New Year of Bellydance

Our new year of belly dance is well underway at BellyUp. Something about spending cold winter nights in the warmth of BellyUp's exotic studio environment that just makes the winter doldrums disappear week by week. Winter is certainly not my favourite time of year...I'm a big fan of summer so for me keeping myself busy with new challenges and creative projects is the best way to get through the cold days and nights. My thoughts of snow certainly disappear every day I enter BellyUp and teaching is of course my favourite thing to do. New students full of excitement fill the studio with so much enthusiasm. And it's so exciting and rewarding to see how my beginners of last year are now inspiration for the new students entering our bellydance programs. I spend lots of time listening to new music I've bought from Egypt and developing new choreographies for our troupes and our classes, and thinking up new and creative class plans for our ever growing student population. In addition, plans for new master workshops such as Faten Salama of Egypt in March and the amazing Nourhan Sharif of NYC are great events for all of us to prepare for and look forward to. I always enjoy our Open Houses that launch or new season of dance. Our January open house was a huge hit. Everyone was really charged up to get back to dancing after a long holiday season. People tell me that BellyUp's Open Houses are the best! Great energy fills the house always and everyone feels so at home ... they always say they don't want to leave. We just love what we do so much at BellyUp and it shows. This is more than just a dance studio ... it's a community of passionate people who come together to share their love of this art form. And if you're a newbie and have never experienced belly dance before you're sure to catch the fever or at the very least be somewhat captivated by what we love about this dance form. So as we move through 2011 with plenty of exciting experiences to share together we also have the highlight at year end of travelling to Cairo again for the Nile Group Festival . As I walk through the studio each evening I hear students talking about the propsect of attending and making plans for the big journey. There's quite a build up to travelling to Egypt and the anticipation is almost as exhiliarating at the trip itself. This year I'm looking forward to more new students exploring the land of Oriental dance together and returning with many from the previous year. More info on that to come. Joharah