Dance like there is no tomorrow
Five days of dance and sun in the Yoga Vallarta studio of Puerto Vallarta, February 5 – 9 2013. Thanks to my co-instructor Debra Shields of Saidi Sisters, the beautiful dancers who attended, Alma our studio host, and the restaurants that welcomed our evening dance parties! See our Facebook site Dance Vallarta 2013 for photos and video links.
www.hadia.com Hadia, Canada A performer, master instructor and choreographer, Hadia has achieved recognition and renown among her peers around the world.
Om Laila Roula Said, Toronto ON Roula is an amazing multi-faceted artist who has dedicated her talents to Middle Eastern music and dance. One of Canada’s leading lights in the world of bellydance, Roula is the director of Om Laila Bellydance, the producer of FunkaBelly – Toronto’s premier global Grooves Dance Party and Bellydance Cabaret
www.shira.netThe Art of Middle Eastern Dance (by Shira) The most popular North American bellydance resource and networking website.
Tamalyn Dallal – U.S. Internationally acclaimed Middle Eastern dancer, workshop instructor, public speaker.
www.jawaahir.org/Cassandra and the Jawaahir Dance Company, USA Performing and teaching traditional and contemporary Middle Eastern Dance
www.chryssanthi.com/en/Chryssanthi Sahar, Greece/Germany Greek belly dancer and dancing teacher in Heidelberg, Germany
Belly Dancing the World! Promoting belly dance around the world.
www.cid-portal.org/International Dance Council website and directory
www.preranadeshpande.com/Prerana Deshpande, India “…ability to bring out the essence of the compositions – traditional in Sanskrit to the modern, rhythmically intricate, is the hallmark of her uniqueness – a ‘Complete’ Kathak dancer.”
Excerpt from Red Apple, presented in Errington, BC.
This choreography was inspired by the resilience of Afghani village women. The structured improvisation blends eastern and western traditions and contemporary dance styles to music by Ashkabad and Yuldiz Usmanova.
“Light a cigarette and to hell with the world!”
This choreography blends Roma dance improvisation with western contemporary dance and “gypsy” stereotypes. Inspired by the 3 Mustaphas 3 version of Anapse To Cigaro.
Several excerpts from Bekaa Valley Girls, Lynette’s full-length collaborative creation with Rahma Haddad, presented in the Noon Dance Seriesat Vancouver’s Dance Centre, November 2009.
This segment recalls when Lebanese cousins Lynette and Rahma first met. Though raised in different parts of Canada, they shared a family history of immigration and a deep love of dance.
Duet with Rahma Haddad (part 2)
This excerpt from Bekaa Valley Girls continues from Part 1. Rahma presents Lynette with a hipscarf, and introduces her to belly dance.
Gnossienne
In this excerpt, Lynette wonders if she has missed something in her western dance training.
Excerpt from MIRAJ at Victoria’s 2003 Fringe Festival, a full-length dance theatre production created and performed with Earthfire Dance Collective.
In this segment, the Queen of Wands (Lynette) loses her crown and other trappings of power to her cat (Taissia), and discovers an inner strength.
2013 Dates TBA – Gypsy Spirit Dance Retreats with Lynetteat April Point Resort & Spa on Quadra Island (3 hours north of Victoria) –
Discover your “gypsy spirit” with Gypsy (Romani) style bellydance. You’ll quickly learn the basic moves to passionate music and lively rhythms. Celebrate the informal spontaneity of traditional Romani dance styles from Turkey, Spain and Egypt, with distinctive steps and sinuous movements you can blend with any other dance style. This workshop blends bellydance warmups and fundamentals with Gypsy/Romani dance to provide a gentle total body workout that is easy on your joints, increases flexibility – and is a lot of fun!
This multilevel class is designed for beginners to intermediate levels – or teachers/performers who wish to expand their repertoire.
About April Point Resort & Spa
April Point Resort & Spa is an island getaway away from the crowds, featuring the elegant yet laid back atmosphere of the west coast. Enjoy wildlife tours, kayaking, fishing, spa treatments, island tours and sumptuous meals, all enhanced by the stunning natural beauty of Discovery Passage. Guests also enjoy the amenities of Painter’s Lodge in Campbell River, connected by a complimentary scenic water shuttle. For reservations or more information, please call 1-800-663-7090 or visit obmg.com.
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Belly Dancing: The Art of Middle Eastern Dance
April Point Resort & Spa on Quadra Island (3 hours north of Victoria)
Discover the joy of Middle Eastern dance, an art that has inspired and empowered people for millennia. Learn the fundamentals of this graceful, energetic dance in a supportive environment suitable for a range of ages and abilities. This year you’ll learn bellydance fundamentals that merge traditional folk dances with contemporary moves and music; and explore earthy Roma (gypsy) dance, Latin Arabian dances that mix Latin flair with Arab moves, creative dance exercises, and freeflowing dance with veils. Bellydance provides a gentle total body workout that builds strength, is easy on your joints, and increases flexibility. And, it’s fun too!
16 April 2003 Daily News, Nanaimo – Review by Lynn Welburn
Miraj (an Arabic word meaning ascent, the journey upwards) was the perfect title for the April 11 performance by Earthfire dance at the Malaspina University College theatre.
But mirage, commonly used to describe something you think is real and which then vanishes, leaving you doubting your senses, would also have been appropriate because this performance was magical, mystical and, as each piece, ended, you were left wondering whether you had really seen it at all. Earthfire is one of the province’s top dance troupes, and are almost unique in the way they blend various forms of Middle Eastern, Gypsy, North African and other folk styles of dance. And their show, Miraj: Beyond Belly Dance, was an amazing showcase of not only their considerable dance talents, but also of their ability to put together a visual and auditory treat with costumes and settings that added to the sense of magic. With fabulous creatures of myth, whirling swords and costumes that shimmered like liquid jewels, Miraj was a sensory treat. Earthfire (Ferda Bayazit, Lynette Harper, Faith Lafave, Leah, Yvonne Olson and Taissia Sinclair) along with actor Pat Donaldson as the crone/fortune teller, guest dancers (Kelly Rollick, Sheila Bowman, Taiya Curie, Reziah, Shamani and Kirsten Stallman) and guest drummers (Goldean Abbadon-Lowe and Fiona Stuart) took their audience on an amazing journey to a Middle East much different from what we see on television each day, to a place where travelers from various places meet and mingle and dance, moving them and the watchers to a higher place, a place where we could all converge in a blend of lithe and sinuous dance, sensual music and lively humour.
(See excerpt “Queen of Wands” on Video page)