Hello From The Middle Of Nowhere!

[Oresai]

Hi, I`m Oresai. I live on a small Orkney island in the UK. I`ve been self teaching myself bellydancing for just over a year, and oh boy, still have a loooong way to go!
There are no other dancers anywhere near me and even though I`ve tried to get a group going here on island, nobody is interested, so it`s just me..and I crave contact with other dancers!
My main sources of learning have been dvd`s...I just got Blanca`s Sensual Dance and love it! and Youtube videos and online sites. I would love to study under a teacher but given my location it just isn`t possible.
So I`m hoping to get to know folks here and learn as I go along too.
Oh, I`m also 47 years old and pretty short for a dancer I guess, at five foot nothing tall.
I`m fairly fit at the moment, but am really interested in any other mature ladies who dance and how they cope with things like the more frantic aspects of bellydance (without falling over, as I frequently do, hee :lol: )

 

[Caroline_afifi]

welcome!

Oh my goodness... I cant believe Belly dance has reached the Orkney Islands!!

I have family originally from Shetland on my fathers side... it is a small place called Twatt.

I am sure you will enjoy your time here.

 

[Oresai]

Hi Caroline! I`m actually Scots but have lived in Orkney for twenty years now. There`s a Twatt on mainland Orkney too...the signpost for it keeps getting stolen by tourists :lol:
I haven`t heard of any other Orcadian bellydancers here, which is a bit sad, but hope to make some new friends here. Have been looking around the posts and already learning.

 

[lizaj]

Convert other girls and also go for the occasional trip to the main (is)land to belly dance workshops and festivals in Scotland and why not even venture to England or Norway ??????? You have a great option there- they have a belly dancing scene too. See my other post
Through NADA (Northern Arabic Dance Association) Welcome to NADA - Northern Arabic Dance Association you can make contact with dancers in our climes. There's a goodly few in the HIghlands.
We have just had our AGM in Carlisle and the mauraders from Glasgow joined us

 

[lizaj]

PS I don't do frantic!

 

[Oresai]

Wow, thanks for the welcome, info and links, Lisa I have a blog where I put out tentative feelers for any other women wanting to learn alongside me. Didn`t get anything back though, Maybe I should be persistent and keep trying.

 

[Caroline_afifi]

Hi Caroline! I`m actually Scots but have lived in Orkney for twenty years now. There`s a Twatt on mainland Orkney too...the signpost for it keeps getting stolen by tourists :lol:
I haven`t heard of any other Orcadian bellydancers here, which is a bit sad, but hope to make some new friends here. Have been looking around the posts and already learning.

So there are Twatt faces in many places! OOOH..

At my dad's funeral the vicar refused to say that my dad's family was from Twatt.

I was so mad, he was very proud of his Twatt roots.

 

[Oresai]

There are pics of tourists on Flickr, I think, proudly posing beside the signpost
Mind you, Twatt is more cheerful than some of this isle`s names....Hell, Purgatory and Gallowhill....

 

[Mosaic]

Welcome to the forum and bellydance Keep trying to get some ladies to join you, don't give up, sometimes it takes a bit of persuading to 'convince' folk to give things a go!

As for the place names ... WOW! there must be some strange history behind those names :lol:
~Mosaic

 

[Caroline_afifi]

There are pics of tourists on Flickr, I think, proudly posing beside the signpost
Mind you, Twatt is more cheerful than some of this isle`s names....Hell, Purgatory and Gallowhill....

You mean there is a postal address called Hell??? :lol:

Yes, like Mosaic said.. there has to be some interesting history around these names.

Is Orkney part of Scotland by any chance or is it independant?

 

[Oresai]

Yup, Hell exists and it`s on a wee island called Sanday, in the Orkney Isles
But we also have many names from when the Norse viking settlers were here, like Odinshof, Warsettr and the like. There`s a huge viking legacy here. Politically, Orkney`s part of Scotland, but culturally it`s anything but and `belongs`, really, to Norway in so many ways. Many Orcadians actually get insulted if you equate Orkney as part of Scotland, others though don`t mind.
Interesting placenames are par for the course in Orkney. My own home is called Over The Water.

 

[Caroline_afifi]

Yup, Hell exists and it`s on a wee island called Sanday, in the Orkney Isles

Probably was known as 'Hell on Sunday!' :lol:

But we also have many names from when the Norse viking settlers were here, like Odinshof, Warsettr and the like. There`s a huge viking legacy here. Politically, Orkney`s part of Scotland, but culturally it`s anything but and `belongs`, really, to Norway in so many ways. Many Orcadians actually get insulted if you equate Orkney as part of Scotland, others though don`t mind.

Yes, Like Shetland. It used to be Zetland and our family name was Dalziel.
my brother looks very Norwegian.. we are a right group of mongrels!

Interesting placenames are par for the course in Orkney. My own home is called Over The Water.

In Liverpool we have a place called 'over the water' it is the Wirral which is across the river Mersey.

What made you move there? do you like sheep??

 

[Oresai]

Ha! Funny you should mention sheep....
I`m self employed, I tan sheepskins for a living. Really!

 

[Caroline_afifi]

Ha! Funny you should mention sheep....
I`m self employed, I tan sheepskins for a living. Really!

well without drawing on stereotypes.... what else would you do on those islands!! :lol:

 

[Oresai]

True, I`m too girly to be a fisherman or farmer

 

[Shanazel]

Somewhere I have a picture of a highway sign that says "Hell" and there are icicles on it. I understand there are places in Michigan and Norway called Hell, but I grew up in south Texas and suspect the entrance to the real place is somewhere in that vicinity. Heaven knows it is hot enough.

 

[shiradotnet]

Welcome to our web community! You can find a lot of continuing education here. Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like.

You might want to take a look at this article on my web site: Learning To Belly Dance: If No Local Teacher, Or Wanting More Knowledge - its purpose is to provide some guidance to dancers in isolated areas.

For that matter, spend a few hours prowling through my site All About Belly Dancing! Exploring The Art of Middle Eastern Dance! Learn About Belly Dance! in general - there's a lot of info on belly dancing there, including reviews of tons of instructional videos.

There's also the "Belly Dance Videos" group on Yahoo - see bellydancevideos : Belly Dancing Videos . It's a group with a laser-sharp focus on discussing videos related to belly dancing. I'm the moderator. If you apply to join it, just say that you're Oresaid from Oriental Dancer, and I'll approve you.

 

[Oresai]

Thank you very much Shira, wow, there`s a wealth of good info there! :clap:
Great stuff, there isn`t enough around to help dancers in isolated areas, so the net is so useful.