St Margaret

^{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 Anne’s 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 Sainsbury’s 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
Cinderella’s 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 (Bev’s Horsforth class) did our long rehearsed little number and I
have to say we were brilliant! Well I have to say that don’t I?}

^{Later
on Jan Hudson’s 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 Bev’s fab velvet coats….}

^{So what can I say… a brilliant, brilliant night and I am already looking
forward to the next one.}

Hafla Photos Courtesy of Paulette


Hassan Erraji is a master musician, a prolific composer and singer songwriter. His main instrument is the Oud, but Hassan also plays Darbouka, Bandir, the Ganun (Harpzither) The Nay (end blown bamboo flute), Keyboard and Violin "Hassan Erraji's Oud-playing is electric" (The Observer)