Ottawa's Dancers' Bazaar - February 25, 2007

TAV Creations and Halyma's Belly Dance present Ottawa's Dancers' Bazaar

Sunday, February 25th, brings the fifteenth semi-annual "Dancers' Bazaar" to 260 McArthur, Knight's of Columbus Hall. The doors will open from 12 noon to 4 p.m. Admission is free.

Ottawa's Dancers' Bazaar is the place to meet the best of Ottawa's belly dance/middle eastern dance community, find wonderful costume pieces, music, jewelry, and whet your appetite for this fabulous form of dance.

What the Bazaar has to offer:
This is a great place to explore the belly dance/middle eastern dance culture. Local teachers, professional and semi-professional dancers, information about classes, workshops and events abound!

The Dancers' Bazaar is a market place for goods and services, giving the varied interests of Ottawa area dancers a place to shine. From
costume designers and importers, to jewelers, to musicians, to artisans, everyone will have something to offer the patrons of this fun-filled afternoon event.

Middle Eastern Drumming Demonstration: 3 p.m.

Zahra Haddad and Marco Qaqish will get everyone moving as they share their drumming skills, filling the air with the rhythms to which we all love to dance!

What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon, finding treasures, hearing great music, and meeting the wonderful people involved in this Ottawa dance scene.

Brief Visit to Tribe

I feel like I have been away for weeks.
I was fighting a cold last week = lost the battle, but so far not the voice. A very real potential with me when i get a sore throat. Something about my Throat Chakra is outta whack I am sure.

I was at the Wedding palace Bridal Show this past weekend. Not overwhelming - a good and mediocre impression. The good part - the networking, our "neighbors" and some of the other vendors were fabulous. Friendly, informative and just good folk. Hoping to connect with them in the future as well.

The not-overwhleming: the crowds were not huge, but it seemed that the ones who did approach the booth did have a genuine interest in what I do. There were a lot of not interested folk too, but rather know that and not waste the brochure on them. There was some potential with belly dance class info etc. and I will know more as time passes this week.

Things were pretty much done by 4:30 Sunday and Did not even really start until 11:30 that morning, so Sunday could have been a lot shorter.

but I could get lots of great contact out of it, so I'll wait to see!

I Am Wonder Woman!

You are Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman 95%
Superman 80%
Green Lantern 75%
Supergirl 70%
The Flash 65%
Robin 60%
Hulk 55%
Iron Man 55%
Batman 50%
Catwoman 50%
Spider-Man 35%
You are a beautiful princess
with great strength of character.

www.superheroquiz.com

Happy New Year's

A quiet morning with Boing brings in my 2007.
Well, after a raucous evening out at Patty Boland's last night!

The eve of 2007/ the end of 2006 began with the usual Sunday morning brunch. A lovely day, with the sun shining, and a nice walk in my new winter boots took us to our table in the Mike section. We never know who might be joining us, so it was great to see Susi, Chris and Ange, Sue and Gailene, and lo and behold~ Linda!

Linda makes her spontaneous appearances to keep us on our toes! Like G'kar - expect her when you see her.

Tom and I wandered home. Tom got some work done and I did some stuff around the house. The holiday decorations have been cleared away and put away, time to have a moment of emptiness and space before life fills that void with more stuff! A light nap was refreshing after I had made my new shrug - have to make something new for the party or it would feel wrong!

Sara arrived to get her old laptop cannibalized by Tom and we had a nice quiet visit. She headed off to meet up with Michele, and we finished getting ready and walked over to PB's

The supper table held 9 of us: Tom and me, Gailene, Jessica and Greg and Allison - friend of theirs, Linda, Michele, and Sara. We wee joined by Rock and Robin, folk that Tom knows and we have been slowly getting to know.
Thanks goodness they came when they did. The chocolate decadence dessert was so rich I needed everyone to help eat the one serving! Gailene had left by that point, and Michele , Greg and Allison were full, so that left tom, Linda, Jessica and Robin and I to take it down. Thank goodness they were able to help...seriously!

Before dessert came though, we enjoyed the other succulent meals on the menu.

We started with the Colossal Appetizer platter - just right for a table of 9 - wings came last, after the huge platter of nachos, zucchini, calamari, onion rings, emerald dip w/pita, jalapeno poppers, spring rolls, and lots of dips and a few veggie sticks. Wonderful selection and everything I tried was good. A lot of fried, but some was healthy - I swear!

Tom had the french onion soup, and I ordered the shepherd's pie for us to split - good idea! Sara ordered the peppercorn encrusted pork, and I did help her through one piece. The reality is, the main dishes at Patty's are so generous, you really want to split them with someone if you can. Then you have room for dessert etc.!
Others had salmon - two different types - one stuff and one maple glazed - both seemed to be good , a club wrap, and the veggie stir fry, and I forget what other meals came, but I was busy with my own!

Gailene had to head off for her gig in Orleans - I am sure she'll post when she can! Jessica, Greg and Allison were also heading off after supper, and Rock and Robin had only stopped in on their walk about to see the lights on Parliament hill.

So, after the first half of the group left, we condensed down to one table, and snuggled in around it. The bands were Cherry Suede upstairs and Well Strung downstairs. Cherry Suede were fun, relaxed and enjoyable; Well Strung will improve with time I am sure - a bit too much rap for me, but perhaps that was the point.

So, we sat and relaxed through the first set - Well Strung. Then Cherry Suede started their set, kind of slow, easing us into it, then They began to play some danceable stuff and Linda and I started to get our workout for the evening. Sara joined in after a while, and then Tom was up to joining us. Michele took a lot of pics and perhaps some useable video stuff - we'll find out later I am sure!

John - the owner- wandered by a few times, opening the window, counting down at midnight. He seemed to be having a good time as sober host of a big party - we certainly had fun!
Our waitress - I cannot remember her name - was wonderful - thanks to her for her part too!

Will try to get pics from Michele and Sara to post if possible - our camera said no more - 2006 was its last hurrah!

Our tale ends with Gailene arriving post gig and the freezing rain having started. Our walk home was uneventful - no falls - and it was nice to come home to the Boing and a bit of quiet time with Tom before heading off to weird dream sleepy land!

Happy New year to all - good luck with your resolutions, if you make any, and safe, peaceful, joyful , etc. energy to you all!

Donations to local Women's Shelter

Spearheaded by Women Moving Forward's request, I was able to enlist the help of many friends to bring stuff to donate to St. Joseph's Women's Shelter here in Ottawa.
Last Sunday, during our Grinch party, I asked that anyone wishing to donate bring something to give to the shelter. Here is the pic of the boxes - all full of new and used things to give to the women, kids, and the shelter itself.

The Ottawa Centre Class Party - December 13th, 2006

It started at about 4:30, into the car and heading up to the university to get set up. Michele R was already there with the tech guys getting decorations set up for the background ( beautiful). We arrive and pay the parking fee. As I am walking back to the Julie T drives in. A quick hi and I continue to the car. Tom grabs a load of equipment and I pause. I forgot my costume! I smile, say, "take this and go ahead in, I'll be back!"
Into the car, I head back home, straight along King Edward - I live at the other end of this main street of Ottawa - and fortunately the traffic is pretty smooth. Into the house, grab the bag, and back to the car, back to the parking lot by 5 p.m.

And so it continues, into the dressing room, meeting the tech guys, seeing the fabulous work Michele is doing, and connecting with my door ladies, Julie and Susi. Get them set up with a table and the paperwork, and off I go, more to organize - well sort of. So much was done in advance, and so many of the volunteers already know what they are doing, the show runs like a well oiled machine! Linda arrives as Gailene calls to say she is running late, but no worries, all is falling into place.

Next drama, there are no cookies. What??? No cookies! A quick phone call to the cell phone of the catering organizer at the university and about 10 minutes later, a gentleman in waiter garb shows up with my basket of cookies! One more major crisis averted :-)

The dancers are arriving, settling in, Catharine has arrived - our militant stage manager extraordinaire! She seldom smiles, but has a heart of gold, Seriously focused on making sure any previous problems she has encountered at this venue do not affect tonight's show, she double checks everything! And took the time to make giant roster sheets for the walls - makes it so much easier for the dancers to know when they are going on.

Tickets are replaced at the door as a few folk have lost theirs - but people I know so all is good. The show has been officially sold out for a few days, with last minute phone calls letting me know of more requests if tickets are available and some last minute tickets coming up for grabs. Oh, the shuffling!

DVDs are ordered, and 7 p.m., approaches. Looking for our DJ, he is off having his supper so I call him quickly! He comes out and laughingly says - "I have three minutes still". Not a good start for my personality, but it all turns out well in the end. He heads up to the booth, the lighting guys knows his plans, and the show starts about 7:05 - I think!

Chris, our MC, does a wonderful job - folk are all asking who the great MC is. Kudos to him! Susi should be proud!

Dancers fill the stage, and music fills the air, from classic sounds of the middle east, to hard edge guitar riffs of rock and roll. Everything goes for this belly dance show! The first set had one shuffle as Leslie had traffic issues, but the tribal improv was a great way to end the first set. A few minutes of intermission and then the second set begins.

More student dancers, advanced and pros give a new life to the second set. Again a variety of music held the audience, as did the movements of the dancers! Building up to the finale where all of the pros who were able to come out with props filled the stage with swirling isis wings, double veil, regular veils in holiday colours, sticks, and "candles".

Totally improvised, I began by getting my blinky lite "candles" from Linda who was sitting in the front row. This was after my dance to a remix of two Tarkan songs off his latest album. The finale song was the Trans Siberian Orchestra piece, " Christmas Eve( Sarajevo, 12/24)". Powerful music and it was a great way to bring everyone out!

Zamira came out with her double veils as Lois came in with her Isis wings.
Leslie and her isis wings joined after a few more bars, and then I lost track of who was coming on stages - but we easily had 8 dancers. Then I backed away from the centre and Leslie moved up - did some gorgeous spinning and held centre for a while, then passed it off to Zamira, whose veils spun and spun! The Nikita whirled through with her stick, and then Lalita came out in a sea of bright green with matching veil - and it looked amazing as she whirled about!
I returned to the centre for the very end, and we all posed as the last chords of the song brought the audience to loud cheering!

But it was not over yet!

Marco then came out and set up for us to have some live drumming, and more dancers filled the stage with zills and veils and staccato hip movements! Another 10 minutes of improv dancing and getting the audience up to join us brought the evening to a fun closure!

Okay, I think that this novel has gone on long enough! Needles to say, it was the best party to date, the place was wonderful, staff helpful and professional, and the dancers and volunteers were what made it so great!