#summer performance platform

Last Saturday myself along with two of my lovely Eastern Delights ladies travelled to Gillingham for the Sevenveils Summer Performance Platform event.

My troupe were unable to perform so I decided to perform a Turkish style solo from Ruby Beh’s popular DVD ‘Totally Turkish’. This is the second time that I have performed it for an audience and I just needed to revisit the DVD and get into the swing of it again.

I had a lot of fun performing this dance since it is very energetic and judging from the audience’s reaction this just naturally came though. I especially found myself interacting with the audience a lot more than I usually do when doing stage shows. I think the next time I do a solo for this specific show I might try doing some improvisation to an Oriental style song instead.

I only got to see a few other dancers perform by the time I had been on and got changed to sneak into the audience but it is always interesting to see others dance and I always enjoy watching the lovely Safka perform since she is so elegant and full of emotion.

A few days later the video of my Turkish performance came out and I have certainly noticed a few things that I need to be worked on. I seem to be slightly out of time which is unusual for me since I am usually well connected to the music. It is a very fast choreography and with the added adrenaline  I think I ended up dancing a bit faster that I need to in places.

Although I am never a fan of watching myself dance it really does help to improve. I thought my dance was terrible at first and cringed so badly but after a few more views I noticed what needed to be improved and could then start to appreciate what went well.

The Mirror

What I loved most about the night is that we were treated to a full bellydance theatrical show by the Johara Dance Company called ‘The Mirror’.

I absolutely loved this show with the wonderful dancers, clever use of props and a dark and at times creepy story.

This week has been a pretty busy one for me with the Sevenveils Summer Performance Platform coming up. I may not have spent so long dancing in my spare time as much as I usually do but I really didn’t want to wear myself out so I ended up doing 20, 30 and 40 min sessions (apart from my lessons of course)

Day 64 – In my Ashford class we went over the Modern Egyptian dance in sections and went over each section 4 times with the music, one after another. We didn’t get to section 6 so I will make sure I go over that part next week.

I also performed ‘Lonely Star by the Sea’ for my students so I could actually practise in front of an audience. It went a lot better than I thought which is promising for Saturday. Total Time – 1 Hour

Day 65 - I was not in the best of moods today as I felt agitated and tired. I began with a quick warm up to loosen me up, got changed into my costume and practised ‘Lonely Star by the Sea’.

The first time I tried it I kept stepping on my skirt, let go of my veil and stopped half way through. This did nothing to help my bad mood.

I then fixed my skirt by rolling it up a bit and tried again. This time it wasn’t as bad and I went through the whole dance. I put on the video I had been learning from to see if there was anything I was missing that could make my performance just that little bit special and I found a few things.

To be honest today was about keeping up the routine, practising the moves and wearing the costume. I knew anything I did would not please me due to my mood but at least I still got some practise in. Total Time – 23 mins

Day 66 - I may have been in a better mood today but last night I managed to pull a muscle on one side of my upper back. I didn’t want to take a day off dancing especially with the performance so close but I was careful not to push myself too much just in case.

I began with two YouTube videos to warm up and stretch by a dancer named Coco.

I really like this woman as she is so sweet plus the warm up is good as she begins with lots of movements to get your blood pumping.

I then practised my usual choreography and I have to say it went pretty well. I feel like this last week I am really getting this dance drilled into my brain allowing me to focus more on being in the moment.

As I didn’t want to do anything too energetic I decided to do 4 combinations from ‘Combination Nation Vol. 1’

It is good to do these as they can go well with lots of music and gives me more ideas.

Before cooling down I practised my dance one more time and again I was happy with it. Total Time – 1 Hour & 5 mins

Day 67 - To warm up for my restaurant performance I used the ‘Warm Up For Bellydance Workout with Coco’ on YouTube. I didn’t really have time to do the ‘Warm Up For Flexibility’ part due to lack of time (my fault for starting too late)

I then danced a short set which again was a mix of people watching and enjoying and others not really looking. Downstairs there were a group of girls and one I got up to dance who was singing along to the song. I also danced to a Happy Birthday song for a lady who told me it was her birthday and could she have a photo. Total Time – 35 mins

Day 68 - Today was the day I had been working towards with my ‘Lonely Star by the Sea’ choreography.

I did a solo warm up backstage once the show had started which included as many of the warm up moves I had learnt of various DVD’s. I made sure I got my heart pumping before doing some dynamic stretching.

I then went out in the first half and performed my dance. You can find out how this went in my last blog post.

Once the first half was over I did another warm up with my troupe which again I made sure I did a variety of moves. One of my girls had a bit of lower back pain from sitting in the first half of the show so I made sure I did some lower back stretches (since I often have lower back issues due to an injury)

We then performed our drum solo which you can also find out more in my last blog post.

To finish I did a cool down and although I couldn’t really lie on the floor I did my best to stretch each part from the neck and down. Total Time – 40 mins

Day 69 - Since I felt so tired physically and mentally I decided to give the dancing a rest and opted for doing a short bit of Yoga to stretch my muscles and help focus myself.

I come across this website full of free Yoga videos (www.doyogawithme.com) which you can search the type of yoga, how long of a session you want as well as the difficulty. I went for a more gentle session called ‘Bend and Stretch’ with Melissa McLeod. (http://vimeo.com/40336788)

It was lovely and I liked that there were some different poses in it that I hadn’t done before. This will give me more ideas for a cool down. I also loved the scenery which also helped to make me feel calm and happy. Total Time – 35 mins

Day 70 - At my Folkestone lesson we did another 2 hour class so that my students felt much more confident to perform on Saturday. It meant giving up troupe rehearsal but I was concerned that we wouldn’t get many ladies performing. No I have managed to get 7 dancers after convincing a new member to perform since she was better than she thought.

It was a very hot day and by the end we were all sweating but we had fun and now we are ready to show our Modern Egyptian performance at The Multi-Cultural Festival. Total Time – 2 Hours