on taking workshops (and being stupid)

One thing that most people hate about taking workshops is that they will look stupid in front of other people. Again, for most people, it's okay to be stupid in front of classmates (except for me. I'm *that* competitive). But workshops, especially a regional one like the Bellydance Festival Asia that I recently took, could be challenging in that you get to learn to dance with other dancers with varying degrees of intelligence.

I'm a bottom-feeder, nuff said. And by saying that, I mean to tell you that I am reallly stupid in classes, especially when doing steps and all.

Sharon Kihara corrected my "tribal" posture. I HATE doing ATS postures (because my muscles would burn!!) but after awhile, I kind of get used to it. I took three classes with her (the killer SharK as I called her because she made us all do a one-hour of yoga for warm-up and that nearly killed all of us... but I found neat stuff!).

She said something that I will cherish for the rest of my life, "We are bellydancers, that means we're athletes, and dorks." Hear, hear (especially on the dork part)!!!

I took two classes with one of my heroes, Elizabeth Strong. Bwaaaaaaa... She's just so... I really wish I had her toned arms and abs and attitude! We learned the Turkish Rom fusion (so cool!!!) and she added gorgeous jazz steps and postures to it. Something that I normally wouldn't do, but okay if I find a flirty song that I can dance to. And the Traveling Tribal class was so neat (I could finally do the Suzy Q with maya stuff that SharK taught in the class the day before).

The Haremqueen dancers (the organizer of the Bellydance Festival Asia) did a "Road to Bellydance Festival Asia" pre-event, the velvetRAQS danced there and we got a free two-hour class. I chose Bollywood Fusion with Heather Aued. OMYGOD. That could most certainly be one of the most fun classes I've taken in years! Deer hands! Lotus hands! Steps and positions! I gotta start taking Kathak class at the Indian Cultural Center near home.

With Elizabeth Strong after the Traveling Tribal class. Picture taken by Flory (an Oriental teacher from the Philippines)

For the closing night on Sunday, we were treated with outdoor buffet-style dinner and a dance-theatrical show by the Bellydance Evolution. It rained just before the show ended... *sigh*. It could be more gorgeous, though. I didn't move when I watched Elizabeth Strong dancing with her scimitar, Sharon and Kaeshi working it out Tribal fusion style, and Kaeshi dancing with a tray of candles on her head, and doing floorworks on wet dancefloor (yes, the rain got there too).

Soaked-wet after the Gala Dinner & Show.

But the most fun night was the Saturday night we all went to Khaima, a middle-eastern eatery in Seminyak. I asked my boyfriend about it and initially, it was only going to be the two of us, but I asked the other girls if they wanted to join, and they all tagged along.

It turned out to be one of the best nights of our lives. We danced with the Yamina, the Australian Oriental dancer who also took the workshops at the Bellydance Festival Asia and won 2nd prize on her Bellysamba Fusion at the Gala Dinner. Yeah! We also danced with Ika (?) the house dancer of Khaima (who also took the workshops). They were so fab. We got two free drinks and two desserts for dancing along.

At Khaima, picture taken by... was it my boyfriend?

During the Gala Dinner, the emcee announced that there will be World Bellydance Festival next year. So... I guess I'll be coming back to Bali, huh?

YEAH!

Shout-outs to: Deasy (Indonesia), Yamina (Australia/France), Sahara Dancers (Indonesia), Crystal & Flory (The Philippines), Allison (Australia).

That's one of the best things about taking workshops. You get to meet other dancers and be friends with them.