Elephants and Dancing in Kuala Lumpur

Elephants & Dancing in Kuala Lumpur

I’m in Kuala Lumpur. I was invited here to teach and perform by an awesome lady called Nanci Traynor who teaches Tribal Belly Dance and yoga.

I taught 3 workshops on Sunday at KLPAC the theme I used for my workshops 

was Movie Sirens of the Silent film era.

Nanci performs every Wednesday at Palate Palette so I have been joining her to perform while I am here and last night I went to her Yoga and Tribal Belly Dance classes. She taught an awesome Samba piece

as well which was loads of fun.

Dancing again tonight with some Iranian DJ’s then this Saturday we are putting on a show upstairs at Palette Palais followed by a dub-step  DJ and a party.

On Sunday, I will be hung-over no doubt, but I will also be travelling out to visit the Kuala Gandah Elephant Sanctuary. For those of you who don’t know… I am a little crazy about elephants... that is an understatement... there probably isn't a word for how much I love efalumps... put it this way, If given the choice between saving the human race or elephants, I am not ashamed to say that elephants would win every time!  

(but then I am someone who, several years ago, posted ‘I am renouncing my species’ as my myspace status, haha

I contacted the sanctuary’s main supporter who goes by the name of ‘the elephant man’ and he gave me a list of supplies that are needed there.

Then before I left for KL, I ran an event called Ele-Dance Hafla to raise money for the orphaned elephants at Kuala Gandah. We raised a very small amount but nearly enough to help fund some of the much needed item donations that are needed however my support for the Sanctuary is ongoing so you

So this is where I ask you to help me to help them to continue there amazing work to preserve and protect this awesome species.

I have created 3 pages on my website, with info about the sanctuary and

you can read all about Selandang and Sanum, two of the ickle elephants who were rescued and taken in by the sanctuary.

Please have a look at the ele-pages on my website and donate as little or as much as you can! The hard work of the team at KG simply cannot continue without our support!

http://www.nottinghamtribalbellydance.com/ntb_kuala_gandah.html

http://www.nottinghamtribalbellydance.com/ntb_kuala_gandah_elephants.html

http://www.nottinghamtribalbellydance.com/ntb_kuala_gandah_donate.html

Some of the ele-dance links don’t appear to be be working properly but this I cannot fix until I am back in UK. Please be patient, links will be fixed when I get back to UK at the end of May.

Have a look at this super cute video of  Selandang (Miss Tripod) Selandang (Miss Tripod) very pleased and walking with her new prosthetic leg :) 

Music/Art by August Hoerr

Music:    August Hoerr on Soundcloud 

Website: www.augusthoerr.com

I met August Hoerr a few years ago with Olivia Kissel, a lady who has been a huge inspiration to me in my dance studies. He played the piano accordion during her workshops in Holland which was amazing and I spent a little time chatting to him about music. He is a sweet person who has a lot of time for people.  I just wanted to share these links cos I think his music is rather awesome! He is also an amazing painter.. the kind that puts me so much to shame that I should probably throw away all my crayons ;)  ... anyway, Enjoy!

Working on some new music

I am working on some instrumental tracks for Tribal Belly Dance.
This is the first one. a work in progress but I like it so I wanted to share it :)
link:  Santoor - Tribal Infinity

Support the Bhopa Tribe of Rajasthan

During my visit to Pushkar in Rajasthan, India, I met Sumitra and her father. I spent a lot of time with them and Kistur taught me to play the Ravanhatta., a bowed stringed instrument which is hand made from a coconut shell and bamboo. Sumitra and her father sang for me every day after my lesson and I met the rest of their lovely family as well.
Kistur was born Bhopa, a tribe local to the Rajasthan area of India, The Bhopa are the clan of Musicians who played for the Maharajas. With the disappearance of the Maharajas, the Bhopa survive by playing and making instruments for tourists.

I have remained in contact with Kistur and my new found little Indian sister Sumitra. Spending time with them was a great inspiration to me and I am proud to be able to share with you their story.

You can support the Bhopa Tribe by buying this CD and DVD!!!

Traditional Songs of Rajasthan
Songs from the Bhopa Tribe of Rajasthan
£10 + £1.25  p&p (UK postage)
Postage outside the UK costs more
please contact me if you want this posting outside the UK

Bhopa; The Art of Survival: (pictures coming soon) A lovely film all about the Bhopa tribe and their history and music. Kistur shows us how he makes a Ravanhatta from beginning to end and we meet other family members who tell us stories about their lives and their struggle
for survival in a modern world.  [DosVelas Pictures, 2007]
£12  + £1.25 p&p  (UK only at the moment, sorry)

Both CD and DVD (special offer)  £18
+ £1.25 p&p UK (postage)
Postage outside the UK costs more
please contact me if you want this posting outside the UK

All proceeds go to support the Bhopa tribe to preserve this ancient art.
Please send paypal payments to bduk.tv@hotmail.com
Include the title(s) of the product you wish to purchase along with
your name and address when you make the payment.

if you have any questions feel free to contact me by email bduk.tv@hotmail.com

Namaste

It's been a while!

Hello strangers

Long time no speakers!

So....I survived India. It was an incredible experience!

I learned a lot and I met some wonderful people and made some friends with a few people who I know I will be keeping in touch with and intend to share much more time with in the future. Sarah and Txell,  two gorgeous ladies from Spain who kept me endlessly entertained and also encouraged me to practice when I was really feeling more like burying my head in the sand.

Beautiful Marta, who I spent a lot of time with when everyone else had buggered off elsewhere, she is an infinite source of light and a real inspiration. I spent a little bit of time with all of the girls on the Odissi course and I grew very fond of all of them, I guess after a month or so of dancing together every day, it starts to feel like a family. We all looked out for each other and gave each other support. This is getting all emotional so I won't go on about how much I love everyone, haha

The other people that I shared a lot of time with were Sumitra and her father Kistur and their family who are Bhopa, a tribe of gypsies in Rajasthan. Kistur is a musician, plays a Ravan-hattha which he makes himself by hand and sells to foreign visitors. He was kind enough to share his time with me to teach me to play the Ravantah. Sumitra is like a 13 year old Indian version of me...a feisty monkey with a very cheeky smile and she has such a beautiful singing voice, she sings with her father and they perform for tourists but it is getting more and more difficult for them to make a living from this way of life. The story of the Bhopa tribe is featured in a film 'Bhopa: The Art of Survival'

I am going to be selling copies of this DVD and also a CD of their music, to help support the Bhopa and protect their heritage. Please buy a copy!

BDUK.TV and Shangri-la Lounge present SHANGRI-LA 2011 - MASQUERADE themed vaudeville belly dance show

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148579218557300

NOW IN IT"S SIXTH YEAR!!! . . .

SHANGRI-LA 2011 - MASQUERADE themed vaudeville belly dance show

Show Line up:
HORUS MOZARABE
SORCHA RA
MOIRAI TRIBAL
FULYA
LAPIS LAZULI
DAMES DU SERPENT
BEATRICE FLOWERS
KATIE HOLLAND
THE WEIRD SISTERS
ROCKIT BELLYDANCE
CATHERINE TAYLOR
KIRSTY BENTLEY
EMERALD ACE
DARKTEASER
SPECIAL GUESTS -THE LAMBHORSE CABARET

and a weekend of fabulous workshops with
some of the stars of the show! . . .

••• SATURDAY WORKSHOPS•• •
* Burlesque Fusion with Fulya
* Wicked Combinations with Lapis Lazuli
* The Mask (It's Showtime) with Horus Mozarabe
* Indian Fusion with Beatrice Flowers
••• SUNDAY WORKSHOPS •••
* Rockit Belly Dance with Emma & Saskia
* Double Fans with Sorcha Ra
* ATS combos and NEW moves with Philiipa Gebhardt

for tickets and info visit www.shangrilalounge.co.uk
 
* SHOW TICKETS ARE SOLD VIA ALT-TICKETS
the show venue is The Rescue Rooms, Nottingham
* WORKSHOP ARE BOOKED SEPARATELY
the workshop venue is Arnold Hill Upper School, Nottingham
•••••••••••••••••••
About Shangri-la Lounge:

SHANGRI-LA LOUNGE is an annual Vaudeville Bellydance show.
It takes place in Nottingham UK on the second weekend of every September.
The aim of Shangri-la is to promote Bellydance in the UK and make it more accessible to the general public by showcasing it in a setting that doesn’t feel exclusive to the dance community and also to support and promote our fellow performers whatever their style may be.
Each year the show has a different theme which performers are encouraged to include in their acts to create the feeling of a vaudevillian style theatre production. Guests are also encouraged to join in with prizes for the best outfits.
Shangri-la has proudly hosted many popular performers such as The Uzume from Holland, Moirai, Mistress Olivia, Raqs-Macabre, Darkstar, Dawn 0 'Brien, Hafsa, Horus Mozarabe from Portugal,
Darkteaser, Emerald Ace, Millie Dollar, as well as showcasing some newer faces.
Weekend workshops were first included as part of the event in 2008, aimed at everyone from absolute beginners to advanced dancers.

Shangri-la is pretty much run by just one person alone! (me)
Putting on such a big event involves an enormous amount of work, you can help by spreading the word, it would be much appreciated!
You can find promotional stuff to forward to your friends on the website.
Please email me if you want some fliers and posters to hand out.
If you would like to volunteer to be involved with the running of the event please contact Beatrice
email- shangrila.lounge@hotmail.c​o.uk

Shangri-la Lounge website
http://www.shangrilalounge​.co.uk/

Join Shangri-la on mspace
http://www.myspace.com/sha​ngrilalounge

Thank you for your kind support! :)

Beatrice Flowers xx xx

Rubbish@Bloggery!

Hello world :)

Ok, so i am obviously rubbish at this blogging thing, but i have no shame and no apology for my half arsed bloggery. I have not posted since returning from India (about 3 months ago or something)

 You may have wondered if i had got lost in the desert and been eaten by tigers and pecked at by hungry birds or if i made it back to the uk at all.... probably not though and since i have returned to the blog it is clear that i am alive and well and back in my chair in lovely sunny (ahem...cough) England.

I got fed up with the slooooow internet speeds and ancient PC's in Indian internet cafes and basically gave up with trying to post things online.

Since returning to England, I have performed loads, taught loads and other than that i have mostly been sat my chair in my home office, working on stuff and promoting various things....webshite building...stuff and things.

I found this on my keydrive, It's a blog i had begun to write in India but never got round to finishing or posting. so here it is in it's raw, unfinished, unedited form:

'Monday morning we had our final rehearsal for the Odissi performance, the costumes had only arrived 2 days before the performance and my costume at this point was with the tailor having major surgery due to a 2 sizes too small issue. The tailor performed a miracle by 1pm it was good to go and fit perfectly. So a big thank you to the tailor in Pushkar who fixed my costume and saved the day!
We spent around 4 hours getting ready for the show, much make up and hair to be done. Whilst we were in the dance school getting ready a monkey snuck in and tried to steal some flowers, I was quite enthusiastic about the monkey joining us but i can see how it may have been impractical since monkeys are not best known for their make-up technique at least not as far as im aware.
After some photo opportunities and an interview for the dvd, we all got covered in alter (bright red paint stuff) which is meant to be painted on the finger tips and circles on the hands and then also the toes and sides of the feet, unfortunately I am rather like a 5 year old especially in terms of being messy and getting covered in paint on my hands looked like I had been finger painting.
Before the performance we waited in a small room at the back of the stage, trying to keep our garuga (ankle bells) from jangling too much and all very excited and slightly nervous in anticipation. After some meditation followed by lots of good lucks and blowing kisses at each other (and me getting a mouthful of flower petals which were for the offering...I was trying to stop them from falling out of my hands...with my mouth, our teacher Sudansu yelled "No No! flower not for eating!" hahaha)
Then it was time for us to make our entrance on to the stage.
The live musicians came from Orissa and included a famous Odissi singer who we were given the rare opportunity to take an Odissi music theory and singing workshop with yesterday which was amazing, she is a beautiful and inspiring lady!
...back to the performance....
We began our choreography, 18 of us, dressed in beautiful red Odissi costume and silver jewelry, all smiling from ear to ear, the stage lights were so bright it was impossible to see past the front of the stage. Then 10 minutes or so later it was over, we were all completely ecstatic, the hours of hard work and often not having a clue what was going on during the rehearsals, all paid off.
The audience was a couple of thousand, the temple grounds were full and people were stood on nearby roof tops watching the performance. This was definitely one of the most incredible experiences of my life so far :) Thank you to all the gorgeous ladies who I had the pleasure of sharing this with! and to our wonderful teachers for sharing their time and knowledge!'

... That's as far as I got with the India blog.

Right anyway, as i was saying...

I am rubbish at blogging because writing journals or keeping logs (not the made of tree kind) 

keeping diarys or anything like that does NOT come naturally to me. 

I do like to have things thoroughly organised into files/boxes/folders and files within folders and boxes in boxes etc.... but writing a blog does not feel like something I can organise or tidy up and therefore I am rubbish at it. The files on my MAC (yes mac not PC) are so organised, you might say I am a little OCD and you wouldn't be far wrong, in fact, if I wasn't narcoleptic I would be putting much more time into obsessively organising things.

Unfortunately being eternally tired does not allow for such behavior and although my computer files are in perfect order, my bedroom floor, like some other areas in my life are not so in order....however

Being terribly stubborn I am not one to give up on a task no matter how long it may take to conclude, (especially if I want to prove a point or do the opposite of what everyone expected me to do....)

I will soldier on with this bloggery.

This afternoon I got my backside into our studio to record BDUK.TV podcast number II 

with the fabulous and slightly mintol Maz and Shani of Lapis Lazuli as my guests. 

I am now getting ready to perform at The Castle of Delights this evening....

that is a blatant lie, I am obviously sat typing, but I will be doing that shortly after this...

BDUK.TV Podcast II will be available to listen to, if all goes to plan

hopefully by the end of this weekend.

so keep your pies eeld ... or your eyes peeled & Watch this Spaz Space

Catch you later Bill & Ted  ;)

READ PREVIOUS BLOGS HERE!

http://bduktv.blogspot.com/

LISTEN TO THE FIRST BDUK.TV PODCAST HERE!

http://bduktvpodcast.blogspot.com/

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http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=152615831439693