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azhaar — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 12:54:19 GMT

I don't use Tribe anymore so please add me on Facebook: search for azhaar at azhaardance dot com

Egypt pics uploaded!!!!!!!

azhaar — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:04:20 GMT

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40854&l=f96fe&id=616120684 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40865&l=7e38d&id=616120684 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40882&l=69c1c&id=616120684 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40886&l=dfaf3&id=616120684 http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40894&l=0fb7b&id=616120684

Egypt was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!

azhaar — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:18:57 GMT

Just got back to Korea from 2 weeks in Cairo. This trip was life-changing for me in soooo many ways! (Or maybe it was just that many life-changing things happening during that time, not necessarily related to the fact I was in Egypt. ;) ) Cairo itself reminded me a lot of Seoul, Korea accept that it was dirtier, the cars older (and without aircon!!!) - but the chaotic traffic, lack of seatbelts, dirty air were all the same. In Korea some men think I'm a Russian prostitute (just because of my hair colour - NOT my clothing or behaviour!!!) and in Cairo I was called a shamuta and had my ass squeezed a few times on the street. Really, I didn't have to adjust that much to life in Cairo at all! LOL The Nile Group festival was fab - great teachers and organisation. I finally got to see my favourite dancer, Nour, perform live and also take a workshop from her. She was as amazing as I expected! Saad also performed in the opening party which was a definite highlight. Shams was a sham and a disappointing end to the night but most of the participants had left by then anyway. The usual politics and nasty comments were there. Not that I'm saying that's normal for the Nile Group, but just life in general. There was an arrogant group from Miami with an ego big enough to fill the Pyramisa (dare I say all of Dokki and perhaps Cairo as well??) The company director even made a comment outside the hotel one night about how crappy Japanese dancers were (I went to Egypt with a group from Japan and my Australian dancer friend Keke who has been based in Japan for a several years). She was looking directly at me after she said it then said "Oops! I guess I shouldn't have said that!" and laughed to the people around her. Disgusting. Her daughter went on the win the competition which I guess will have only added to her already huge ego. I made LOTS of new friends though - Pamela from Melbourne, Aus, Ali from Adelaide, Jen from the States (who I already new from Bhuz but hadn't met in the flesh) and Pasha and Raj from Hong Kong as well as Keke's girls from Japan. Oh and a young Egyptian dental student called Nour who I spent 12 hours with at Moscow airport during my return flight home. I'm going to do a full write up with pics on FaceBook - if you're interested PM me and I'll give you my account.

busy busy busy

azhaar — Mon, 19 May 2008 07:35:49 GMT

i've been pretty slack with Tribe during the last month - been busy with work and stuff.... lame excuse I know. We're ALL busy! Anyway, I've just uploaded some "new" pics ... BTW I'm getting excited about going to the Nile Festival in June! It's been the HUGEST headache though - travel agent stuffed up my ticket - plus other hiccups ..... Luckily THAT got ironed out and I should get my ticket this week. Then I have some other issues to deal with but HOPEFULLY I'll be in Cairo June 13th. WOOHOO!!!!!!!! Can't wait!!! :) :) :)

Best birthday EVER!

azhaar — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 16:55:51 GMT

What better way to spend my birthday than a full day of master classes with the amazing Tamra-henna?! :-D Really ... this has got to be the BEST dance birthday ever. My thoughtful dance sisters gave me some awesome gifts (like ... tickets to the Rachel & Mardi show!!!!! And a new set of sagat to play with .... fun fun FUN!!!) On top of that the lovely ladies at the workshop (Mihee (pictured) and Yeohoon) organised a cake for me and sang Happy Birthday. Totally unexpected! And this weekend will be another filled with dance - Tamra-henna show on Saturday night and a workshop class the following day. WOOHOO! :-)

Feeling Better!

azhaar — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:10:38 GMT

Emotionally and mentally, anyway! (Physically, there's an alien growing in my head trying to expel itself through my nasal passages ... uggg!!! NOT fun!!!!!!!!!!!) On to the topic at hand: In spite of recent events, today I have renewed faith that the dance sisterhood DOES indeed exist. That not ALL dancers you meet are secret backstabbing prima donnas willing to treat anyone like dirt just to boost themselves and their ego ... Lots of great dance events scheduled for April (my birthday month!) so all in all looking forward to the future ... until the next bomb is dropped on me anyway. And don't tell me "think positive and good things will happen to you!" BLAH! ... As I've recently found out, being nice just gets you shat on. And I, for one, am tired of needlessly having to clean myself to remove the stench! On that note, I'm off to eat some more garlic .... tootles!!!!

I just spent the weekend with Katia of Cairo!!!! :-D

azhaar — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 16:51:01 GMT

I just got back to Seoul after three days (and 18 hours!) of intensive dancing in Daegu (about 4 hours south-east of Seoul and the 3rd largest city in Korea). I was SOOOOOOOOOOO looking forward to this weekend. Katia is a FABULOUS dancer who just oozes Egyptian style! Raqia was supposed to come too but she injured her foot (or leg) and had to have surgery so couldn't come. Then Mona was supposed to substitute but she had visa problems (bl@@dy Korean embassy had to ruin everything!!!!!!!!!!!) so the workshop organiser Ahmed gave some classes instead (disappointing, but what can you do? TBH I felt sorry for the guy) Anyway, Katia's classes were amazing to say the least - my head is still reeling with the influx of new info. It was so difficult to make myself dance - I just wanted to watch her - she's so wonderful! As usual I tried to hide myself up the back of the room but that didn't stop them dragging me out to do demos (guess I should be honoured but I HATE THAT!!!!!!!!! I want to take the material away and practice it before other people watch me ... I hate doing things half-a$$ed. Yep - can't help being a perfectionist.) Good thing about being a "waeguk" (foreigner) is that you get included in things - like having dinner with Katia :) :) :) She was so nice to everyone - and rivals the Koreans when it comes to drinking soju! ;-) Anyway overall it was a great weekend - got to spend time with my good friend Muneera, meet some friendly Korean dancers, and take classes with Katia! Can life get any better? :-) Well, it's 1:30am now ... time for some shut-eye. Got some legend "caught in the moment" pics - I'll try and upload some soon. *mwa* OH YEAH! Forgot to mention that Katia was on the Bellydancers of Cairo DVD I blogged about last time. WATCH THE DVD! It's fab. :-)

The Bellydancers of Cairo

azhaar — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 18:13:21 GMT

If you haven't yet watched this documentary by Natasha Senkovich DO SO!!! It is soooooooo good. It's exactly what I expected, hoped for and would have done myself if I had the time and resources. Seriously, if you have anything to do with Oriental dance then this video is a must.

Going to Japan June 1-7 ...... WOOHOO!!!!!!!

azhaar — Thu, 24 May 2007 17:33:52 GMT

Ok, so this will be like the 5th time I've been to Osaka BUT this time I'm going to meet up with my bellydance friend Karena who I met earlier this year at the BDSS workshop. Soooooooooooo excited! Last time I went to Osaka I tried to see the Zeina dancers but when I arrived at the restaurant the owner said the dancers weren't performing ..... :( ) Anyway, this time I've pre-organised to see a couple of shows ... should be great! Nothing like a break from the monotony of everyday life, eh? (I'm sure Tony doesn't agree seeing as I'm leaving him to fend for himself for 7 days!! Ooooooo ... I'm so BAD! hehe)

No "spark"

azhaar — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 15:41:17 GMT

OK, so the audition yesterday went pretty much as I expected. Badly. We had to learn a choreo combo quickly then if we were lucky we were given 3 mins to "show our stuff" in a solo. Well, just when I thought I'd gotten the choreo combo down OK, Jillina left and Sonia came out and she danced differently to Jillina! Very confusing... There were only three groups of us (about 15 dancers) and I wasn't even chosen to do a solo!!!!! Sooo disappointing ... I asked Jillina after her workshop what the prob was with me, and she said something like I didn't have the "spark" Miles was looking for, but that I should try again next time. Bleh. Well, I guess the audition gave me the push to get some new photos done, and make a new choreo ........ soooooooo that's OK. Besides, as much as it would be great being on the road dancing/performing 24/7, I DO prefer improv Egyptian style and I really wouldn't have an opportunity to do that if I joined their company. So, all's well that ends well, eh? BTW the workshops were great (apart from the typically crappy Korean organisational skills/thinking/attitude). I took a tabla technique class with Issam (I was disappointed, but not surprised, by the lack of Korean dancer attendees but it was an AWESOME class!!!), and an fusion choreo class with Jillina. She's soooooo energetic when she teaches and full of personality - much more than her videos. Apart from the large number of people (and their terrible behaviour - will I EVER get used to that? Jillina was telling them over and over DON'T VIDEOTAPE and yet they constantly tried doing it!!! At one point she looked over at me with an exasperated expression and rolled her eyes ... ) Anyway, I enjoyed Jillina's workshop as I knew I would. Actually, I felt a bit guilty/sorry because there was a problem with the stage (there were two rolls of carpet but they weren't joined together). I told the staff at the beginning of the day that they needed to fix it by taping it with some gaff but the staff proceeded to staple all along the join. EEEK!!!!! Dancers nightmare ... I could only look on in horror knowing what would happen later in the day ... and sure enough those staples started coming out in the middle of Jillina's class. Poor thing .... Best of all, I made some new friends!!!! Karena from Japan (lovely girl!!!!!!) and Dae-gweon, male Korean belly dancer. Actually, I'd seen him several times at other workshops but thought he couldn't speak English! Now I now better ... Haha ....

BDSS here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!

azhaar — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 08:07:51 GMT

Yeah, right. I wish. Anyway, tomorrow we have a BDSS audition here in Korea, so I'm going to give it a shot. Gotta be in it to win it, eh? I had to take some new photos today. Thought it would be best if use the costume I'll wear tomorrow. You can see one of the pics here. Only took it like 30 mins ago ... lol. Came out OK considering I used a digital camera with timer. :-) I didn't have any special trick or gimmick up my sleeve so I had to come up with one!!!!!! Sad, but true. Hope I get the chance to show everyone what it is!!!!!

Even anime's doing it ... belly dance sure is in vogue.

azhaar — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:30:16 GMT

I found a dance clip on YouTube from the game Shadow Hearts Covenant and have included it in my profile. Three charcters (Lucia, Anastasia and Joachim) are dancing to the song "Ooh La La". I wonder who the designers based the dance on ... I noticed a number of "Jillina" moves I see in this clip. In particular, her signature turn. Not a bad dance all in all ... pretty funny watching that big guy do it. LOL. Just goes to show how popular the dance is becoming ... not a bad thing but I just wish more music and culture education went along with it.

Tarab

azhaar — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 11:40:25 GMT

Music is the essence of life: PLAY ON! Give us excess, that, satiated: The old shall grow strong, The poor shall grow rich in Body, spirit, and soul.

I Am, Therefore I Dance

azhaar — Sun, 11 Mar 2007 04:34:20 GMT

Why do you dance? What a strange question. Dancing is not something I have to make a conscious effort to do. I have ALWAYS danced. When I hear music, my body automatically moves. Of course, one may argue that there's good dancing and bad dancing. I'm not hear to debate that. Back to the topic ... Why dance? Because the music TELLS me to. My body is simply displaying the music for others to SEE. And this is as it should be. You should be able to turn off the music but still be able to hear it through the dancer. End point. How do I describe my dance style? FREE! Just open your ears to the music and it will tell you what to do. I was dancing "bellydance" before I even knew what it was. That probably sounds strange to some, but (many) MED movements are very natural and are found in various dance forms. "Bellydance is SOOOO exotic!!!!" BS! There's nothing more natural to me than MED. And I don't come from an ME background/culture either. (OK, my hubby is Greek-Australian but that doesn't count.) What people THINK is exotic is the glitzy costumes and exposed flesh. I'm sure if I danced in my old tracksuit with no makeup they wouldn't think it so exotic. LOL That said, a good dancer can dance in a potato sack and still WOW an audience. OK, well that's my rant for now. Brought on by the number of emotionless bellydance video clips I've watched recently. ;-)