To all readers!

let’s dance wishes you a HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!

Cheers
Joo Nee

Bellydance Evolution (BDE) is a world-class dance festival & show, featuring top artist in the field of Middle Eastern dance & music. BDE will be touring to Asia for the 1st time in Bali & Korea. There is an online dance competition for each festival to give a few local dancers the opportunity to be part of this truly unique show. I wish to be part of this amazing theatrical show…. finger cross

Luckily I managed to squeeze some time & get the video done for submission. (I hope it’s good enough….hehe) Check out my audition video:

DO VOTE for me at:
http://www.bellydanceevolution.com/cblog/index.php?/archives/9-Voting-Page.html

Selected or not, I’ll take this as another challenge in my dancing courier…
Great to dance together with The All Star if given the chance…
If not will still attend the Belly Dance Festival at Bali…

This will be another memorable experience after my Egypt trip last year!

Cheers
Joo Nee

Welcoming the New Year with New Resolution!
To be Slimmer? Sexier? Fit & Healthier?
Come try out let’s dance trial classes to realise your resolution…
Make Dancing as a FUN option to exercise, you’ll never regret!

See you at let’s dance!

Cheers
Joo Nee

Cheers
Joo Nee

Surprise your love ones for X’mas!

Wondering what a dancer is doing backstage? Busy changing of course! Most of the time, we’ll be rushing in & out getting ready for the next dance routine. The basic stuff will be wiping off some sweat, quickly change (make sure everything is on and properly covered :P), take a sip of water & take some breath before we get back on stage. However, we will always squeeze a second or two to snap a few shots of photos backstage!

Together with a group of belly dance enthusiast from KL, Alor Setar, Penang, Sarawak, Singapore lead by Paola, we traveled to Cairo, Egypt.

That’s me at Dubai Airport in specs, kind-off blur after 7hrs of flight.

I stayed at a nice Villa while I am at Cairo, Egypt. It’s a 4 storey villa with a swimming pool, a garden & a dance studio in the building itself! The size of the living room is 4 times bigger than a normal living room with 4 sets of different furniture… not sure what for, maybe you can sit & relax at a different feel of environment according to your mood. The only similar thing they have is carpet. Egyptian really loves carpet, & they are famous for producing carpet as well.

Food in Egypt is definitely not my type. I can’t recall what is the name of the food, because all the names are very long and hard to pronounce. There are lot’s of ‘el’, ‘kheir’, ‘keif’, ‘ala’, ‘kr’. It sounds like a kid with no teeth pronouncing the words to me. I only learn 3 words: ‘Shoukran’= Thank You, ‘Naam’= Yes, ‘Laa’= No. So if we say ‘Yes Lah’, it means ‘Yes & No?’ Haha…. (I think I am confusing everybody :P)

Shopping at Khan el Khalili. It’s like a Bazaar, similar to Petaling Street in KL. You can actually get anything from there, from little souvenirs to expensive belly dance costumes. What you need to master before you shop there is your bargaining skills. And girls will have to be careful with their belongings & don’t walk alone. Egyptian guys are VERY ‘CHARMING’ indeed.

Taking a drink at El Fishawi, one of the oldest café at Khan el Kalili. It’s like coffee bean/ starbucks in ancient time.

Other interesting places that I visited:

The Pyramids & The Sphinx; Step Pyramid

The Citadel; The Hanging Church. This church rest on the bastion of a Roman Gate.

Ibn Tulun Mosque. We have to take off our shoes or wrap it up with plastic.

Belly Dance Show at Nile Maxim Cruise Restaurant. I was drag up to dance, a great experience to improvise on the spot as most Egyptian belly soloist didn’t pre-choreograph their performance.

This is the Tanura dancers. It’s an egyption folk dance where the Tanura dancer can spin for a really long time and did some tricks with his skirt. It’s like they are spinning and doing tricks with a very big piece of colourful ‘Roti Canai’.

Other than all these interesting places and dance shows, I’ve attended an intensive crash course for oriental dance/belly dance. It includes lectures and training, both theory and practical of oriental dance. Personally, this course gives me a better understanding of the dance history, the music, the instrument, the rhythm, the costumes, and interpretation of the music into dance styles. Not so much on dance technique but the theory and culture behind oriental dance.

In short, it’s a wonderful experience, great excitement, valuable knowledge gain; but a pain in my pocket! Especially the costumes…

Dear Let’s Dance Members,

Cheers
Joo Nee

Every year, I’ve been celebrating New Year with friends & families; this is the 1st time I am performing on New Year Eve Countdown. Performing & dancing to entertain the audience is what a dancer does, but this is the 1st time I see the true joy & happiness from the crowd. I am so glad that our performances did hit up the crowd minutes before the countdown. The smiles & happy faces from the little children, teenagers, love birds, married couple & old folks just make me feel it’s a meaningful moment to dance & share the joy with so many different families out there. Making people happy is such a wonderful thing to do. It’s hard to describe the satisfaction I get…its just warm & priceless!

Below are many other memorable moment of our year end dance shows…

A busy year end, but a great way to end 2008! Looking ahead for a better 2009…