My life since Fifi..........

Work has been up and down recently. With 5 dancers working the boats (and only 2 can work any one night) that means there is more time Off than On. Not good financially- or from a fitness perspective either. Plus I have changed my drummer- so learning about the new one is challenging and fun.

On wed night I did the best performance so far of my life. It was the table solo (pretty much the 1st with this new guy) and the audience was really lively and cheering and clapping and shouting throughout my whole set (in a good way!). So when it came to the solo they were already on their feet ( a few literally!) .

I had one part in the table solo, where i did a one hip shimmy- and suddenly the room went dead- completely silent- all these Egyptians and Arabs who had been cheering and shouting etc etc suddenly -nothing. I put in my head Fifi and kept the shimmy- not altering it, not trying to do anything fancy, not even looking at people- looking at my hip that was shaking ........... and held that silence for ages until I suddenly went into hip drops and the audience went crazy again. I swear- I have never had that sort of feeling in my life before - ever! I felt like the most powerful woman on the planet. Amazing. Thanks Fifi for the inspiration!

Another part I enjoyed was when i do chonks down into a crouching position- which usually goes faily fast- but the new drummer follwos me, rather than the other way around, so I was able to play my audience much more effectivly and take my time and half way they started to applaud so I did the hand signal to them to wait (lissa) ie there is still more just wait, and they all laughed with me and voiced what my hand signal had meant etc etc and when i got to the bottom I rested my chin on my hands- a couple started to tentitively clap and i gave them the all clear and they went crazy again.................. wow.............!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I really felt Like I was doing what I should be doing in my life, and in the dance.

One woman who had been there that night, came back to the boat on friday night and spoke to Otti who was dancing that night and the girl who helps dress me, saying she felt my body was '100% sharqi'- ie I was truely an oriental dancer. I felt so chuffed to hear that- although to be honest, the feeling I got from the audience was enough for me!

I danced again last night- and again had a good crowd... not the same... but fun and challenging and the show went down really well- I find I am 'finding' new moves (or maybe old ones that I had forgotten) because of my new drummer...............

life is good- I am having so much fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!