Emma_Williams
New member
Well I am on an absolute high still!! I came back yesterday from my first ever time at JOY and here is my review/diary of the weekend.
Friday Night - The Competition - I dont like competitions as a rule and I was unsure how the atmosphere might be and what the standard would be like but I have to say it was very very good. I was nicely suprised and the girls all seemed to bring something different and from what I heard there had not been any bit*hyness or diva attitudes. The ameatuer winner was heather haggis (was it heather??) who was a nice dancer and performed very well. My personal fave from this category was the girl who performed a turkish piece very well. The rising star category was fantastic and so many dancers really did give it their all. Helena won and she does indeed seem to be a very popular dancer. My favourite of the category was a beautiful dancer who did some fantastic veil work. Her name rigth now at work does escape me but she really did shine. My highlights of the night though were Moirai tribal who danced whilst the judges made their decision and Razia.
Saturday i was just so so excited about my workshops and I was also a little nervous about being taught by some of the best dancers around. My first workshop was with the wonderful Moirai girls who taught us the beautiful art of ATS fat chance style. Jesse and Phillipa really are two of the most beautiful and kick a$$ dancers i know and they are such fantastic teachers. They are true, pure ATS and they worked us hard but kept the atmosphere warm and friendly. We learned all the basics and how to travel with those complex ATS moves.
My next workshop was meant to be Yasminas totally egyptian. For this we had Tracey Gibbs covering and I have to say she was a fab replacement and we learnt what made moves totally Egyptian and going over the basics of this wonderful style. Everyone really let go and enjoyed themselves.
My next workshop was meant to be khaled accents to impress but instead we had the fabulous Shahla as a replacement. What a beautiful woman...so gorgeous...this workshop was all about the little accents we can put into our dance to really wow our audience. I found this workshop fantastic because the little accents and tricks were explained to us very easily and are so easy and subtle to do but they look fab when done and it has given me lots of little ideas for my performances to come.
My last workshop of the day was with the amazing and fab Sara Farouk. She was one hell of a woman...such a fab dancer and a good old down to earth Southener. She really made me feel relaxed but that woman does not hold back on telling you what your doing wrong but she puts it in a warm way. If you get it wrong so what she makes you feel so at ease. The workshop was called 'feel the difference'. We sat on chairs and listened to pieces of music from different eras and picked out what instruments were used for each and the style and then we stood up and danced to each style from each era. This was SOOOOOOOOO useful for me who is still trying to get to grips with what is what. I loved this workshop and fell in love with Sara's passion and style.
The Hafla - wow blown away.com!!! My highlights were Sabrina, Moirai, Nawarra whos energy and enthusiasm cheers me up and makes me feel all warm and my personal fave was (and I am not just biased) was our Mrs Caroline Afifi. Me and dreamtheif wanted to hold a banner saying 'she teaches us we know her' we really was proud...well done Mrs!
Sunday - Although I was extremely knackered i was still all fired up. I started my day with the wonderful moirai who taught us how to layer our isolations and moves. This i found challenging but again, the way the girls taught it seemed achievable.
Then I had the wonderful Candi Bell! I was meant to have Yasmina for postures and turns but i couldnt give a monkeys because Candi was the warmest most pleasent and fantastic lady ever. This workshop was all about weight shifting and turning without falling on your backside. Such a good workshop which i got so much out of.
Lastly i had arabic gestures which again was meant to be Yasmina but I got Mrs Afifi
Caroline was such a fab substitue teacher. She explanied quite a few gestures to us and really emphasised that only do it if your 110% confident you know what the song is saying. We all had a laugh over bad examples of gesturing and then we danced and performed to each other using expression and dynamic and gestures. This helped me no end and i had a ball. One of my fave workshops. Then we boogied to shaabi and everyone had so much fun.
All in all it was amazing, cant wait till October to get some kazafy in yay
Friday Night - The Competition - I dont like competitions as a rule and I was unsure how the atmosphere might be and what the standard would be like but I have to say it was very very good. I was nicely suprised and the girls all seemed to bring something different and from what I heard there had not been any bit*hyness or diva attitudes. The ameatuer winner was heather haggis (was it heather??) who was a nice dancer and performed very well. My personal fave from this category was the girl who performed a turkish piece very well. The rising star category was fantastic and so many dancers really did give it their all. Helena won and she does indeed seem to be a very popular dancer. My favourite of the category was a beautiful dancer who did some fantastic veil work. Her name rigth now at work does escape me but she really did shine. My highlights of the night though were Moirai tribal who danced whilst the judges made their decision and Razia.
Saturday i was just so so excited about my workshops and I was also a little nervous about being taught by some of the best dancers around. My first workshop was with the wonderful Moirai girls who taught us the beautiful art of ATS fat chance style. Jesse and Phillipa really are two of the most beautiful and kick a$$ dancers i know and they are such fantastic teachers. They are true, pure ATS and they worked us hard but kept the atmosphere warm and friendly. We learned all the basics and how to travel with those complex ATS moves.
My next workshop was meant to be Yasminas totally egyptian. For this we had Tracey Gibbs covering and I have to say she was a fab replacement and we learnt what made moves totally Egyptian and going over the basics of this wonderful style. Everyone really let go and enjoyed themselves.
My next workshop was meant to be khaled accents to impress but instead we had the fabulous Shahla as a replacement. What a beautiful woman...so gorgeous...this workshop was all about the little accents we can put into our dance to really wow our audience. I found this workshop fantastic because the little accents and tricks were explained to us very easily and are so easy and subtle to do but they look fab when done and it has given me lots of little ideas for my performances to come.
My last workshop of the day was with the amazing and fab Sara Farouk. She was one hell of a woman...such a fab dancer and a good old down to earth Southener. She really made me feel relaxed but that woman does not hold back on telling you what your doing wrong but she puts it in a warm way. If you get it wrong so what she makes you feel so at ease. The workshop was called 'feel the difference'. We sat on chairs and listened to pieces of music from different eras and picked out what instruments were used for each and the style and then we stood up and danced to each style from each era. This was SOOOOOOOOO useful for me who is still trying to get to grips with what is what. I loved this workshop and fell in love with Sara's passion and style.
The Hafla - wow blown away.com!!! My highlights were Sabrina, Moirai, Nawarra whos energy and enthusiasm cheers me up and makes me feel all warm and my personal fave was (and I am not just biased) was our Mrs Caroline Afifi. Me and dreamtheif wanted to hold a banner saying 'she teaches us we know her' we really was proud...well done Mrs!
Sunday - Although I was extremely knackered i was still all fired up. I started my day with the wonderful moirai who taught us how to layer our isolations and moves. This i found challenging but again, the way the girls taught it seemed achievable.
Then I had the wonderful Candi Bell! I was meant to have Yasmina for postures and turns but i couldnt give a monkeys because Candi was the warmest most pleasent and fantastic lady ever. This workshop was all about weight shifting and turning without falling on your backside. Such a good workshop which i got so much out of.
Lastly i had arabic gestures which again was meant to be Yasmina but I got Mrs Afifi
Caroline was such a fab substitue teacher. She explanied quite a few gestures to us and really emphasised that only do it if your 110% confident you know what the song is saying. We all had a laugh over bad examples of gesturing and then we danced and performed to each other using expression and dynamic and gestures. This helped me no end and i had a ball. One of my fave workshops. Then we boogied to shaabi and everyone had so much fun.All in all it was amazing, cant wait till October to get some kazafy in yay
