Wednesday 18th May saw the girls at St Michael’s Church Hall in Bramhall, near Stockport, to dance at a fundraiser for the Gambian Schools Trust.
I decided to take the “scenic” route partly due to the fact that my in-built satnav was on the blink and for the first time in a long time, I got horrendously lost. But somehow I managed to fall through the door in time to get changed and ready for the first set.
We’d been invited to dance at St Michael’s by Olive Roskilly, who had seen us perform at the Chadkirk festival in 2010. The aim of the evening was to help raise money for a Gambian Schools charity.
Our first set was folk based and was very well received by the audience. They were quieter than many of the audiences we’ve danced for but there was a lot of toe tapping and plenty of applause when we’d finished.
After the break we decided to go for a more glamorous look and had the chance to wear our sparkly dresses. Were the audience getting used to us, or was the wine that was served during the interval starting to hit the spot? I guess we’ll never know, but whichever it was the audience were definitely livelier in the second half. Not only were they clapping along to the music, but we even managed to get a few of them up to join in.
It was a fantastic evening and our thanks go to Olive and her colleagues at St Michael’s not only for inviting us to join them, but for looking after us so well while we were there – lots of very nice tea and biscuits in the interval. With a little bit of help from us St Michael’s was able to raise £250 for the Gambian Schools Trust – well done.
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Monday, 13 June 2011
Claire House update, posted by Noor
As we finished tidying up at the Ellesmere Port Royal British Legion late on Saturday night (or was it early on Sunday morning by then?), I was sure of two things; everyone had had a good night, and we had made a lot of money for a great cause. The dance and gladiator shows were enjoyed by both the audience and the other performers, and there had been lots of opportunities to tempt people into donating even more. The raffle proved very popular (the fact that one of the prizes was a giant chocolate hamper may have had something to do with this!), and the cake stall was emptied by the end of the evening. The bazaar gave local dancers the opportunity to sell items which they no longer used, with a percentage going to Claire House, and of course to buy new things as well. Once the show was over there was a chance for everyone to dance to a mixture of Arabic and western music, and members of Meroe's dance class, which takes place at the venue on Thursday evenings, took to the floor with a "flash mob" performance.
Meroe (in white) and her class
All this, along with a generous donation from Tameri's workplace, gave us a grand total of £585.20.
I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone involved; the rest of the Ya Raqs girls for all their help, Deva Victrix for supporting us, Caroline Afifi and Caroline Thorpe for coming to perform, Elaine for her delicious cakes, and the staff at the British Legion who helped the night go so well, and of course, everyone who came along to the evening.
Meroe (in white) and her class
All this, along with a generous donation from Tameri's workplace, gave us a grand total of £585.20.
I'd like to say a massive thank you to everyone involved; the rest of the Ya Raqs girls for all their help, Deva Victrix for supporting us, Caroline Afifi and Caroline Thorpe for coming to perform, Elaine for her delicious cakes, and the staff at the British Legion who helped the night go so well, and of course, everyone who came along to the evening.
Claire House Fundraiser, posted by Pheonice
……and a good time was had by all,
The show began with an introduction by the Roman Emperor himself, who then presented the dancers. Ya Raqs performed several routines, including tradition Bedouin and Egyptian dances and a solo by Meroe, and we had guest appearances by Caroline Afifi, who performed a modern Egyptian piece, and Caroline Thorpe, a cheeky stick dance. As I danced, I was pleased to see a lot of the audience, both men and women, were dressed in attire suiting the theme of the night, and they were really getting into the swing of things.
Ya Raqs
Meroe
During the interval, a delicious buffet, supplied by Sue Powell-Green, was enjoyed; I didn`t know vegetarian food could be so varied and tasty. There was plenty of retail therapy from the bazaar, where the girls picked up lots of glitzy bargains, also a cake stand brimming with delicious homemade cakes, provided by Elaine Chapman, which were snapped up.
The second half of the show began with `The dance of death`, a poignant veil routine by Ya Raqs, followed by fighting by gladiators of Deva Victix; this went down really well with the audience, who enthusiastically cheered on their favourites.
The Dance of Death
After the fighting, there was dancing for everyone who wanted to join in. Some of the girls from the audience were wearing their recent purchases from the bazaar, while others were back at the bazaar looking for more bargains.
Many thanks to Noor for arranging the night.
The show began with an introduction by the Roman Emperor himself, who then presented the dancers. Ya Raqs performed several routines, including tradition Bedouin and Egyptian dances and a solo by Meroe, and we had guest appearances by Caroline Afifi, who performed a modern Egyptian piece, and Caroline Thorpe, a cheeky stick dance. As I danced, I was pleased to see a lot of the audience, both men and women, were dressed in attire suiting the theme of the night, and they were really getting into the swing of things.
Ya Raqs
Meroe
During the interval, a delicious buffet, supplied by Sue Powell-Green, was enjoyed; I didn`t know vegetarian food could be so varied and tasty. There was plenty of retail therapy from the bazaar, where the girls picked up lots of glitzy bargains, also a cake stand brimming with delicious homemade cakes, provided by Elaine Chapman, which were snapped up.
The second half of the show began with `The dance of death`, a poignant veil routine by Ya Raqs, followed by fighting by gladiators of Deva Victix; this went down really well with the audience, who enthusiastically cheered on their favourites.
The Dance of Death
After the fighting, there was dancing for everyone who wanted to join in. Some of the girls from the audience were wearing their recent purchases from the bazaar, while others were back at the bazaar looking for more bargains.
Many thanks to Noor for arranging the night.
Sunday, 8 May 2011
Lancaster, posted by Hebba
I was excited when I started my journey to Lancaster on Saturday the 9th April. Why?
Well this was our first performance of the season and I hadn't seen any of the Roman soldiers since Saturnalia. It was a warm sunny day, although some of the others from the warmer parts of the Roman empire might disagree. But the sun was out and everyone was ready to process from the castle to the museum in the centre of the town. There were horns, sagat, drums, and of course us making lots of noise as we followed the marching Romans. A lot of people came and followed us, some even joined in! Outside the museum in the town square we set up camp. It was brilliant as there were so many people waiting to see what was going to happen next.....
As usual when the Romans are about we had to stand quietly as they worshipped the various Gods and showed off their prowess with their military might, big swords etcetera. Ya Raqs then danced, including in our performance some new routines which we had been practising over the winter months, which went very well. We could have married off a couple of the dancers as there were some very keen potential husbands. The audience at Lancaster was very appreciative which always raises our spirits and performance.
Tameri, Hebba, Phoenece, Mish Mish, Kebi and Aisha
We were even fed by the people at the museum, I don't think they were told if they feed us we will just keep coming back... But thank you so much, the food was lovely.
As the sun was lowering in the sky, the Romans marched back to the castle, with us following. It was a lovely day for so many reasons.
Well this was our first performance of the season and I hadn't seen any of the Roman soldiers since Saturnalia. It was a warm sunny day, although some of the others from the warmer parts of the Roman empire might disagree. But the sun was out and everyone was ready to process from the castle to the museum in the centre of the town. There were horns, sagat, drums, and of course us making lots of noise as we followed the marching Romans. A lot of people came and followed us, some even joined in! Outside the museum in the town square we set up camp. It was brilliant as there were so many people waiting to see what was going to happen next.....
As usual when the Romans are about we had to stand quietly as they worshipped the various Gods and showed off their prowess with their military might, big swords etcetera. Ya Raqs then danced, including in our performance some new routines which we had been practising over the winter months, which went very well. We could have married off a couple of the dancers as there were some very keen potential husbands. The audience at Lancaster was very appreciative which always raises our spirits and performance.
Tameri, Hebba, Phoenece, Mish Mish, Kebi and Aisha
We were even fed by the people at the museum, I don't think they were told if they feed us we will just keep coming back... But thank you so much, the food was lovely.
As the sun was lowering in the sky, the Romans marched back to the castle, with us following. It was a lovely day for so many reasons.
Sunday, 17 April 2011
Sirocco
Several members of Ya Raqs recently attended the Sirocco dance festival in Frome, Somerset.
Sirocco is a weekend-long dance fusion festival, which celebrates the meeting of East and West in dance and music. The event kicked off with a theatre show on the Friday evening, with performances by the weekend's teachers. Then there were two days of workshops, and a party on the Saturday night.
Pheonice, Meroe, Noor, Kebi and Amisi at the party
Between us we attended a range of workshops; including Baladi, Ghawazee and Zambra Mora dance styles, creating choreographies and dancing with a stick.
We also met up with our friend Nawarra, who organised our trip to Morocco last year, and who was teaching Khaleegee and Moroccan Shaabi workshops.
Amisi, Meroe, Kebi, Nawarra, Pheonice and Noor
Last but by no means least, several of us took a number of workshops with Karim Nagi, on his first teaching trip to the UK. His workshops covered a huge amount on the different rhythms and types of melodies used in Middle Eastern music, and we felt that they helped us a lot in understanding the music that we dance to.
Amisi, Kebi, Meroe, Pheonice and Noor with Karim
All in all a great weekend, and many thanks to Kebi for driving us all the way there and back.
Sirocco is a weekend-long dance fusion festival, which celebrates the meeting of East and West in dance and music. The event kicked off with a theatre show on the Friday evening, with performances by the weekend's teachers. Then there were two days of workshops, and a party on the Saturday night.
Pheonice, Meroe, Noor, Kebi and Amisi at the party
Between us we attended a range of workshops; including Baladi, Ghawazee and Zambra Mora dance styles, creating choreographies and dancing with a stick.
We also met up with our friend Nawarra, who organised our trip to Morocco last year, and who was teaching Khaleegee and Moroccan Shaabi workshops.
Amisi, Meroe, Kebi, Nawarra, Pheonice and Noor
Last but by no means least, several of us took a number of workshops with Karim Nagi, on his first teaching trip to the UK. His workshops covered a huge amount on the different rhythms and types of melodies used in Middle Eastern music, and we felt that they helped us a lot in understanding the music that we dance to.
Amisi, Kebi, Meroe, Pheonice and Noor with Karim
All in all a great weekend, and many thanks to Kebi for driving us all the way there and back.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
Wednesday, 9 February 2011
Claire House fundraising event - Saturday 30 April
Ya Raqs are holding a Roman/Egyptian evening for Claire House Children's Hospice on Saturday 30 April, in Ellesmere Port. There will be dancers and gladiators, a raffle, a buffet, and a disco to end. We may even have a visit from the Emperor himself! Watch this space for more information.
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