November 2009 Workshops and Hafla with Ozgen

October 14th 2009 Tree Top Pub Harrogate - Candlelighters Benefit

August 28th 2009 Egyptia dancing at Solfest in Cumbria

August 15th 2009 Egyptia dancing at Feva Festival in Knaresborough

August 7th 2009 DIDIER AND THE DANCERS - storytelling evening at Markas Restaurant Bradford

July 11th 2009 Kirkstall Festival

Egyptia danced in the Cloisters at Kirkstall Abbey, the weather was fine despite being threatened by rain, the snake handling was a first for us all!

 May 4th 2009    Skipton Waterways Festival. 10.30, 12.30 and 2.45

  Egyptia danced at this great festival in Skipton, the weather was cold and we were lucky the rain held of but it did, we were joined by the Lady Mayoress and

  managed to get plenty of volunteers up to join us after our performances. We were also lucky enough to get the use of the fabulous 'Batman' barge, courtesy of the

  owners who were extremely hospitable. Thank you and thanks Skipton, we look forward to next year.

  Sunday 15th March 2009       Dance Workshops with Hilary Shepherd at Yorkshire Dance Centre

  And Hafla - Habibis Restaurant, Killinghall Road, Bradford. BD3 7JD from 6.00pm

  Hilary came and gave some workshops at the Yorkshire dance centre A great teacher, we learned some great arm techniques. What a great performer she is too

  and so young! The evening was rounded of by a Hafla at Habibis's which is fast becoming one of our favourite venues.

  14th February  2009           Egyptia at the Dance Krazy Show at Harrogate Conference Centre

  What a marvellous this experience this was, its not often we get the chance to perform, in such a great venue and on such a huge stage. with 2000 seating capacity.

  The Dance Krazy Show was excellent and we were honoured to be asked to be part of it. We performed our new Kaleegi routine

  ( Kaleegi is the folk dance style of the Gulf regions)

  Followed by a fantastic Hafla at Habibi's in Bradford. Khaled was as inspiring as ever and the food at Habibi's was really good. A great evening

'  Really good evening. Well organised with excellent food and entertainment all evening'. Linda Robinson
'  Belly well organised, belly well entertained and belly good food.'   Arran Shoesmith
'  Brilliant!!' Lisa Mcdonald.
'  Fanstastic evening, very impressed by Khaled'. Nadia Alami.

Sunday 21st September 2008  65th Birthday Celebrations At The Grand St Ledger Hotel, Bennetthorpe, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN2 6AX

Egyptia were invited to perform in Millenium Square in the centre of Leeds as part of the 2 day celebrations of the opening of the New Leeds Museum.

We had a lovely sunny day which was great but it was rather windy, a bit tricky with the Isis wings!

A Taste of The Middle East -  At the Frazer Theatre,  Knaresborough Egyptia's own show in the Feva Festival, Knarsbrough.

This was such a fantastic evening. Music and storytelling was by Hassan Erraji, we had a full house, standing ovation and everyone dancing in the aisles.Brilliant!

We felt very privileged to be invited to perform here.

This was the first time Ozgen had been to Leeds, he was an energetic and extraordinarily talented dancer and teacher. 

We were lucky enough for him to stay and enjoy our own private party which was a farewell evening for our friend and fellow Egyptia member Adriana,

The highlight of which was his performances. It was great to enjoy his company for the evening, thank you and we look forward to seeing you again next year.

some comments on a great day

After a great day of workshops and lessons Egyptia led the evening performances at the Hafla.

First showing of our new 'fruit salad' costumes too, all made by Bev.

Debut Performance of Bev's own dance group 'Egyptia' Woodfield Community Primary School Harrogate

Egyptian Dance Evening

What fun!

We had a really successful evening!  I thought we were just going to be a little extra at this school event, but oh no, we were 'it'! It was all very informal and relaxed, and

you could tell at first our audience were a little bemused by us, perhaps they did not quite know what to expect.

Anyway we performed two of our group dances and then persuaded some of the mums and kids to join in. The kids were fantastic! They loved it.

We encouraged more and more people up to join in and got them all dancing in lines, Nubian style, then we had an intermission and a few cold drinks.

After our short break we did another group dance, out latest and the audience seemed to love that one! Paulette then did her solo, which was really good.

We then managed to get all the adults (They were all women - only 3 men there!) up to join us as well as the children. 

We arranged them in a circle and encouraged someone to come and dance in the middle in turn, of course the kids were there like a shot, but slowly the mums and

other women came too.

The little lads were great they were fantastic at belly rolls, and wanted to show them off all the time. 

I was showing them how the men would dance with swords/sticks -- instead of the girly arms! They all really seemed to be enjoying themselves..

By the end of the evening it was organised chaos, everyone was up having a go at shimmies and hip circles etc, all saying how much harder it was than they thought.

By then we could not stop the kids dancing... they all wanted hip scarves and we did not have anywhere near enough to go round!

By the end of the evening each of us had a group around us that we were encouraging and we ended up dancing to Shakira which of course everyone knew

and enjoyed.. It was total mad, joyous, chaos. We got huge cheers for ages at the end... we are still new to this and we knew that we were not quite perfect,

but I dont think our audience did. I think our enthusiasm definitely infected everyone and won the day!

 Everyone kept telling us it was the best night they had for ages, and I think they meant it too.

It was such a buzz seeing everyone enjoying themselves so much, I overheard two people saying that it was fantastic fun!

 And the Head Teacher says she would like to start a belly dancing club!

 So we all came away feeling like it had been a roaring success as well as more money for our costume fund!

So next time you GOTTA be there! Helen (Egyptia member)

  Dancing at Bolton Priory for Marie Curie Cancer Care

^J.O.Y 

^{This is a wonderful event organised by Chris Ogden and Mandy Teasdale and is becoming a must for all bellydance enthusiasts.}

 ^{This year some of my class and I had booked to do two workshops with 'Tito' a wonderful dancer and teacher from Egypt, only to find that he was unable to come.}

^{A little disappointed we went along wondering what to expect from our substitute teacher 'Bondock' Hussein Nehmedou, who had come over from Germany to help out.}

^{Well! we were certainly in for a treat, he put on two great workshops despite language difficulties and despite being very fast paced, were great fun!}

^{But the best was yet to come at the evening performances. I think it fair to say, without underestimating the other performers, that he stole the show this year,}

^{most certainly if his standing ovations were anything to judge by. HE WAS WONDERFUL, a great dancer and very expressive. PLEASE COME BACK AGAIN!}

^{We were also 'wowed' by Ava Fleming, a beautiful, graceful and exceptionally skillful dancer and her shimmies are something else!}

^{We would love to see Ava again too as well as see more of her workshops.}

^{The contributions from the British teachers and performers, was as professional, interesting,}

^{entertaining and as varied as in previous years and many thanks go to all involved for a wonderful weekend.}

Bev Performing in Algeria with the Tarab Dance Company

The Hilton, Pins Maritimes, Palais des Expositions, El Mohamadia, Alger, Algeria

 ^{Hafla  St Margaret's Hall 4th November 2006}

 ^{Well what a day! Finally got to home late after a brilliant, if not somewhat exhausting day.}

^{My friend Debbie and I had booked to do Bev Smith's workshop and Hafla on Saturday 4th November.}

^{The workshop in the morning was taught by Anne Ashcroft. I have never met her before but what a pleasant lady and beautiful dancer.}

^{She eased us into the lesson gently and taught us how to be}

^{more relaxed in our dancing and really get to grips with that earthy Baladi style, which is really hard to get right.}

^{The best bits for me though was learning to play the Sagat (zills - although I still think}

^{of them as metal castanets!) What a racket! The discordant sounds of clashing and clunking slowly and I mean slowly, started to turn into tinkles rather than clashes and finally we all ended up in}

^{rhythm well sort of! It was great fun and made us feel talented even if we were clashing rather than tinkling!}  

^{We all really enjoyed Annes workshop and were pretty shattered after it,}

^{but not too shattered to practice our class routine. We have been rehearsing it for the last umpteen weeks,}

^{and although we knew it quite well, getting everyone to do it just right that evening}

^{was going to be more good luck than anything else After rushing home, dashing round Sainsburys to collect our food contribution,}

^{then crashing for a bit and having a well earned cuppa.}

^{Debbie and I donned our best belly dance finery and like two Cinderellas set off for the Ball Hafla.}

^{We arrived about 7.00. Everywhere was looking great and there was tons of food.}

 ^{It looked like we were going to feed an army. Bev had her Bazaar set up, which I have to say I kept having to go and peep at throughout the evening...}

^{so many gorgeous things to buy.}

^{The evening was nicely arranged with performance mixed in with have a go yourself and of course not forgetting Hassan's wonderful playing during}

^{the first half. He really is a very talented musician.}

^{Our class had purloined a good few tables and we had all brought our own booze, supplemented by lots of goodies by our classmate Marie.}

^{The performances were very good, we all have our own tastes and it never ceases to amaze me how completely differently dancers are.}

^{From the graceful and demure, to the friendly and chirpy,}

^{to wildly vivacious. It was also brilliant to see some of the class members contributing too, excellent.}

^{My class (Bevs Horsforth class) did our long rehearsed little number and I have to say we were brilliant! Well I have to say that dont I?}

^{Later on Jan Hudsons class also did their routine with veils,}

^{they were fantastic and the coloured veils looked spectacular. The evening was rounded off by us all dancing the night away, and finally,}

^{the icing on the cake, my husband treated me to one}

^{of Bevs fab velvet coats. So what can I say a brilliant, brilliant night and I am already looking forward to the next one.}

^{Cheers, Helen.x}

Pudsey Civic Hall. 7.30pm

This was a fantastic night for one and all, Music by Hassan Eraji, performances by the Arabesque dancers and food by the Blue Nile Restaurant, Harrogate