Realising the dream

Well…. I moved to Cairo at the end of March 2006. Why? Because I have a dream to make come true! I never thought I would ever get to a high level in this dance form to be considered good enough to dance in its country of origin (possibly because in Scotland, traditionally, we are rarely encouraged to believe ourselves good enough for anything- very unfortunate cultural trait!). It was a dream I was scared to even own. But after very encouraging words from my teachers in Cairo (including Raqia Hussain) last year I decided to take the biggest risk of my life, leave behind my partner, family, friends, students and regular dance classes, workshops and performances in order to reach the grail- working as a dancer in Cairo. Telling all my students that I was leaving was one of the hardest things about it all….. But thankfully we have a fairly strong group of teachers (many of them, I'm honoured to say, students of mine and close personal friends) in Scotland who were able to take over from me. The Leaving Hafla was probably once of the most emotional and rewarding nights of my life so far.