Nanaimo’s Bellydance Bazaar another success!

poster bazaar new try - BRIGHT thirsty medium

THANK YOU to the bellydance community, donors, St. Paul’s Church and volunteers for all your work in 2013!!!  We raised more money than ever for Haven Society.

If you have suggestions and ideas for next year, let us know at bellydancenanaimo@gmail.com   or on our Facebook site !

 

A fundraiser for Haven Society, hosted by Genya & Lynette

Where:  St. Paul’s Church Hall   100 Chapel Street Nanaimo

When:  June 22 – Bazaar 1 – 5 pm; Evening Event 7:30 – 10 pm

Info:

 

Zar workshop with RAHMA – 10 – 11:30 am  

Rahma_websiteWe are honoured and delighted that gifted performer/teacher RAHMA is donating her expertise to the Bazaar. Based in Vancouver, she has presented dance in Canada, the U.S., Cairo, Ethiopia, Brazil, Australia & Hong Kong (as well as on film and TV). Her elegant and powerful performances, and her renowned ability to break down dance ideas into easily learnable form, has inspired thousands of dancers from professionals to those who dance for personal joy and fitness.

ZAR is an ancient trance ritual practiced by women from North Africa to the Middle East.  In this multilevel workshop, you will examine beliefs and practice of the ritual itself, its core movements and rhythms. Then experience how it can be interpreted in an exciting performance, while respecting the tradition itself. Wear dance clothing or a loose dress or robe. Appropriate for all levels and genres of dancer, including no experience.

Where: St. Paul’s Church Hall, 100 Chapel Street

When: 10 to 11:30 am June 22, 2013 (before the Bellydance Bazaar begins!)

Registration: $25 at the door, $20 in advance  Book your spot at bellydancenanaimo@gmail.com

ANOTHER NEW FEATURE at this year’s Nanaimo Bellydance Bazaar: Consignment Tables!

Buy or sell lightly used bellydance costumes, accessories, and other goodies!

GUIDELINES for selling at the Consignment Tables:

  • Items must be clean and odourless (air & wash your smelly costumes & accessories now!)
  • Supply us with a numbered list of your items – TWO copies please – with:
    • your name, address, phone # & email at the top
  • Every item for sale must have a tag or label well attached (we recommend safety pins and heavy card or business card labels), with
    • item # from your list  *   price   *   your initials  eg. #6  $10  LH
  • We expect everyone who wishes to sell to
    • volunteer for at least 1 hour at the consignment table (if possible, let us know in advance when you’re available – email )
    • review your list with Table volunteer(s) when you arrive
    • help us to ensure that everyone has room on the table; that may mean displaying just 10  items at a time (Shoppers will keep coming back as volunteers add new table items!)
  • Please pick up unsold items after 5 pm, & wait until 5:30 to pick up your payout (no early payouts)
  • AND please donate some portion of your sales to Haven Society!  (Haven Society will provide a charitable donation receipt on request)

Thank you in advance for participating and for respecting these guidelines!  This is our first year with a Consigment Table, so we appreciate your patience. (And we thank MEDA for setting the precedent!)

 

Bazaar 2012 cheque delivered to Haven Society by Lynette & Genya
Bazaar 2012 cheque delivered to Haven Society by Lynette & Genya

In 2010, 2011, and 2012 the Bazaar provided fantastically colourful days of dance, shopping, food and friends! Many thanks to my co-organizer Genya Bonfield, Chris Lehmann Thompson, and the many other volunteers who made this fundraiser a HUGE success!  Thanks to the vendors, volunteer performers, Aladdin’s Cafe, and everyone who came, we have raised several thousand dollars for Haven Society!  A special thanks to St. Paul’s Church for use of their Hall, and local newspapers that provided terrific feature coverage.

BC Mainland dancers

Vancouver

http://rahmahaddad.com/Rahma Haddad, Vancouver BC “A powerful dancer of grace, charm and soul” And my favourite cousin! – LH

http://www.ammara.ca/ Ammara Studio BC “Home to one of the finest groups of Middle Eastern, Brazilian and African dance and drum professionals in the Lower Mainland.”

Lava Studio Lava, Vancouver BC A dynamic performer, choreographer, instructor, musician, and director/choreographer of “Sisters of Alchemy”, Lava is devoted to tribal style.

http://www.firespirit.ca/Zelia, Maple Ridge BC “Fire Spirit – A company dedicated to the sensual and sacred art of Belly Dance.”

Bekaa Valley Girls

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.

 

Duet with Rahma Haddad (part 1)

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.

 

Dance is in their blood

 

Gilded Serpent June 2007         

by Kevin Potvin

A reluctant visitor to a multicultural arts show comes away with a new appreciation for how art entwines with ordinary life for ordinary people. . . . (click here to read article)

Excerpt: That doesn’t mean I don’t understand dance at all – as a form of art done by artists, or as an activity people do at clubs.  Haddad presented a different thing I had previously bean unaware of, and it bridged the two forms – art and popular pastime – to form a third distinct thing: popular art, or folk art, in dance form.  This was no contrived presentation of foreign exoticism to satisfy some state-granting agency looking to spice up multicultural awareness week. This was a moving and utterly personal expression given in so highly evolved a form, it appeared to be fully grounded in the Earth.

It was Lynette Harper’s talk and performance that, though it came first, served to wrap up the whole of the noon hour’s entertainment–which was fitting since she organized this show. Harper spoke in general terms of how belly dancers share their dances with each other, and how they get caught up in each other’s pleasure of dancing. “At any gathering,” she emphasized, “there was always dance; it was loved and honoured.” . . .
(previously posted in The Republic of East Vancouver, April 2004)

(See short clip “Arab Women Arab Dance” in Video section)

 

 

Arab Women Arab Dance

Arab Women Arab Dance

Opening of Arab Women Arab Dance, presenting life histories with dance. Featuring Lynette, Rahma Haddad, Salma Ferchichi, Rabab Ward, and Emily Basha. Produced by Vancouver’s Dance Centre.

Excerpt from a Vancouver Dance Centre production, interweaving life history narratives with demonstrations by five Arab women.