Has the Egyptian Government made things difficult for their country's bellydancers?

People are always asking me this question- so I thought I would give you my viewpoint!

As far as I know, no legislation has been brought out against bellydance or anything of that ilk since the Muslim brotherhood came into power last summer in Egypt.  Thankfully!

However, work for dancers is down over all.

Partly due to the still very low numbers of tourists, both Western and Arab. This affects all the hotels and boats and cabarets that have dancers. The competition is high and it’s harder now for even Egyptian girls to get work, never mind for us foreigners! For new dancers starting out or coming to Cairo hoping to live their dream of being a dancer here it is near impossible.

The other thing which has lowered the amount of work available, and has affected me personally in recent months is the attitudes within some of the audiences.

I am really lucky to say that the vast majority of audiences I perform for have been fabulous. Mostly Egyptians, but a handful of tourists too. However, I have had two shows cancelled within the last two weeks because there were members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the audience and they didn’t want the bellydance to go ahead. The rest of the music program, fine, but no bellydance, because it is Haram (forbidden!).

In the seven years since I have been dancing at the Nile Pharaoh this has always happened from time to time. Usually because the entire deck on the boat has been booked for a corporate event and they want to do a speech or something instead of having the dancer. Fine. That’s work and I understand that.  Other times, it would just be one table perhaps, or a couple would leave when I started to dance and go outside while the dancing was on if they didn’t want to watch. That’s fine too. I do understand. It is not for everyone. 

However, I get annoyed when the entire deck has been booked for a wedding and because one man creates a big fuss, I don’t dance. We get paid per show, so that means no money for me or my band. It also means all the other guests, who do want to see the dance, miss out.

This week I had a lovely old lady, a professor at Cairo University seemingly, who was with a group that had declared me ‘Haram’ so, ‘no bellydancers today please’. She was really upset not to see me dance and she was embarrassed by her colleagues’ decision to cancel that part of the entertainment. It was quite sweet really. I felt for her. As I always do when some people decide what is right and wrong for others. You don’t like dance, for whatever reason, you leave the room or just don’t watch, but don’t take away the opportunity for others to enjoy.

This is what I see as the real danger to bellydance in Egypt these days. Not that the government will stop us working (although of course, it is a possibility I won’t deny that) but that the general public will start changing their behaviours and attitudes just to fit in with what they are told is ‘right’ and ‘wrong’. If it becomes ‘wrong’ in general public opinion, then there wouldn’t be a big fight if one day it was banned, would there?

Thankfully, I have also seen the opposite too. The attitudes of the Egyptian people are being polarised. There are those who are happy for it to become a more Islamist country and those who feel very strongly that it shouldn’t. Many of those that are against this are making sure that they partake of their freedoms as much as they possibly can. Those who drink, are drinking, those who like dance, are dancing and going to watch dance. I’ve even seen a few new venues that never used to have bellydance as part of their entertainment introducing it to their venues. This is the good news, but it always feels like there is an element of desperation in the air too.

It is almost though they fear that if they don’t use it, they will lose it.

I hope they don’t.

I hope I don’t. Bellydancing in Cairo is my life, and I love it. I would hate to lose it.

I hope that because of these people, and for these people, who really do love their cultural heritage, Cairo will continue to be the heart of bellydance in the world. 

D-CAF ( I am not talking coffee! )

Last night I went to an event organised by D-Caf (downtown contemporary arts festival) www.d-caf.org. It's a great idea for a festival and good to have an excuse to venture back downtown at night... something i have usually avoided doing in the past two years since the revolution. 

I didn’t know what the event was – only that it was in the venue Sherazade club, which usually is one of Cairo’s seedy cabaret nightclubs with bad bellydance, cheap beer and money showers. OK, so I am aware that doesn’t sell it much. However, it is the most amazing place with murals painted on all the walls of oriental dreams and images of bellydancers. The stage has the red velvet curtains with gold braiding within a gold archway. The lighting fixtures (not the fairy lights hanging from everything but the actual fitted fixtures!) are art deco. It is just a fabulous venue. And it was perfect for this event too.

The place was packed... a LOT of people, mainly young, many foreign and all there for the music.

First up was a Syrian hip hop group who had a lot of potential. They mixed Arabic and English and I believe they could go far... I liked most of the tracks... I got a little frustrated though because the mics weren’t balanced correctly so a lot of what was being said/sung which wasn’t audible. Also I got the impression they were not used to being on stage and in fact only after when I read the program did I see that this was in fact their debut. Like I said- potential to go far. Was enjoyable!

The next act had the stage skills down to a tee. Khadafi Dub is from USA and even if his music wasn’t to your taste (dub/electronic) you had to appreciate he had stage presence and was entertaining! I loved the music and was dancing like a nutter most of the night!

In fact, I really appreciated the fact that I was there with a group of friends, who were mainly standing behind me, which meant I could dance my heart out, as if no one was watching, without the fear of anyone trying anything on.... I felt safe and free. It was a much needed night.

I wish that club would be a regular weekly club. I think it has massive potential as a club night, whatever style of music they choose to play there. And it was a lot busier than it usually is as a cabaret! Of course- what I would dearly love to see there is a club night that was Egyptian music; with bellydance... it would be the perfect setting for it!

Afterwards, because one club night in a Cairo evening is never enough... I went to Outdoors at the maxim boat to see the end of Ellie of London’s set there. It was a completely different vibe..... but also a lot of fun. A much older crowd than had been at sherazade, and very different music. I had felt I had used all my energy up in the 1^st place- but then the Syrian musicians they have there (wonder violin and keyboards combo who play the music every bellydancer dreams about) played Enta Omri and there was me- up and going for it as though I hadn’t already been boogieing the night away! In fact- I enjoyed it so much that I plan to go back again tonight, after I finish work.  I love dancing with Egyptian women who aren’t dancers.... I learn so much about the attitude and feel of the dance from them!

On being a lazy bellydancer!

Working as a dancer in Cairo is a lot like waiting on buses these days. There can be literally weeks without any work at all... and then once your body has relaxed, the muscles have stopped responding as they should and your mood as dropped to an all time low because you are depressed from the lack of movement... then and only then do you suddenly get flooded with work day after day so that your muscles ache and your friends think you have dropped off the side of a cliff!

I am not complaining. Honest. 11 days in a row, performing anything between 1 and 6 shows in a day, is what I moved to Cairo to do!

I am pointing out my failures again. Why oh why when I get days off do I not do more exercise so that my ‘on’ days are less of a surprise to my poor muscles?!!! I never used to have to worry about these things. When I lived in Scotland I was teaching 25 classes per week on top of performing and going out salsa dancing!

Now... now I have become so lazy. I know what I ‘should’ do. I should be drilling moves at home. I should be doing my press ups and sit ups, my stair climbing. I should make a point of going out to salsa. Yes I should.

I think too much. I do too little. I bring myself down.

I rest and then my mood slumps and it is near impossible to move to do the basic stuff of life, never mind ‘extra’ exercise!

I guess routine is the answer to this issue. Push myself to do something every morning when I wake up........ but there is always an excuse; My back is sore from work last night- I should rest, I am late for meeting someone I need to leave house, I need to save my energy for work later on tonight... you name it. I am the world’s best at procrastination!

The only thing I seem good at now is always preferring to climb the stairs to the flat rather than taking the lift (11 floors). However, I don’t leave the house enough to make much of a difference!

I am so bad at pushing myself to exercise alone that I wish social fitness wasn’t so expensive. Gyms in Cairo are very expensive. Pools to go just for a swim are rare and also expensive. Fitness classes, Pilates, yoga etc are available... but again highly priced. I need to exercise because there isn’t enough regular daily work to keep my body strong for the times that there is, but without the work I don’t have the funds to pay for a gym!

See.... always an excuse.

Truth is I am a lazy bellydancer.

I have always been blessed in dance. I learn quickly without having to actually put in a lot of mental or physical work. I know many people who profess to hate me because of this! (I hope they are joking!) The idea of drilling moves fills me with such a dread that it takes away the joy I get from the dance.

So what to do......... This is the point in this blog entry when I say 'Yalla- I am going to do X, Y and Z. Everyday'. I am going to get super fit and strong again (like I used to be).

But I won’t.

I know myself too well.

I will start it. Whatever the ‘regime’ of the moment it. The after a day or two, sometimes even a week or two... that’s it. I am sitting about doing nothing and getting weak and depressed again.

When I analyse my character, look at my good and bad points, this laziness always comes out as the thing I hate most about myself and one of the major things that stops me ‘going further’ in life.

Do I just need to get a grip? Get tougher on myself? Or do I accept that sometimes I will be crazy active and nonstop dancing, and other times I just won’t be?

They say that realising your issues is the first step to dealing with them... I am hoping now I have written this and shamed myself in public that somehow I will just magically turn into some highly motivated being. That would be nice. Maybe.

Maybe I'll think more about that tomorrow....

The 'real me' gives you- Tour spring 2013 feedback

This blog entry is a bit of an ego fest I am afraid.... the thing is – I have received so much lovely feedback on my performances, workshops and private classes across the UK over the last 4 weeks, that I wanted to show them off, I mean erm, share them with you!! Hehe.

That first paragraph is from the public 'fun' Lorna... Here is a little bit of the real me;

My previous blog was all about the insecurities I know that I share with many other dancers all over the world. How life as a dancer can be difficult at times. Many people came back to me about that entry and said how much it spoke to them. That it helped them to know they weren't the only one to feel that way. That blog entry has so many heartfelt comments attached to it now. Thank you for taking the time to share your feelings and wishing you all the happiness in your world of dance.

One of my biggest failings in life, not just dance, is focusing on the negative. I do it a lot. Too much. Ironically, only my own failings, or perceived failings. With other people, and especially my students I can only ever see the positives and potentials. So why can I never seem to do that for myself? I know it's not healthy but I haven't worked out a way round it yet.

 For example; I might get 5 compliments after a show, but one tiny 'look' the wrong way (never mind a comment) will be the one thing I see and feel. A whole good show will get thrown away as rubbish in my head because I feel someone 'hinted' that it could have been better. I might have a full class, but then take it to heart if someone leaves early (even if they have given me a perfectly good reason why they would have to!!!!) Over sensitive and over self critical. Not exactly a positive place to grow from.

Also, because of the afore mentioned insecurities, often when I get feedback on my work I brush it off as 'they are just being nice', or 'they don't know any better',  anything really so as not to listen to it. I am not really sure where this urge to punish myself comes from... but I have been told recently by a close friend that if I spoke to her the way I speak to myself then our friendship would have ended a long time ago! I hear her, and I understand what she is saying, but find it so very hard to be kind to myself. 


This blog entry is a bit of therapy for me... you don't have to read it... but I had to write it. 


I have gone through my emails and facebook over the last month and picked out all the lovely, positive things people have said about me and my work during this past tour. I hope they will be ok with me sharing them. I haven't asked permission to share because there are just so many! These lovely comments are part of what keeps me going at times I might be tempted to give it all up.

 I need to listen to them a little more and perhaps even believe a couple of them from time to time! Wish me luck....!

And a huge thanks to Karen Price for these lovely photos of some of my new costumes! 

Here goes... 'the Lorna love fest' ;



“Wow!!!!! Today has been awesome. I learnt so many things today....... 1. Be yourself. 2. There are no rules. 3. If you don't know what to do with your arms take them up and then use them to have a conversation with the audience 4. That a stick can be used for something other than Saaidi dancing - it looks amazing when performed slowly Baladi style 5. Some useful tips on how to transition from one move to another 6. How to dance to the whole audience at the same time. Not to mention our evening out .....Ladies, if you missed out on tonight - you really missed a treat! Lorna was amazing not just with her dancing but with her insight into life in Cairo as a dancer. A huge thank you to Lorna.” Karen 



“If I learned anything today it's that British ladies CAN! Thank you Lorna xxx “ Angela 

Happy? who...? Me? whatever gave you that idea?

“Lorna of Cairo is a wonderful teacher and dancer x” Vanessa 



"Fantastic workshops with Lorna of Cairo today! Really inspired by her warm and generous teaching style and having had a day of eureka moments, lots of quiet reflection will follow. Really affirming day. Thank you so much for giving me the courage and the permission to start putting together my own sentences - I’ve got the words, I can now put them together, hopefully to create something wonderful! Excellent workshops - fulfilled me in so many ways and still have the heady feeling of a great days dancing. It was so good to know that it was ok to try out new moves, to play around and not have so much verbatim technique. So it is with great delight that my limited rule book was officially binned. For me, it's all about permission to dance, keeping the integrity, whilst maintaining a healthy respect for the dance and its culture. Once we allow ourselves that, we can fly as dancers. I need to have that message regularly drummed into me which is why I loved the workshops so much. Lorna is a wonderful teacher and dancer. "Abi 

“the Eureka moment only came to me at the very end when I danced like a lunatic to the last song and then I realised what Lorna meant and I knew I had to dance like that to Baladi - now my challenge is to find some Egyptian music which really makes me wants to dance like that. “ 
Karen 

“Had fantastic workshop today with Lorna of Cairo, loved every minute (I can feel my legs until now). You are a star xxxxx “ Sarasvati

Insecurity

I have decided to write this blog entry because I have a feeling it might help other dancers to feel less ‘alone’.

We live in a highly competitive world. I feel like professional artists (and I will talk about dancers specifically since that is what I really know about) have pressures seldom found in other work places. For example:

-We, dancers are rarely seen as having a ‘proper’ job.

-We, dancers are often expected to dance for very little money or sometimes invited along to places to dance for fun (i.e. for free!).

-We, dancers are judged on our age, looks and figure, our ability as teachers and performers as well as on our dance skills.

All of these things, and this list is by no means exclusive, make things hard when we are trying to make a living in an already competitive field. Bellydance especially is a field where you find many women who will happily dance for free or for cheap rates because dance is not their main source of income, therefore they can afford to, and do, without considering the effect that has on ‘the market’ for those of us for whom dance is our sole income.

All these points and many more like them are often the bulk of discussion forums and articles.

This is not however the main topic of my blog today.

What gets me the most is the self doubt, insecurity, feelings of being a fraud, feelings of inadequacy that I get as a dancer and I hear from other dancers time and time again. ‘I am stuck in a rut’; ‘no matter what I do my dancing doesn’t seem to improve’, ‘what’s the point? I’m never going to be x,y,z’.

The problem in art is that you are only a good artist if people ‘like’ your work. And what people like is guided by so many factors. Their personal artistic likes and dislikes, cultural awareness, their experiences, what the people around them are saying, reviews, their own insecurities and jealousies etc etc.

So yes, we get through this by dancing for ourselves- to be as good as we can be.

But, let’s be honest, this only really works as long as dance is your hobby i.e. you are not trying to earn your living by dancing in front of an audience.

As soon as an audience becomes involved the stakes get raised. We want the people we are dancing for to like us, to appreciate us, to rate us. That is human nature.  We get stage fright. Some get so scared they don’t even perform or they don’t perform to the level they feel they should or could.

That’s when the beatings start.

Beating yourself up that is! (Not some kind of S & M thing!!!)

I cannot count how many times I have come off stage so upset and angry at myself because I feel I have let myself down. It doesn’t matter what people say after a show like that. I wave away their compliments. I focus on anything and everything negative (usually exaggerating it way out of proportion). The people who are saying nice things are just saying that because they are my friend, or people they don’t know any better, or because they feel they ‘should’ say something, not because they really feel it.

I can’t count how many times in the years I have danced I have been in tears when I come off stage. Angry at myself for having, in my eyes, let the audience, and myself down. Of course, that is never what anyone ever says to me... but I feel it. And it burns.

Usually, when these attacks of insecurity hit, I feel what I did was ‘boring’. That I repeated the same move over and over again. In the past, when I have felt this on stage, I push myself to do more and more technique. To show off moves to ‘prove’ to the audience and myself that I CAN do this. Unfortunately that is the very thing that comes back to bite me. By trying so hard, I start thinking and stop feeling. When I stop feeling, I stop enjoying. If I am not enjoying my dance how can I expect anyone in my audience to enjoy it too? Then if I suddenly panic on stage that the audience are not enjoying it I try harder and fail more. See the problem? Of course, my friends would say that I am over exaggerating the problem, that my dancing is never boring etc. Bless them. They might even be right. But when you work yourself up into in insecure state like that it is hard to listen.

So, I am aware of it now... aware of the spiral I follow when I get myself into a state and I guess that is the main part of the battle.

Now, if I start to feel a little wobbly mid show, and it still happens, on a more often than I care to admit frequency, I am able to see what is happening and stop the descent into hysteria.

Nothing worse than a hysterical bellydancer!

So... what I do is I stop. Literally. I stop on stage... and do the most basic of moves.. Very concentrated and slow. Even if the music is fast, I find something in the music that is slower and I circle or figure 8 that ‘thing’ until I am breathing more normally again. I also force myself to look into the eyes of my audience and smile. A smile that says I am really happy I am here dancing for you and isn’t this music amazing? Not a smile that begs ‘like me like me like me’. A smile that connects with someone and says to them ‘isn’t this figure 8 just the most perfect thing to do to this music?!! It feels fantastic’.

It works every single time. I make eye contact, I connect with someone and instantly I am like Popeye after some spinach. I feel recharged and confident and all because I took it down a notch (ok- sometimes a LOT of notches). From then on I feel that at least one person in the audience is with me and already thinks I am good so I am dancing for them!

Often in class I ask people to think of a family party or wedding. Imagine everyone up on the dancefloor, after a few glasses. Do you watch the younger pretty girls who are self-conscious and doing pretty but ‘safe’ moves? or do you watch mad Uncle Albert who is being silly and having a wild time to himself? The uncle, right? Why? Because it makes us happy to watch people having a good time. It is really difficult not to smile if someone is so obviously happy. Even more so if they are smiling at you. Especially when you feel that smile is heartfelt. If you smile, even if you don’t feel happy at the time, just the act of smiling can make you happier. So if you feel like that when you are watching uncle Albert, why wouldn’t other people feel like that watching you, doing the thing you love more than anything else (dance!!!) ? Share with them how happy it makes you.

It works for me.

That’s how I do it on stage...........

Off stage is harder. All those times you question your own ability. Especially when you are home, having a fat day (we ALL have them!), in pain, and/or feeling that there just isn’t any point to it all. Believe it or not, almost every time the answer to this dilemma is DANCE. It often helps me to go out clubbing or salsa dancing... so I am dancing and getting my endorphins flowing again but without the stresses involved in practising ‘moves’ and ‘trying’ to get them right. That trying thing again, see?

It is good to doubt yourself from time to time. If you think you have reached the top, achieved perfection... then you never will. You stop learning. You stop pushing yourself.

Each time I have a big bout of self doubt it is ALWAYS followed with a Eureka moment about my dance and another step up on that every expanding ladder I am climbing in my head. It is hard to remember that at the time of course.... at the time I just want to crawl into a dark space and hide, make it all go away. Yet every time I do come out the other side having ‘realised’ something that helps me progress. It might be a tiny thing, or it might be a complete mental turnaround, but almost always it is something from inside of me. Nothing to do with ‘technique’ or ‘steps’. Yet often the blackness has been caused by worry about just those things!

I am sharing all this, because I know I am not alone in these fears... and I hope that if you are reading this and relating to any of it then maybe some of my experiences can help you get a little hope.

I’d love to be confident in life, and in dance. I’d love to really feel I was the ‘best’ at something. The thing is... I don’t actually believe such a thing exists. (Which is why I can never really get behind the concept of bellydance competitions- but that is a whole other can of worms I don’t want to get into here). I remember being at a salsa convention and one of my friends asking a stunning young Cuban girl ‘isn’t it difficult being so beautiful?’ she was of course being flippant, however the girl actually stopped and turned and thought and said, ‘yes, sometimes it is’. She had a sad look on her face at the time. We put ourselves down so much, all the time, sometimes we need to step back and accept the true level of things, without pushing ourselves up, or down... and wondering from there how we can improve how we feel about our level. Because it’s the happiness, contentedness, acceptance of who we are and why we love dance that counts.

Every single person who started to learn bellydance did it because music made them happy. Music made them want to move. Why when we get caught up into the ‘hows and whys’ do we lose that joy?

So, next time you are feeling a bellydance block, just do whatever you need to do to get that Joy back....... and everyone will stop and watch you dance. I promise. 

My first week of UK tour...

What a wonderful welcome back to UK.

Exeter was SO much fun!

I have to admit- that even now, after all these years teaching and performing (professionally for 16 years!) I still get a bit nervous going to a new area where people don't know me. Will they 'get me'? Will they like me? What level should I be pitching the workshops at?


Thankfully Judith, the woman that organised the weekend is a fantastic organiser and everything ran very smoothly (despite one band in the evening having to cancel on the same day due to a family bereavement; Love to you and yours Maren!).


The ladies in the workshops (which had been sold out for at least 3 weeks before the event!!!) were so attentive and responsive that I felt like I was teaching a room full of sponges, so fast was my information being soaked up! The realisation moments occurring around the room were like Christmas tree lights around the room as they were sparkling so brightly!

It was amazing spending the weekend with my good friend, and one of my first students, Hannah. A lovely dancer herself she was the one who suggested that Judith host me and seemingly they want me back every year now!

I had so many ladies telling me how much I had inspired them and changed the way they would dance that I could barely get my head out the double doors at the end of the evening show!


Some reviews from last weekend;

“I had so many eureka moments in the w/s and private class. Some really really useful feedback on my performance. Wowser moments watching Lorna perform”

Another; “I’m still mesmerised”

One woman told me that I had “changed her life”. Before the workshop she would never have gotten up at a hafla just to bop about at the end because she could never think what to do, but on the night I was in town, after the workshops she not only got up out her seat dancing, but joined the other girls in her class on stage! She was very proud of herself!”


This weekend I will be teaching in EDINBURGH on Saturday 3rd March – I believe there are a couple of spaces left... contact elspethalexandra@hotmail.com  

I will be performing in an exclusive Edinburgh performance on Tuesday 5th March. Please also contact Elsepth if you wish to know details and to book!

Next weekend my workshops in Wolverhampton are sold out on the 10th, However there are still spaces available in LONDON on Saturday 9th March. These are aimed at ALL levels (apart from complete beginners!) and even if you haven’t even performed yet, in fact, perhaps especially if you haven’t performed yet! these workshops will be very useful to you! For details and to book; www.saqarah.co.uk

 That is my reporting in and PR done. It’s a beautiful sunny clear day in Scotland today even if it is a chilly 3degrees right now! I’m off for a swim before nephew’s birthday party round 2. Yesterday I went with him to his ‘party’ with his friends at Time Twisters at sighthill, Edinburgh and they did soft play and then Laser quest.

It was amazing. The whole venue was designed like ancient Egypt! I felt I had left home and come back home!!! So much fun!

My little Pharaoh, not so little now that he is 7!






(Yes that means I have been living in Cairo for 7 years now. I only went for 6 months!!!)

Lorna’s Spring UK tour 2013 - diary dates!

I am going to be back in the UK for a month and plan to be doing a series of workshops and private classes and performances while I am in the country. If you are interested in attending the workshops and/or performances please contact each of the organisers listed below. I am going to be in Exeter, Edinburgh, London, Wolverhampton and Lincoln on this tour!

If you are interested in having a private class with me, at very reasonable rates I might add... then please contact me directly on bellylorna@hotmail.com.

 Last time I came to London I taught a few girls, some of whom had never had a private class before, and all the feedback I received was really lovely. So if you have never had a private bellydance class before- maybe now is the time to try! (In fact- maybe you could persuade your ‘other half’ that this would make a much appreciated valentines gift!!!)

Sat 23^rd Feb – Exeter Workshops and performance.

Maximising your assets – Taking movements and showing how to make many variations on them so they suit your body shape, the audience, the music, the stage set up. This workshop will also incorporate performance skills.

Improvisation – Getting rid of that fear – This workshop will help you overcome your fear of improvisation allowing you to explore emotions and also the importance of musicality.

Contact Judith on ysondedancer@aol.com to book places and reserve your ticket for the evening performance!

Sun 24^th Feb- Private classes in Exeter-  I will be in Exeter on this day and available if anyone wants to book a private class with me email me now! Bellylorna@hotmail.com

Thurs 28^th Feb- Thurs 7^th March – Available for Private classes in Edinburgh . Email me to book yours asap bellylorna@hotmail.com

Sat 2^nd  March – Edinburgh Workshops

Workshops held at Edinburgh Studios, 21 Arthur Street Upper, Edinburgh, Scotland.

12.15-14.15 Technique - Lorna’s Cairo modern style
How we are taught technique compared with how Egyptians actually dance the moves! Learn moves to use in all styles of Egyptian music, brand new, fresh and direct from the Cairo stage. 

14.45-16.45 Putting Emotions into your Dance
The biggest criticism foreign dancers get is that their technique is good but they don't have that Egyptian 'feeling'. In this workshop we will explore what this mystical feeling is, and look at practical ways to demonstrate it within your dance.

Both workshops are for dancers of all levels, but are not suitable for absolute beginners.
Each workshop costs £25. 

Please contact Elspeth Swishandhips if you want to attend. 
Bookings are only confirmed when you’ve paid, so to book your place:
• Post a cheque made payable to Lorna Gow Dance to E. Alexandra, 32 Claremont Road, Edinburgh EH6 7NH
• Paypal to swishandhips@hotmail.co.uk , sorry but to cover Paypal administration there’s an extra £1.50 on paypal payments – which means £26.50 per workshop or £51.50 for both.
• If you need another way to pay, please contact Elspeth elspethalexandra@hotmail.com 

Tues 5^th March – Edinburgh Performance

Details TBC

contact elspethalexandra@hotmail.com  for more info

Sat 9^th March – London workshops

Workshop 1
12:30-14:30 – details TBC

Workshop 2
15:30-17:30 – details TBC

The venue 
Jackson's Lane Studio 1, 269a Archway Road, London, N6 5AA
The venue is right next to Highgate Tube (Northern Line) and is just 15 minutes from Euston/Kings Cross. See details in facebook http://www.facebook.com/events/390022727746507/418527478229365/?ref=notif&notif_t=plan_mall_activity#!/events/464060796976731/?notif_t=plan_user_invited  .

 For more info and to book your workshop place please Contact Nafiseh on www.saqarah.co.ukwww.saqarah.co.ukwww.saqarah.co.uk

Sun 10^th March- Wolverhampton – Workshops and Evening performance

1230-1430 - Organic Dance Concepts – How to move between moves to create a seem-less performance. This workshop focuses on technique SOLD OUT

1500-1700 - The different Baladi styles- Baladi means my country. Dancers tend to use it to mean a specific type of music and dance style. This workshop however will explore all the different styles that an Egyptian dancer might class as ‘baladi’/ (bring a light stick with you) SOLD OUT

Exclusive Evening with Lorna at Tiffus restaurant. This is going to be a really special night. We will take over the top floor of Tiffus restaurant, enjoy a 2 course meal and be entertained by Lorna. She will talk about her life in Cairo as a dancer and then perform just for us. The numbers for this event are strictly limited. The cost is £25 however the food at Tiffus is a cut above your normal Indian food and you can take your own booze so there will be nothing extra to pay on the night. You can pay via paypal by visiting my website www.raqswombourne.vpweb.co.uk

Contact Karen at www.raqswombourne.vpweb.co.uk  to book tickets for evening meal – workshops have sold out! 

Or see fb events http://www.facebook.com/events/390022727746507/418527478229365/?ref=notif&notif_t=plan_mall_activity#!/events/390022727746507/?fref=ts and http://www.facebook.com/events/390022727746507/418527478229365/?ref=notif&notif_t=plan_mall_activity#!/events/395748173834267/?fref=ts

Mon 11^th March- Friday 15^th March - Private classes in London. Email me now to book yours! bellylorna@hotmail.com

Sat 16^th March - Lincoln - Raqs Helwa - Workshops and Performance

There will be many fabulous teachers doing both workshops and performances at this fabulous festival! I am looking forward to being one of them...

11.30-1.30 -Cairo technique - Lorna brings us an unimaginable insight to the technique of oriental dancing and uses her fun and personable style to add depth and knowledge to each dancer’s repertoire

4-6pm -  Cairo Style – Lorna will teach you the tricks to make your dancing more Egyptian! Lorna will share with us the current trends in Cairo style and incorporating all the elements from the street, the countryside and the cabaret scene, show us how we can adapt our dance to be genuinely egyptian. 

Evening Performance - The evening performance will consist of 3 sections.  The first section will be a montage of some of our workshop teachers performing, second up is professional troupe The Tarab Dance Company  and finally we have our star performer LORNA of CAIRO performing a complete set from her cairo show. If you have booked a Raqs Helwa day ticket your evening ticket is INCLUDED so please do not purchase it again.  If however you wish to bring friends with you, then these tickets can be booked as EXTRA places.

For full festival info (including workshops with other teachers too) and to book, please go to www.egyptiandancer.co.uk

Tues 19th March- I will be back in Cairo, teaching private classes there and performing at the Pharoahs boat, Giza! see you there maybe if i miss you on this trip?!!! 

A bit of Bling....

A bellydancer's favourite pastime, after dancing.... costume shopping!

Yesterday I went to see my costume designer, Eman Zaki. I have been going there for as many years as she has been making costumes and love her work. She has a workshop off Sharia Mahatta and you can see everyone, men and women, working away on all the costumes when you go. Cutting and sewing. Most of them beading! The walls are stacked high with beautiful fabrics, crystals are on every surface. It’s like Aladdin’s cave (with a bit of Cairo ‘dust’ on top). Often you bump into other Cairo dancers while you are there. Sara Farouk is there to help with all the logistics of the order and Eman weaves her magic. When you say you’d like something specific Eman takes your suggestions and makes it come alive. She was the one who made my fabulous green and Tartan costume for me that I bring out every Burns night and St Andrews!

Since I perform Saaidi in most shows I do... I needed a new saaidi costume, so I went along to see what they had.

Oops....

Now I have 3 new costumes in the making! Two saaidi and one bedla.

How did that happen? I only went for one!

I am not going to tell you anything else about them... not yet... since I am getting them ready for my UK tour so I don’t want to spoil any surprises... but I am very happy so far!

Another fitting tomorrow afternoon... I’m excited!

Today I am going to go to the Khan. See what I can see. Sometimes there are some nice things there too (although usually not- hence my repeat visits to Eman and Amera, my two favourite designers – the extra expense is Always worth the extra quality!)

I have so many costumes now (no idea actually how many) that often I can rotate them and people think they are new, which is fabulous in times when there is not so much work to be had and belts have to be tightened. Financial belts that is- hip belts usually have to be loosened when there isn’t so much dancing going on! My trips to the UK are such a great excuse to HAVE to buy something new! Maybe this time I will sell off some of my old costumes while I am there. I hate parting with them though; they carry so many memories in every bit of bling!!!

Wishing you a day full of sparkle too...........

* Update- since writing this morning... my sparkle was dulled a bit by sitting in a taxi for half an hour just to go from one end of my street to the other... something I could have walked in less than 2 mins. The idea of another hour or two in the same horrific traffic was too much for me so I got out, walked home and went to bed to dream of the glitter instead! I will just have to do more bling another day....! 

Against all odds

I had two very different performances last night.

Both had small audiences.... but you can blame ‘Egypt’ for that... not me!

Yesterday was the 2^nd year anniversary of the day that Mubarak stepped down. I remember I was sitting home glued to the TV watching the news. As soon as the announcement was made I received a phone call from two friends in London, Caitlin and Ellie (back in the days when she was Ellie ‘in London’ rather than ‘Ellie Of London’ the Rising singing star of Cairo!). They too had been watching the news from UK and I remember the elation we all felt when it became obvious the voice of the people had been strong enough to bring down a dictator of 30 years. I, in true Braveheart style, was laughing and shouting’ Horreya Horreya’ (freedom) down the phone!

 Ah those were the days. Two years on and so much and yet so little has changed.

Last night yet again Tahrir filled up with people..... but so did the area around the palace, the latest protest location of choice. Tahrir was calm, thankfully, and emptied early. At the palace though things were violent however and the police were again filling the already polluted Cairo air with Tear gas along with bird shot and water cannons to ‘calm’ the protestors! It seems the people there feel that the objectives of the revolution have not been met at all and the dictator has just been replaced with another one, Morsi, the ‘puppet of the Muslim Brotherhood’.

So knowing all that is going on in the city- would you chose to go out clubbing and dining out, or would you sit home and have a quiet evening to yourself? Exactly. However a few brave souls did venture out... so the entertainment (me and my band) were called into work....

My first performance was at my usual place of employment... the Pharaohs’ cruising restaurant, Giza.

I arrived feeling flat. I had no energy and no inclination to dance at all. The boat one had one deck full, and actually full is the wrong word for that too. Like I say, most sensible folk stayed home! I have yet again new member in my band, another new Tabal and a new Org too (keyboard player). I do love to dance but on this occasion I felt I would be going out there and ‘jobbing it’ given my mood and the mood of the country and my uncertainty about what the music was going to be like.

What happened?

I entered the stage, big and bold and strong. They say that people’s impressions of you are created within the first 3 seconds of seeing you, so I always try to force myself into a confident state for the start of a dance when I don’t feel it – fake it 'til you feel it you could say. I scan the faces of the audience during this time and all I usually need is someone who is paying attention. Now that might seem weird to those of you who dance in Halfas or in theatres etc where everyone is sitting watching the stage waiting for you to start, but here in Cairo, usually the time the dancer comes to stage is exactly the same time as the food... so often people are understandablely distracted! Thankfully, one Egyptian woman right at the front was watching, then when her daughter tried to talk to her she brushed her away saying ‘no, talk later, I want to watch her, she is good...’  

That was it. My confidence lifted and I proceeded to perform possibly my best show for quite some time. It is amazing how suddenly everything just worked. The music was great, the new Tabal will need time to get to know me more, but he didn’t do badly at all. The rest of the audience was fabulous too. There were mainly Egyptians and Syrians, and everyone was very appreciative and responsive. I love dancing and having people, especially the women, singing along with the songs at me... sharing the moment with me. To see how much they love the music, and how it makes them feel and they can see that I feel the same. That connection is the most amazing feeling ever. It makes them happy, and that makes me happy! On the boat I am supposed to perform for two sets, each lasting only 15 minutes... on nights like this I usually get into trouble because I am enjoying myself so much on stage that I run over my allotted time. Last night was one of these nights.. but the staff and management were enjoying the show too, so I didn’t get into trouble for it! Who else out there loves their job so much that they happily do extra time for free, even if it means getting into trouble for it?!!!!

On the boat I can have anything between one and 4 shows per evening depending how busy it is. For the reasons I have mentioned above, it was as quiet as it could be.... which was a shame when I was in such a fabulous dance mood! Thankfully I had another show booked for that night...

After Eight is a small club/bar downtown that has live music most nights. It is not the sort of venue I would normally perform in... but they have decided to have an oriental night each Monday. Which actually means their usual mix of Arabic, house, r&b, pop, shaabi, you name it cocktail of music but with a bellydancer too...... The venue is located a 2 minute walk from Tahrir, so given then ‘party’ happening there I assumed that it would be cancelled.... It wasn’t. Although from the low numbers of attendees it should have been! What can I say... my friends and I waited and waited in case some more people arrived..... a couple did, but not many and then the manager and I decided that a short performance was better than cancelling completely. So I danced. Of course, this time it was with CD rather than my band- which I always hate in comparison... but actually in that setting it worked. It was like a private party and I think I was much more relaxed in my dancing because of that. I felt I was performing just for friends.

 It is a dark place anyway... and there wasn’t any lighting on the dancefloor area... so all the people at the front of it took one guy’s lead and aimed the flashlight from their phones at me. It was an inspired move. The atmosphere was tangible. I felt like I was dancing in an old movie in my lovely turquoise and gold Eman Zaki costume. After, one of my friends told me that parts of my dance reminded him of Samia Gamal - so I guess my feelings came through in the dance since I wasn’t aware of doing anything like her dance style! I just know I felt special. I felt I was glowing (and I don’t mean that as a polite way of saying perspiring too much!)

I know I should have been disappointed to have such a small audience, but given the circumstances and the select few that were there, actually I really loved it. Thank you to those who risked the unknown and came out to support me last night. I hope you enjoyed it even half as much as I did!

And... the good news is... that I will be dancing again in After Eight next Monday... so hopefully assuming Tahrir is clear for a change, we will get in a bigger crowd and I can perform my entire show..... If you are reading this and are going to be in Cairo next Monday (18^th Feb.) please do come along! 

Les Miserables

Last night I went to see Les Miserables at the cinema here in Cairo. It was a 10pm showing. In the theater there was the 3 of us, and one young Egyptian guy on his own. The place was empty. I am not surprised people aren't going to the cinema much- just watching the news is dramatic enough these days here! However, my friends and I all have a love of musical theatre and just had to see what they would do to this one!

When I was a teenager the soundtrack would always move me, sometimes to tears. Being a teenager though meant that the poignant songs for me then were the romantic ones, 'I dreamed a dream' and 'on my own'. I was a soppy young thing, but want girl isnt at that age?

This time around I literally broke down through ' red and black', 'do you hear the people sing' and of course 'empty chairs at empty tables'. My face was completely washed clean of any make up I had been wearing.

It just seemed so ironic that we were sitting in an empty cinema watching people sing about revolution when outside in the streets of Cairo, people were dodging tear gas canisters.

I thought of the high aspirations and dreams of many of those who flooded Tahrir back in 2011 and ever since. I thought about how many of their attempts to be heard had been in vain. Of how many lives have been lost so far, and of how many more will be before Egypt sees peace. I saw so many comparisons between the young intellectuals of France way back then, and those who managed here to dethrone Mubarak only to be landed with a Morsi. Early on they say that one king was overthrown only to be replaced with a worse one. It struck a cord.

Then of course in 'red and black'... it felt like a set up. As if all this powerful emotional music wasnt enough... singing about the colours of the Egyptian flag just rendered me helpless. I imagined that if the cinema had been full of young Egyptian men and women they would have found it very hard to not go straight from the film to Tahrir! So much was so relevent. Even down to the big stand off between Valjean and Javert... both believing they are doing God's work....

I believe that if they put Les Miserables on the TV then the streets would be much busier,  full of people demanding change in Egypt.

I guess the thing that surprised me most was how strong my reaction was. Ok I was tired, and I am a little under the weather still, so perhaps I am over emotional just now but to be sobbing my heart out, out of sympathy for the revoluntionaries of Egypt was not really what I expected from last night! These past two years in Cairo in particular have obviously affected me more than I had even imagined!

Teaching a private class this morning helped me refocus on dance, but it is hard to focus just on dance not to get completely caught up in the politics these days. That is something I never would have thought I would say!

What can i say- if you want to understand what many people in Egypt are feeling... have felt... are experiencing.... go see the film. Those of you in Egypt- go on, I dare you, tell me that it didn't tug at your heart strings too!!!




 

Islamic Cairo part 2

The citadel ( Al- Qalaa ) and mosque of Muhammad Ali;

View from the citadel of the pyramids...

 

 As seen from the citadel; The Sultan Hassan and Al-Rifa'i mosques I showed in my previous blog entry (http://bellylorna.blogspot.com/2013/01/islamic-cairo.html )

The language of love carved into the wall of the citadel. Egyptians will always be a romantic people.... although perhaps a little more respect for their history would be a good idea?

 

 

 The name of God in all things, even the trees!

Fancy a fez? Known in arabic as a tarboosh, the hat is of Ottoman origin and was worn throughout Egypt until after WW1 when the Ottoman empire fell.

 

 

After the Citadel we wandered round to Al Ahzar park to catch the sunset. This is the view of the Muhammad Ali mosque from the park...

 

 

Dancing with my own live band on the Nile each day aside........... can you see some of the reasons why I love Cairo?

I know with all the bad news coverage Cairo is getting it is probably low on your list of places to visit right now.... but please don't strike it off that list altogether.... It is a city worth seeing! Come see, you won't regret it!

 

 

 

Islamic Cairo

I remember when I first visited Cairo, nearly 16 years ago how overawed I was. I did the tourist 'bit' and fell in love with the city. Thanks to Sara Farouk for organising that first trip! I fell in love so much so that after for years I organised trips for dancers to come with me from UK to see 'my Cairo'. I remember having on our itinerary 'Pyramids day' and 'Costume shop day' among so many other things, but one of the biggest sightseeing days on the trip was 'Islamic Cairo' tour.

 

At the time I remember saying, "but of course, all of Egypt is Islamic.... "

 

How wrong and naive I was. How much my feelings for this enchanting city had yet to develop. As for my understanding; I don’t think that if I could live in Cairo for a thousand and one years I would fully understand her.

 

At that time of course I had no idea that I would end up moving here and spending the next seven years (and counting) in Cairo. I also had no idea that the phrase 'Islamic Cairo' would fill me with a sense of impending doom, as it does now with recent politics. Before our current President was elected, the phrase had always conjured up images of proud, ancient minarets, towering against dusky sunsets. After all, Cairo does have the name 'The city with a thousand minarets'. Yes I was, and occasionally still am, prone to romantic orientalism.

 

A couple of weeks ago I played tour guide again and took my friend Ellie round that ‘Islamic tour’, to see how things had changed, if they had, and in particular to share some of Cairo’s beauty. I have to defend my reasons for wishing to live in Cairo to so many people all the time. Of course I am here primarily for dance, however maybe some of these photos we took on our day trip will help people understand some of the other reasons why my crazy love affair with Cairo has lasted so long....

The Sultan Hassan Mosque; one of my favourite spaces in Cairo.

 

 

This was the first time ever this particular mosque has insisted you cover your hair. Sign of changing times? 

The entrance to Al Rifa'i mosque is so much more impressive than my photographing skills can give credit, but you get the idea....

 

Ah yes... neon. Famous in the Ottoman dynasty don't you know!

 

 

The alabaster and marble used in the building of these mosques is stunning and worth the look alone!

Yes I do have an overwhelming desire to take done all these lamps and chandeliers and give them a good scrub with Prill (Egypt's 'Fairy') but even with countless years of dust trapped inside you can still get lost in their beauty.

 

your tour is only just started............... see my next blog entry for more!

Feeling the heat on Burns night in Cairo

Here we go again... Cairo 25^th Jan. Tahrir square is filling up already and marches are moving from all over the city to join in the protests. Some people seeing it as a celebration of the revolution 2 years ago. Some seeing it as revolution mark two. "Many activists believe that the goals of the revolution have not been fulfilled and accuse the Muslim Brotherhood and the President Mohamed Morsi of usurping the ideas of the revolution to fit their own Islamic agenda", Egyptian news, Bikyanews.com.  Last night a wall was torn down which brought about tear gas exchanges. Today at midday, fighting has broken out again. Cairo is NOT burning... but a few people are fighting in one street of it (just to put things in perspective). But the day is still young..........

Last night I was performing at the Golden Pharaoh boat. I can’t remember ever having such a tough audience. I, being the self critic I am, was blaming myself, my dancing and became really quite depressed, frightened I had ‘lost it’. Then I suddenly realised it wasn’t me at all... it was the mood of the day. Fear. Every single person I have spoken to in the last week has said either today will be peaceful and nothing will come of it... or that it will be worse than anything we have had before. I have been warned by numerous people to stock up on food in the house, ‘just in case’.

Cairo was fairly busy last night, considering it is a holiday weekend with it being the moulid nabi (the prophets birthday) yesterday and usually this would leave Cairo empty as everyone travelled out of town to go to the coast etc for a few days. This weekend many are staying at home, afraid that if things do kick off then they might be stranded away from home and loved ones...

The people who came out to party last night had heavy hearts like I have rarely seen before from Egyptians, apart from in the revolution itself. The ‘party vibe’ which Egyptians create instantly when they get a chance to socialise, only came after hours of alcohol consumption. That is very different from the norm.

Prince’s ‘we’re going to party like it’s 1999’ came to my head as I watched people forcing themselves to ‘have fun’. “This might be the last chance we have” was a phrase I heard more than once!

Tonight I will be performing at the British club in Maadi*, celebrating the life and works of the Scottish poet Rabbie Burns.

It seems very bizarre to be doing that when who knows what will be happening in Tahrir... but yes I will be bellydancing in my tartan costume*, to the music of the bagpipes. It will be the ‘reply to the laddies’ and the haggis will be piped in* and folk will drink whiskey* and there will even be men in kilts*. Yes, we are in Cairo.

(* a little note aside here- after 7 years of living in Cairo I find it very hard to write a sentence with the words ‘I will do something’, without adding an Inshallah (God willing) at the end! It is like I am tempting fate! So ,..... Inshallah to all the above!)

Good luck Egypt. I really don’t know what to wish for..... A better Egypt... that’s what we all want, but how to achieve that? Who knows! I do know that none of us will breathe properly until this weekend is over and we have a clearer view of how things are likely to turn out.

For those who wish to follow the events unfurling in Egypt just now watch  http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContentP/1/63243/Egypt/Live-Updates-Protesters-return-to-Tahrir-for-Egypt.aspx for live updates...........

And in the meantime....

I am off to pack that tartan cossie........

After all;

The show must go on........!

Out with the Old and in with the New...

Hello and Welcome 2013. I am so very glad you are here.....

What a year that was...........

Major events in my life in 2012; 

- Egyptian politics- Having a Muslim Brotherhood president elected and his constitution passed which makes all of us working in the arts rather nervous about the future for dance in our beloved Egypt. Not to mention the negative affect it has had on tourism and therefore the amount of available work for us dancers here in Cairo.

- Losing my home- My landlady discovered that I dance for a living and ordered me out my beautiful apartment in Mohandiseen. In doing so, not only did I lose my home, but also a large part of my livelihood; I had been renting out the spare rooms to visiting dancers as 'Hotel Bellylorna' and also teaching in my own private dance studio to supplement my pay from the boat. All that has gone. The problems at that apartment started two days after Morsi was elected, I am not saying they were 100% linked, but it does seem fishy doesn't it? Especially when I had lived there peacefully and happily for 6 years.

-Tax- I haven't talked about this one before, because it is a huge problem I am still trying to solve, and because it is very upsetting for me. Without going into the nitty gritty of it all, basically the contracts for all the dancers at my work say that our employers are responsible for paying our tax... so all these years working here, we were relaxed in that knowledge. Then, out the blue, it seems that our employer was not paying it and that in the eyes of the tax authority the contract means nothing... therefore all of us have massive backdated tax debts to pay, and I mean Huge. This has affected all the dancers at my work, Egyptian and foreigners alike. Some dancers left the country, some paid it, one girl that I know of even fought it in court (and lost).

In my case, I entrusted someone to look into it for me and see what could be done. He assured me that he had it under control...he didn’t, but he was too embarrassed to admit that to me until it was too late. By the time I found this out a penalty fine had been added onto my tax debt, which literally doubled the amount I was due to pay. Double!

I have to admit, that with losing my home, having so little work due to the unrest in the country and then having this massive tax debt over my head... my thoughts were to run away. Literally. Pack up and not pay the debt and leave my Egyptian life behind. Wrong I know, and I am embarrassed to admit it... but I felt so pushed into a corner I really didn’t know what else I could do. I have no issues paying tax that is due, it is our duty ... but a fine that is the same amount as the tax on top?  When it wasn't my fault? It is just not fair! I felt sick, I don’t mind telling you.

I planned to leave.... After two years of not much work due to the unrest in the country, the savings I had prior to that were already used up. When I left my flat in Mohandiseen in August, planning to spend my last month saying my goodbyes, I gave away everything I thought I was not going to need in Cairo during that time, nor be able to take with me to the UK after that.

However, then I cried for an entire month. It wasn’t just the idea of leaving my life here and returning to the UK, which although I don’t want to do that yet, has always been my intention eventually, but of being branded a 'criminal' and never again being able to visit my 2nd home, Egypt, not even for a holiday. I just couldn't do it. Cairo has become part of me, part of my identity. I became depressed and hysterical whenever I allowed myself to think about it.

So, I have scrimped, saved and borrowed- and have managed to pay just over half my tax debt so far (I had to, or they would have had me arrested. An Egyptian prison is something I never want to experience!)

I am currently living in one room of a friend’s apartment in order to cut costs. She is lovely, and so is the apartment and it is in an nice neighbourhood, but I do miss having my own place and being able to invite dancers to stay too. Can you imagine me living in one room with ALL my costumes and clothes piled high in boxes around me? It’s chaos.

So, since I have decided to bite that bullet and somehow pay the debt, I now have to try and get enough work to pay the rest of it... I will be dancing for the Egyptian tax man for the rest of the year.

So there you have it. My story for this year. Feels strange putting it in writing after all the stress of keeping it secret for so long. 2012 was a bad year.

That is not to say that good things didn’t happen in it too...... and to save me from wallowing in self pity for the rest of the day... let’s go through them too.

Thank you for sticking with me thus far and going through this therapy session with me....!

Good things from 2012;

-Friends. I have such lovely, caring and fun people around me who stick by me and want the best for me. Even those who dearly wish I would return to UK to be ‘safer’ or have an ‘easier life’, never push it since they know me and what Egypt means to me! Thank you all; for putting up with my depressed states and taking charge of things for me when I just couldn’t do it myself. For offering me places to stay and friendly words and hugs when needed. I am so lucky and grateful. Without the love I would have lost it.

-Work. I still have it! Despite all the issues in the country with many venues for dance closing down across Cairo (largely due to financial reasons not just political/religious reasons), I have just signed yet another year contract at the Pharoahs and plan to stay for as long as the political situation allows. I now have a band that I love, who actually get passionate about the music they make, and are not just ‘jobbing it’. I have danced on TV in a soap opera shown on every channel over Ramadan and danced at beautiful weddings in the best of hotels. I have done modelling work and started teaching a beginner’s class in Maadi with women who remind me how much I have missed teaching regular classes! Work is good.

-Health. Despite a dodgy back which plays up fairly often since I slipped a disk in November 2011, I am otherwise fit, although a little fat from Christmas! Considering the physical nature of my job, I feel lucky that that is my only health grumble (touch wood).

-UK connections. In 2012 I taught a lot of very successful workshops and private classes and performed all over the UK. I have made a lot of lovely new friends in the dance world there. When I went back to the UK for Christmas I had two shows and five private classes in 6 days! I feel that at least I have a plan B now if things do get too difficult here in Egypt and am less scared about the idea that someday I might have to move back. I have been the only British dance performing in Cairo for the last 7 years... but since I have been away all that time a lot of dancers new on the scene didn’t know about me yet. I am happy to be making a name for myself in my home country once more (and look forward to the workshops I will be teaching in Feb/March this year, in areas of the country I haven’t yet reached!).

And last but not least;

-Dance. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger right? Well, this year has certainly done that to my dance. I am a different person. On stage I feel I am in control, powerful and on fire. That is terribly un-British I know; not like me to blow my own trumpet, but I feel it, so I am saying it. I feel that every show I do I am lucky to be doing it... that it might be my last in Cairo and that I am sure as hell going to give it all I have got.

If the end is in sight I am going to go down on this ship dancing with all my soul. Giving everything I have got.

What is more, I am going to allow my audiences the chance to enjoy the best of Egyptian music and dance as much as they can, while they still can.

This is the point where I get slated by my Egyptian friends who say, “no, no, don’t worry, things won’t ever change in Egypt”... well, sorry but here is a news flash for you; it already has. Accept it or fight it, but please don’t ignore it – the ostrich look is not becoming.

Every show I do invigorates me. I come off stage higher than any drug could take you. Dance is still my passion that drives me after all these years. It feels good.

So there you have it. The life of Lorna for the past year....

Happy New Year! Wishing all of you a wonderful 2013. May it be a year filled with love, good health and happiness. These are the things that matter.

Follow your passion. It might take you down some rocky roads at times... but it will always be worth it.