Melika's Adventures In Belly Dance

Well, I find myself in mid-March and realizing what a bad blogger I've been! Haven't updated since October 2012! Began teaching again at Soul Connexion on Friday nights at the beginning of January and dancing with The Little Fish Belly Dance Company on Tuesday nights, and feels SO GOOD to be back dancing!! I missed teaching and dancing so very much!  I missed my girls, the laughter, the Fish, and of course, belly dance. Although, I DO want to share my absolute favorite picture taken of me during my pregnancy last year - it was taken by my twin at the Little Fish Student Show at the end of May 2012...   It made me look so serene (which was rather hilarious since Kendra and I were doing a piece to Dancing Queen by ABBA!) Not quite sure at what point in the song she took it - but I just love it!!   The past number of months has definitely been an adventure! Getting used to being a mom, staying at home while on maternity leave, and still finding time ...

Well, it has been a BUSY last number of months!!! First off, I had a fantastic time in May with my girls at the Soul Connexion photo shoot, pregnant and all!!! Me and My Intermediate Girls Me and My Advanced Girls Seriously, it was a fun-filled day (went to the Alberta Romance Writers Association's 25th Anniversary earlier in the day) and ended with the photo shoot. It was insane to have that much fun <giggle> My girls performed in two shows - the Soul Connexion Student Show and The Little Fish show  - and they made me SO PROUD!!! I was thrilled by how well they did in both shows!  At the end of June, with the end of the season, it was with a sad heart I taught my last classes of the year.  As I was due September 15th, I felt I needed a few months to get used to being a Mom... Well, here it is now near the end of October, and my special package was delivered September 5, 2012!  David Alexander  Thus far, I believe I'm doing fa...

Soooo....my last post to my blog was January 9th...and less than one week later, my life was dramatically altered...I'm assuming I will be forgiven for the long delay in updating, but I've been a "tad" busy with some things...Guess what?!  Apparently, cruises are good for you... The "first" baby bump pic - March 31, 2012 Ummmm...yeah.  So...I had some AWESOME Fall belly dance plans to go to the Miami Belly Dance Convention August 30 - September 3, 2012, then visit with my friend Hind for a few days in Miami, then fly to Vegas for the Las Vegas Belly Dance Intensive September 6 - 9, 2012!!!! Sooo....there will be a "slight" delay in those plans!!! Won't be attending either this year as I am due September 15th... It's been an interesting ride so far, full of a lot of doctors appointments, ultrasounds, and wearing out the carpet from the numerous trips to the bathroom. Oh, and hormones...did I mention hormones? Yeah - those. WOW. ...

Looking back on 2011, I can honestly say it was one of my best "belly dance" years so far.  I got to perform quite a bit with The Little Fish Belly Dance Company (including Coronet for the Emperor and Empress for Diva Dave, the "In Performance with Suhaila Salimpour" show and a fun show put on by Shimmy Dance Productions when Faten Salama was here). I was also honoured to perform as a soloist in two big shows this year - Dr. Soanso's Mucking Farvelous Show in June and Club Belly Dance with the Belly Dance Superstars in September (both produced by Eighth Wonder Belly Dance).  I had a BLAST and I truly, truly thank Eighth Wonder for liking that drum piece so much! My thanks for asking me to perform! It's one of my favorite pieces! My husband and I ended the year in Palm Beach, with my friend Hind Haymour and her husband.  (Myself and Hind at Taverna Opa in West Palm Beach) They very graciously asked us to stay for a few days once our cruise was finishe...

November you have been one saucy minx!!!  First, props go out to my students, as some of them did indeed dress up in costume for their Halloween classes - <sniff> - so proud!  Then there was the fantastic workshop by Faten Salama (and show), and then my Raq'N Monkey came in!!! Me and my mini-me I was quite happy when I (of course) showed up in costume for my classes just a few days prior to Halloween, and lo' and behold, some of my students dressed up as well!! I was very giggly about that. They didn't even mind when I put on Michael Jackson Thriller and we danced to it.  Seriously - I have awesome students - they fill my soul with joy every single Friday night!!!  Beginners  Although, to be honest, I have been in a bit of a funk lately.  I KNOW this time of year is hard for people to make it to classes due to Christmas parties/office functions, holidays, family events, etc.  It is just a little disheartening when I have a full class re...

Wow!!! October has definitely been interesting so far!!! After being sick since mid-September and then still being ill completing my Zumba Instructor Training on October 2nd, I FINALLY got my butt to the doctors around October 13th. Only to find out for the past month I hadn't been suffering from a cold or the flu, but a really bad sinus infection....whoops... October 2, 2011 - Zumba Instructor Training in Calgary (Andrea Sandhu - instructor in the front row in front of me) Long story short - I received antibiotics and completed them.  Feeling MUCH better and promise if I ever again get a fever for more than 4 days, I shall immediately hike on over to the doctors office. On the "OMG I had NO idea I would have SO MUCH FUN!" front - I gotta say - I LOVED the Zumba instructor training! It was brutal, I was sweating a lot (though did have a fever but hey) and I believe our Zumba trainer Andrea Sandhu had a lot to do with it.  Seriously - I want to be her when I grow up!...

If you've ever heard about Suhaila Salimpour's workshops, you've heard they are brutal.  That you do low squats for what seems like forever, that you sweat more in a few hours than you usually do in months, that your glutes get the workout of a lifetime, that your body feels likes it's going to die.  And yeah, everything you've heard it true... (myself and Suhaila) Well, at 7 AM on a beautiful and gorgeous September 24th, I got in my car, stopped for cash (because ya know I gotta shop!), grabbed a coffee and headed on down to DancEnergy.  Didn't care I had a bit of a headache and fever - seeing not only so many of my belly dancing friends there, but so many from out of town was fabulous!!! Let me say for the record, although the workshop was 2 days, I only registered for the "Drills That Kill" Saturday, as I had Little Fish class on Sunday (which turned out I didn't go to, I stayed home and slept all day Sunday as I was still ill). I was looki...