me up. So whilst a zaffe performance isn't really about me at all, dancing in a zaffe group gives you a particular high that you don't get on your own. I love being surrounded by drums and helping make the Bride and Groom feel super special. It makes you feel like a rock star. We definitely put on an impressive show! Christmas time / summer is the busiest and at this time of year I have gigs from Friday to Sunday night solid. Sometimes a random Christmas party during the week. It's a fun job but it is physically and emotionally demanding. I love that I now have regular families who I now perform for. Everything from their hens parties, weddings to parties for their kids. I'd like to think that this shows that I am respectful to all family members. I definitely don't flirt with the men when I perform and I make a point of including women (especially Grandmas) when I dance. I think that helps quite a lot. Looking for some fun entertainment for your Christmas party? Consider booking a Bellydancer or Bellydance troupe (complete with drummers) to spice up your Christmas party celebrations.
We can make a dramatic entrance, put on a spectacular floorshow and really get your party started! People sometimes need an excuse to hit the dancefloor, and we can help you all to let your hair down. Contact me for a quote and I can create something spectacular for your Christmas party this year! I am already getting bookings for Christmas so make sure you get in early to confirm your preferred date and time. Are you a student or Bellydance fan in Melbourne? Pop along to Seaford for a Halloween Bellydance hafla with a spooky twist. This event is run by The Desert Flowers Bellydance, who were originally Flowers of the Desert.
Here are the details: https://www.facebook.com/events/499269170239508/ This year I had the pleasure of attending Aziza’s Dream Camp in Canada. Aziza’s Dream Camp is a week long dance intensive held in an idyllic rural setting outside of Montreal. We slept in shared cabins in the woods, swam in a lake and trained in a beautiful cabin surrounded by trees. Think of somewhere you’d go on school camp……but with cocktail dresses, wine and yummy food. You definitely don’t have to ‘rough it’ too much!
We had the opportunity to train between 4-6 hours per day and the amount of training was totally up to us. I, for example, am not a morning person. I couldn’t do the early morning yoga and stretching. I did instead get up and meditate every morning and loved the silence that greeted me every morning. It was really blissful to be surrounded by greenery all the time. A rural location meant that the rest of the world could be tuned out, and we could simply focus on dancing. I had an amazing time. Not only because of the teachers, but because it is refreshing to go to a professional level dance intensive. We all run our own Belly dance businesses around the world, and it was good for the soul to network with other like minded women. Running your own dance business can be lonely work sometimes. The teachers on this retreat were Aziza, Azad Khan and Gamilla. Aziza, you probably know, but Azad and Gamilla were new to me. Azad is a Turkish dancer with a very particular styling. He is known for his ‘head banging’ (his words…not mine), which translates as big head tosses. Instead of hitting the accents with his hips, he hits them with some amazing shoulder/head tosses. It's a full body thing and his style is full of grace and power. Pretty bloody amazing to be honest! Gamilla is a German dancer who taught double veil. Now, I only have respect for dancers who are experts at props. Mainly because it represents hundreds of hours of your life devoted to practicing with that particular item. And Gamilla is brilliant at double veil. Our class with her was primarily spent trying to get the correct finger hold on the veils! We are felt amazingly inadequate, but it felt good to be a super beginner again. Gamilla is a prop queen, and she also wowed us with an Isis wings number for the end of retreat party. All these teachers were so motivating and a sight to behold. As only Belly dancers do, the food was extremely yummy. It was a vegetarian camp, and we had a personal chef who cooked up delicious treats every day. He even made the pasta by scratch! (I've included a piccie of the pasta drying on the clothes horse). Whilst I love veggie food, and I appreciated the amount love our wonderful chef poured in the food, I really really needed to eat meat on this camp. We were all training a lot, and I simply need the protein. This was probably the only issue for me. I have trained with Aziza in 3 countries now – Scotland, New Zealand and now Canada. Every time I come back feeling like I have become a better dancer, but more than that, I feel like I have been able to work on myself. I remember a friend in Scotland commenting that Aziza ‘was like chicken soup for the soul’. I didn’t understand it when I heard it, and now I totally do. She is a great teacher and helps you to become the best version of yourself. A more challenging aspect of Dream Camp was the opportunity for personal feedback. We danced in front of everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) and the 3 teachers gave us feedback. As you can imagine, dancing in front of your peers without costume or makeup is a really challenging thing indeed. A costume and performance makeup feels like I am in character, and without them it felt quite naked. I am totally comfortable in dancing for hundreds of people and in being the centre of the show at any occasion, but I simply get scared when dancing for other Belly dancers. I am scared of how critical they will be and I tend to freak out. All in all, the process was worth it. I’ve been thinking about my feedback ever since and am looking forward to slowly incorporating it into my future dancing. Do I advise going to Dream Camp??? Yes. As a professional dancer, we sometimes miss out on high level professional development. Sometimes going to bigger festivals means that you don’t get the individual attention of the teachers. It is also really easy to miss connecting with other women at bigger festivals. It is easy to get lost in the crowds and sea of dance egos trying to push their way to the front of the class. I love going to smaller intensives. I hope Bozenka is still running her Dance Lab in Crete. I think that will be the next one on the list! Going to Canada was a big trip from Australia, but I feel like I am a better dancer (and person) for it. It was worth it. x So you are planning your event and are thinking about booking a Belly dancer. Great stuff! Here are some commonly asked questions to help you in your event planning adventures: What time should I book the Belly dancer for? I generally advise later on in the night. Or at a time where your guests have arrived and had time to get into the party mood. After many years of dancing at parties, I have noticed that an early party booking may not gel so well with your guests. A couple of hours later on and everyone is much happier to get out onto the dancefloor to show off their moves. If you can, wait for at least a couple of hours after your party has started. What do I need to prepare? The music system! This is probably THE most important thing. A little CD or boombox is definitely not enough. Belly dance music is drum heavy and therefore needs a solid, loud sound system. I STILL have gigs that think that holding a little CD player will be enough for a party. Sigh! Your guests will be more inclined to hit the dancefloor with the Belly dancer if you have LOUD music. If you have quiet music, then it gets awkward......for the guests and for the Bellydancer! So discuss your music requirements with the Belly dancer before the night. If possible, try out your music system before the party. You may think that the music system works fine, but music systems are tricky beasts. No matter how organised you are. I even had a wedding recently where they didn't check the sound system and it turns out the venue blocked the volume controls to only ambient background music. The Bride was so upset and my heart broke for her! :< I personally don't like using CDs because they can skip every now and again HOWEVER your Belly dancer can bring along an ipod, CD or USB. Whatever works for you. The only thing you need to do is check out your sound system beforehand. What type of music do you want played? Are you or your guests from a particular cultural background? Do you think they would appreciate particular music? e.g. Turkish? Arabic? Bollywood? Greek? The Belly dancer is there to get the party started and she can dance to a wide range of music. If you think that your guests are predominantly Greek then tell your Belly dancer to bring some Greek music. She can bring along a mix of music. Once again, I have countless stories of going to parties and being requested to play particular Bollywood or Greek music AFTER I've arrived. Your Belly dancer can bring all of that along but ONLY if you tell her. Of late I have also been asking event organisers if there is a particular song that the birthday boy/girl really loves. I have therefore been dancing to a bunch of Beyonce, Bollywood and Hip hop songs recently. If the party is to celebrate a particular person, then why not add their favourite song into the Belly dance mix. Tell the Belly dancer if the Birthday boy/girl wants to get up and dance Some people don't want to dance and would simply prefer to watch the show. No one wants to embarrass anyone, so tell your Belly dancer if there is a particular person who doesn't want to be approached. Remember, the Belly dancer is there to get the party started and to help you and your family celebrate. Give her as much information as possible to help her do that. Enjoy your party!!!! So you have your gorgeous Belly dance costumes delivered from Egypt…..bravo! Now it is time to get some professional photos taken. But where to start? What do you consider in this whole process? I have just had the privilege of visiting my favourite Belly dance photographer Tracey Gibbs, whilst on holidays in the UK. I’ve worked with a bunch of photographers over the years and her images always come up best. I was thinking today about the number of awful photographers I’ve wasted money and time on. There are so many little tips that I wish I knew before embarking on my belly dance photography adventures. So here are my tips for your belly dance photoshoot. I hope they help you out. 1. Choose a photographer that has worked with dancers before. Preferably a photographer who specialises in belly dance photography. Experienced belly dance photographers are as rare as hens teeth, but a treasure when you find them. They will be familiar with the body positions that look great for belly dancers and can direct the position of your body with speed and expertise. Time is money and you don’t want to be messing around on your photoshoot and thereby miss out on some great shots because the photographer is inexperienced. 2. Consider the gender of the photographer. Are you more comfortable being photographed by a man or a woman? I’ve been photographed in belly dance costumes by both men and women. And when in a Bellydance costume, I have to say that I feel more comfortable being photographed by a woman. Hands down! Lets be honest….sometimes you need to have candid conversations about your cleavage or underwear positioning, and I am much more comfortable in discussing these topics with a woman. I’ve been photographed by wonderful male friends, but with the benefit of hindsight, I have to say that I was definitely a tad uncomfortable. To summarise…..choose whoever you are most comfortable with. The camera never lies and it will be blindingly obvious if you are uncomfortable in the shoot. You will have wasted your money and a great opportunity. Nothing is more beautiful than a woman who is comfortable and in her power. Choose someone you feel 100% comfortable with. 3. Book a (great) makeup artist If you can afford it, please book a professional hair and makeup artist. Makeup for a photoshoot is much more overdone than in a usual gig (I sometimes call it belly dance drag queen makeup) and makeup artists have trained for a long time in perfecting that look. Invest in yourself. For years I thought I would save money and do my own makeup for photoshoots. Looking back, I only made it harder for myself. Yes, I was able to do a passable job but not the best job. I definitely didn’t make the best of my photoshoot opportunities…..the last one was in Luxor, Egypt by sunrise! How often is that going to happen in my life?! During the shoot I was constantly worried about my hair and makeup, and I couldn’t focus whole heartedly on the shoot because I was worried about my makeup and hair. A silly decision indeed. Invest in yourself and make the best of your photoshoot. You want to be able to use these photos for many years. 4. Bring along your own foundation If you think that the makeup artist might have trouble in matching your skin colour, then bring along your own foundation. I, for example, have had problems with makeup artists in the past matching my olive skin. Sad but true. This is also another reason why it is worth paying a bit more for a top, recommended makeup artist. Enjoy! I hope these small tips will help you when you book your photoshoot. You want to be able to use these photos for many years, so invest in yourself. Here are some test photos from my shoot today! These are sneaky peeks! So I can’t wait to see the end product!
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