Another year in my expanding Bellydance world.

The tail end of the year brings with it a flurry of haflas as we all try to get the Christmas season off to a cheery start with lots of bling and happiness. I would probably have enjoyed the ones I went to more if I hadn’t been struck down with some horrible plague kindly donated by my teenage son which left me feeling quite tired. But I went anyway, and danced which shows you how addicted I am. The Shimmychicks kicked the season off, (already did you a review!) closely followed by Pauline and Asif’s Christmas Party in Nottingham. That was cold, although not as cold as last year they all said. It was a nice party with some lovely dancing; I could get to like watching Goth you know! We all had fun and a pressie from Santa and an interesting journey home when TomTom forgot where Nottingham was…..
This last weekend was the busy one, with Jacky’s Christmas burfday hafla on Friday; egg free cake, tinsel and loads of fairy wings courtesy of my girls, Hannah not wearing black (don’t tell Pauline!) and a good time had by all as usual. Saturday brought Shimea’s Christmas party; more tinsel and bling, illuminations, bouncers, a fire eater (yes, I was there, and he did!) baked potatoes and chocolate muffins, the noisiest coin belt in the world and another lovely evening out with more dancing. And Shiv and I had our pictures taken by Mark; that was entertaining. We are aiming at duets next year, but we might miss so bear with us!

It would be easy for reviews just to take the same format: list all the dancers, say how lovely they all were, and close. But that would be a cop out, and boring for people to read especially if they were there and know how fantastic everyone is.  What reviews are supposed to do is encourage those who weren’t there to go next time. So here’s the encouragement. Our bellydance community in Lincolnshire is quite small really, most of us know each other, but it’s always good to see new faces, and make new friends, and see other people dance, it gives you ideas! You can go to class and/or practice as much as you like, but the way to get the most out of the dance is to come along to hafla’s, and meet your dance sisters, see them dance and join in yourself.  After all, you learned the moves, and bought some shiny, why would you just want to stay at home?  While a lot of dancers are happy to do the group dances and join in boogie time or just be a good audience, going to haflas gives some people the impetus to challenge themselves; wear something shinier, use different music, extend their range of moves, be more entertaining, surprise and delight their friends and impress themselves with their daring. Bellydance has given me so much that I cannot put into words. Those who knew me before I started all this can’t believe how much I have changed. I have met some wonderful people, and made some friends I feel privileged to know. It’s changed my life!

So to all my friends, old and new, kisses and hugs and shimmies, happy Christmas and a merry new year. I shall be having a tiny rest now till January when it all starts up again. And remember, if you have any friends who fancy a go just tell them: Come to the bellydance side, we have sequins.

Trish 14Dec09.