limconny's blog

Besides the opening dance, another surprise to Nath was the other two performances of his dance 'Shaabi' and 'Drum solo', Nath taught us these two dances in his workshop last year. I started teaching the advance class few months ago. Know what? This is the first time in my life for my students to perform other teacher's choreography, ha ha, it was more stressful than teaching my own choreo, and my students really 'sweat' for these two performances, Shaabi is simple but the style killed them la, and there are many layering shimmies in Nath's drum solo which has killed me too, but we did improve by practising these two dances again and again.

Little girls did a full version of 'Shee Sha Shoo' this time, they performed in WBDD but we were not able to finish teaching the dance for them, so they 'bye'bye' half way of the song ha ha.

My little Ian from kids jazz class performed as little Nath, this is again another surprise for Nath. When Nath was a little boy, he was a bit fairer and chubby, but he was cheeky from young and he danced to tackle girls.....ha ha, it is just my created story la. Ian is a student that l am very proud with, he is always the one who practise the hardest in class, and he is very talented in his own choreography. Hmm....who knows? He might be another Nath in future huh!

Janice, Siew Ann, Shee Loo and Zoe did their own choreography 'Opaque' this time, they drilled their brain for the dance and have done a lot of survey to the steps. I like their choreography as it was very cheeky and lively, very close to their character, close to mine too ha!

Ice and her troupe from Alor Setar, Grace from BM and her two friends from Butterworth did a good job in the hafla too, they are all new to performance, there is room for improvement but l appreciate their courage and effort, gambateh girls!

And my dear ex student Sean and his troupe Danzity did a fantastic hip hop, bravo!

Siew Ann asked me this : Conny you looked different in this dance, there was something very different, why ah?

Hmm....my answer was : I think, it has been long time l did not dance for myself, l danced for the title or for some different reasons, but this time , l told myself, l want to dance for myself, that simple.

I myself not sure whether this is the real answer too, what is the difference huh?

But l do love this dance of mine, l mean, first of all, l love the music, l was totally into it when l danced, secondly, l love the costume that l designed for myself [ha ha], lastly, l choreographed to the moves that l feel comfortable, no forcing or rushing, l just be myself.....

Unfortunately, my video camera man did a bad job to this performance of mine this time, he did watch my rehearsal and thought since the dance is very emotional, he should shoot close to my expression, but he has forgotten l am dancing with whole body instead of face only la, he told me he has too much thoughts while filming ha ha....so, we decided to film this dance in my studio again, we have started my dance studio's decoration, hmm....l plan to make my own DVD for belly dance and shaperobics too, it is time now!

Honestly, l myself is a fusion lady, mix and match is what l totally accept and deep inside my heart, there is no boundary of race, colour, age, rich or poor....the movie that inspired me for my whole life is ' Dances with Wolves ', l could watch this movie again and again.

And l truly love fusion in dance, how awesome when we blend the element from different form of dances together. But of course, we could not simply combine everything without awareness of coordination, for instance, you will not wear a cap with ceongsam rigfht? it is not coordinated! Therefore, it is important to understand the dances that you wish to integrate, at least you must have the experience of learning the dance.

Nath did a fantastic fusion last year, he made all crazy of him, and l was soo jealous ha ha...in fact, l was soo being inspired, thus l planned to do fusion as a tribute to Nath and to give him a surprise. The opening dance of hafla Inspiration is entirely fusion, l tortured my dancers in this dance ha! Most of the steps were strange to them and the dance is very energetic, they needed a longer break after finsihing the dance each time, ha ha, good training to their stamina. I know it is really hard to them, no, not the steps but the style...well, they have done their best! Nath told me this opening dance is his favourite of the night.

And my fusion for the opening dance is solo darbuka, it is not fusion of the moves but the style la, hmm....l think l was not good in this piece as the audience were quiet when l performed......

As mentioned before, Nath's performance in our hafla Inspiration has inspired me once again, l love the both sets he performed.

I did not tell Nath anything of our hafla Inspiration before the show, but l did tell him l want to give him a surprise. In hafla Yallah last year, we did Oriental the whole night, to me, l have been doing quite a lot of fusion therefore l did only Oriental, but Nath was fusion in his second set of performance last year. This year, being inspired by Nath, l went back to fusion, on the contrary, Nath planned to show Oriental, ha ha, it is interesting huh, l guess he was inspired by us too ha!

The first set of his performance is entirely Oriental, the title is 'Oyoune' [not sure of the spelling], means 'eyes'. I love this piece very much especially the last part where there were a lot of alternate transition in the music, l know it is not easy to choreograph, and Nath improvised.....you know, l was speechless.....

Unfortunately, many people here do not appreciate this piece of his, they commented to me that it is too artistic to them, sigh......l sincerely hope that we could upgrade our standard of art a little bit, life is not only working and eating, there is someting we should sense, remain and impart........

Luckily many told me they like his second set of performance, Nath did fusion in this piece and it was awesome, l think, Nath looks better in casual wear than costume, and we all like to watch the coordination of his man power with sensuality, it is very 'Nath', my inspiration......his shimmy is wow wow wow, l could not imagine if a lady belly dancer shimmy like him......

Nath hosts a show and workshop featuring superstar Bozenka in Victoria this weekend, all the best Nath, we all love you and will always support you!

I had a very busy weekend, performed for a wedding dinner on Friday night, SS with workout buddies till 2am, then watching Hafla Inspiration's DVD till 5am, teaching classes the whole afternoon of Saturday and went to Ipoh straight away, teaching 6 hours workshop then met friends and food in between on Sunday, two hours class the next morning, back to Penang and three classes back to back in the evening at Zero......Oh luckily l have 100 plus with me! ha!

The excitement is to meet my good friend's baby girl Wynn, whom l did not have chance to meet since she was born nine months ago. Little Wynn likes to stick her forehead to mine when l hug her, oh she melts my heart at once....... I had a lot of fun teaching the workshop in Ipoh - as usual. There are few new faces this year and some old friends have dropped out, as usual as well. Hmm...some took only one workshop this year, they told me it is very tiring to complete two workshops in one day, ha ha, l 'torture' them too much last year. Hmm.... l am learning to be a good teacher for workshop, it is difficult sometimes as the partcipants are in different level, but l am willing to try....l attend workshops often and l truly understand the feeling as a participant. So far, the best teacher l have met for workshop is Aziza, she is so passionate and considerate, everyone loves her. Oh we are lucky to have her for next year's World Belly Dance Day, l am looking forward to meet her again since two years ago.

I think l have a little improvement in teaching workshop this year as l managed to finish the dance half and hour before times up, so that we have time to dance more on the whole routine and spend time for Q&A, it was not in hurry this time and l could see that the participants felt better [oh hope so]. There are two more workhops to conduct this year, yes l will be better and better! Big thanks to all sponsors and participants!

I received the wing as the prize of title 'Most Inspiring Photo' from the founder of World Belly Dance Day, l took a picture and sent to them, it was publsihed on the site, please view http://www.worldbellydanceday.com/

I want to thank sincerely to Lydia the founder again for this beautiful wing, l will choreograph a wing dance to perform in Malaysia's 3rd World Belly Dance Day as a tribute to World Belly Dance Day, l have found the music, this music touch my heart deeply and l could listen to it everyday. Hmm....Zero's name in Chinese is 'To Fly', l like wing as l could fly with wings---in dance......

Big thanks to Lilian for helping me to take this awesome photo.

I will return to Ipoh to conduct a workshop again next week, l always happy to go back as the students are keen to learn, there is a lot of fun teaching them.....

This year, l will do a cane dance and drum solo with them. The cane dance is a brand new choreography specially for them, and the drum solo is the one l taught in Guangzhou, l choreographed this while travelling hee hee...

I always like to conduct cane dance as the dance is lively, close to my character ha...Today l have just started teaching a cane dance to one of my advance classes, l told them to kiss and hug the cane before we started dancing, we must make good friends with it first or the cane will hit on us, ha ha, trust me, this is true!

The cane dance for Ipoh's workshop is a simple and fun one, l wish to let them know more about the skill to dance in saidi style, l think it is all about the style, cane dance is not difficult but to interpret the style by dancing is difficult to many...

The drum solo that l choreographed while travelling is suitable for workshop, the music is nice and not too long, there are a lot of combination in both aggresive and gentle movements, and l will share in deep of the music sense and tactic to dance in beat.

Anybody interested please see details in our 'upcoming event', all levels are welcome.

Ipoh, see you soon!

A common question from every new class of belly dancing : Can belly dance help in losing weight?

Usually my answer is this :

If you want to lose weight in short time, l would suggest you to join workout classes, as workout class is special designed for fat burning, if you workout at least three times a week, you will definitely see the result.

Belly dance is a dance, it involves in technique and skill, the students are not following in the class only instead it is very important to know how, from basic stance to every single step, the teacher is responsible to explain in detail and to make sure the students are doing the right way. Therefore, l could not define belly dance as a cardio until the students know how to dance.

It takes months or years to be 'know how to dance', belly dance involves entirely in inner muscle 's control, when a person is weak to perform the inner strength, the result of burning fat is far behind workout.

The good news is, when you know exactly how to belly dance, the result of both fat burning and shape up is super, as l mentioned, it is all about your inner muscle's control, a belly dancer exercise externally and internally, it is hard not to get a good result, unless, the dancer eats double after her dance each time. Ha, that's why, you could still see belly dancer in big size, though, it is not a matter, belly dance welcomes all sizes.

And l always tell my students to be patient, once they could belly dance, they will enjoy the benefit for life long, it is worth to spend two years time to enjoy a life long benefit in fitness and health isn't it?

But still, many have given up half way, well, you certainly need the passion to learn, if belly dance is not your cup of tea, just workout, you will gain the same result too if you do not give up.

On the whole, determination is playing the big role, agree?

Anyway, doing both workout and belly dance is the perfect way to me, the stamina training in workout helps a lot in practising my inner power in belly dancing, l myself bravo to both!

The word 'sai lang' from Canthonese is what l could describe to his workshops.

But you know, l will not say Nath 's workshop is most precise or detail one, this guy always has too many to share with participants, he just give it out that way, there are just too many till it is hard to be precise, but his work is so unique, and most of all, he gave such useful knowledge to all, l believe, you could hardly get what you gain from him from other teachers. What l saw is, he has so much till he really does not mind to give, he knows no matter how much he has given, he still have a lot and new ideas would not stop coming to him......

I know l just have too many to learn from him, and so do the participants l believe.

If you know how to digest what he has conducted, you know how great is his sharing, and if you are eager to self improvement in belly dancing, he is a teacher you must learn from. 

Nath's 'Zeina' is the best choreography of this song l have ever watched, it is awesome. But l know it is not easy for the particiapants to follow as the dance is so unique, our kind Nath allowed all to take video at the end of the workshop, l hope they appreciate what he did.

He shared a lot in his 'Sacred Centre Method' which is very useful to the beginners as well, l love his method very much.

He taught a very short drum solo but has shared so much in the choreography which l think it is very useful for those who wish to do own choreography or to have better interpretation to drum solo, bravo Nath !

The thing l 'envy' on him so much is his improvisation, you know he improvises to perform each time? He is not human la, l afraid l could never improvise like him in my whole life, wu........

Sigh....again l have to say, God has given too much to this guy!

He was tired at the end of the workshop, so let him rest for a while la.....

Suddenly l feel like 'very free', after all events.....there is no more in this year....in fact l still have many classes to teach, many performances to do, many workshops to conduct and to attend as well, but l am no more an organizer, l am just a dancer, student cum teacher from now till May 2010, Wah, l am free !

So that l could stay as Penangite again, slow slow, senang senang.....

And started to plan for my next trip again hee hee.......

When Nath and his cousins were here, l told his cousin my life in Penang is 'pale', home - studio, studio - home, Nath soon interrupted : and sometimes Japan, China, next year Nepal.......

ha ha you know me guy !

But this is true to me, my life in Penang is plain, if l do not travel, the colours are only black and white. I know many people enjoy food, shopping and clubbing a lot in Penang, well, l enjoy food but much depending on who l am taking the food with, l enjoy shopping but more to cultural stuffs, l enjoy clubbing but solely for dancing but not hanging around, and if l have a choice, l prefer blue sky, green grass and beach, oh Penang has it all, but how many of us enjoying what we have? We only see people in shopping mall when they are free.

I have to thank all my guests that visiting Penang, every time l brought them to sight seeing, l myself enjoyed Penang's nature one again.....

Penang is beautiful only if we Penangites appreciate what he has, unfortunately, l guess most of Penangites have no sense of this at all.

Hmm..l myself will slowly visit Penang more, also plan to take my profile pictures in some Heritage spots, l have time now, therefore l am able to make planning for myself , oh that is so good.

And now, l have to go to my Japanese class soon.