Hi my name is Lin, I am known as Alhena in the group. I have been dancing for around 50 years, ballet, tap, jazz, ballroom including Latin and Old Tyme. I have also tried Line dancing but that did not satisfy my need. After my tap class finished and was not going to reform I started to look around for something else. My daughter Ruth who is also in the group found an article for Bellydancing in the local paper and suggested we have a go. The rest as they say is history here I am still enjoying the dance.

All I can say to all you people out there join the classes that are held on a Monday, Wednesday & Thursday evening and have a wiggle and a giggle.

After joining belly dance classes as a beginner, I enjoyed it so much that I knew I would not give it up easily. After a while I went up to do intermediate classes. The way the other ladies danced and the fantastic music and wonderful costumes just inspired me even more.

When I was asked if I would like to join Yallah I was delighted. I feel very privileged to be part of such a wonderful group. There is something very mystical about getting dressed up in glittery jingly clothing and dancing to sensual hip swaying music.
The first time I performed with Yallah, I was quite nervous but I enjoyed it all the same, (even though my shoe broke half way through a dance ha!) I am a seasoned member of Yallah for nearly two years now and have enjoyed every minute of it.

To me all Yallah members are lovely kind people from different backgrounds who come together to enjoy themselves through dancing. We listen and learn from each other and work as a team to give our best performance for audience enjoyment.

I have been belly dancing since September 2002. Before that, I had not danced in any way since I was thirteen, when a teacher at the school disco complained that I “wiggled too much”. Twenty-eight years later, I nervously signed up for a belly dance class at Andover Leisure centre. If you can’t help wiggling, then you might as well learn to do it gracefully.

You can belly dance whatever your age or size or level of fitness. The music is lovely, and the aim is to enjoy it. Dancing in a group requires discipline and teamwork, but, with belly dance, there is always some spontaneity as well, because the moves look slightly different on different body shapes. I love dancing with Yallah and in class. It’s often hard work, but it’s great fun, too.

Sa’eeda has been Bellydancing for over 11 years and Teaching and performing for over 15 years. Sa’eeda has a history of dance interests and participation in, Ballroom, Modern sequence, Country, Folk, Seventeenth Century Court and Folk dance, that’s spans over 40 years. Lifelong interests in music, also include membership of Choirs, study and performance of Keyboards and Acoustic guitar, which has given an understanding of musical structure, enabling choreography and freestyle dance using Middle Eastern Dance movement, to be a specialty. Also a founder member of Andover based Yallah Dance Troupe. This came about, after seeing the enthusiasm of some of her students in her classes, to take what they had learned further. So Yallah was born, run on totally democratic principals, no one person leads the troupe, rather everyone has a place and a job to do in it. Sa’eeda excels in performing and speaking to the Press and the Public. “to think I used to be shy and retiring – honest”!

I have been bellydancing since September 2002 and joined Andover's Bellydance Troupe Yallah in 2004. Before that, I had grown up with music and dance in many forms such as ballet, tap, ballroom and disco. I nervously signed up for a bellydance class at Andover Leisure centre, as it was a different way of exercising instead of boring old swimming, going to the gym and aerobics repeating the same thing over and over again. (Snooze or what).

You can belly dance whatever your age, sex or size or level of fitness. (Yes there are male bellydancers too) The music and clothes are lovely, and the parties in which we call Haflas are fantastic too. The aim is to enjoy it and because dancing with other people can help you gain confidence as well as new friends. I love dancing with Yallah and in class. It’s often hard work, but it’s great fun too and I have enjoyed success as a performer and troupe choreographer.

If you can’t help wiggling, then give bellydancing a go. Add a wiggle and a giggle to your life, I did and have been hooked ever since.

ANTON SCHOOL FETE 21st JUNE 2008
______________________________________________

YALLAH @ BLISSFIELDS 4th - 6th July 2008

A mini Glastonbury is what i would call this event, for more info goto www.blissfields.co.uk
We will be holding workshops, and performing

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO LACK OF TICKET SALES
____________________________________________________________________

Private Party 18th October