Beijing

Last month I spent a week teaching belly dance in Beijing, China. I absolutely loved every minute of it! Here is a slideshow.

China 2009

this past fall i went on a two month long tour with an internationally renown bellydance ensemble. here are some of the highlights of my experience dancing throughout the UK, Spain, France, Belgium, Canada and the US.

rehearsal week in LA
i spent a week in Los Angeles learning the numbers that i'd perform in the show. this was also the time for me to meet the myriad of sweet and silly characters that make up the lovely ladies of BDSS.

hanging with Deo and Mona in LA
that first week was one of the hardest. rehearsal week is physically and mentally no joke for a new girl. i was missing Gianma, mom and my crew already. luckily i have some emergency crew provisions on the west coast. they took care of me.

the night before the first show
our hotel in Newcastle was hosting several weddings where the bride and groom couldn't have been older than high school age. this resulted in loud singing, fighting, running and fire alarm pulling all night long. i probably got like 3 hours of sleep.

Alan Titchmarsh show on BBC One
we got to perform on this daytime BBC One show. because Bozenka had been Shakira's teacher, they introduced us as the "women who taught Shakira to bellydance"

going shopping in Camden
i love this funky London shopping area.

Chad and Niyati
i had dinner with a dear friend and his new bride-to-be in London. this was perfect because i was starting to miss my peeps again. these were my peeps away from home for a night.

afternoon tea
a tea house nestled in a beautiful park. tea, thick and fluffy scones, jam and clotted cream.

Belgian waffles
they're magical. enough so that you'll take some stupid risks to get one.

getting cleaned in the French pay toilet
just pay the damned 30 cents. don't try to be smart and end up looking dumb.

living in a castle in france for a week
it was beautiful. it looked just like a fairy tale castle inside and out. but i'm Ebony so i was cold and...kinda frightened at night.

fresh crepes from a Parisian street vendor everyday
ham, cheese, salt and pepper. so simple, but enough to make you stop mid stride and go "daayummmm"

Crazy Horse (Paris)
a great show to see in Paris. surprisingly, there's clips of the show on their site.

getting sick and then burgled in Barcelona
they done took my wallet

NYC show
my beloved crew (Gianma, Butter, Chichi, Jen, Rachel, Yonas, Larry) came to see the show in NYC and fed me love, wine, chocolate and cookies :) :) :)

enduring the bellybus
that bus is not cute

spending quality time with mom and Becca in philly
much needed family and friend time away from the show business

stumbling into an Improv Everywhere event in Montreal
i was at a bustling shopping mall that suddenly froze in time. i knew immediately what was up and got really giddy, running around taking video. i even stopped and "froze" for a couple of seconds, too.

falling down really hard in Montreal
it was freezing out and i could barely see over my layers of winter outerwear. i tripped over a cord and slammed into the ground with the force of the jedi. i was stunned and my spirit was broken. i was surprised my arm wasn't broken. so...i started drinking.

getting super duper dissed by a hotel manager in Montreal
"they say they're the Bellydance Superstars, but they don't look anything like in the poster"

hanging with Joycie and Catherine in Boston
yay for yummy food, chocolate martini's and super sweet girlfriends

coming home :)

if high school friends try to add me as their friends on facebook, how i am i supposed to remember who they are if they have a profile pic of a stupid baby instead of a pic of themselves?

i know christmas is over (although my tree is still up and i still insist on plugging it in at night) but i have to post these japanese commercials from the 80s.

i love this song. chiaki translated it for me and sent me the words so i can learn to sing it. it totally reminds me of "last christmas" by Wham. chiaki says that that's exactly the japanese equivalent of this song.

so at susie's party on saturday night all the japanese (as in, our japanese crew of friends that we just call "the japanese") were there. when the lights came up and gianma played the last song i started singing this song to them.

oh my god, they all burst out singing it at the top of their lungs. it was so cool!

beijing knows how to do lamb! mmm mmm bitch!

last night over dinner i taught Yao and Guo Wei how to say "punk ass bitch". it was hilarious. we all turned into 10 year olds. they taught me some equally offensive Chinese words.

i've watched Moria craft a tribal bra and belt in 2 days. she...is a genious. a little costume making sprite. i'm totally inspired now to get to work on some costuming of my own...

especially since there's a huge show billboard at the studio with me, Moriah and Sabah on it with me wearing the same costume that i brought to perform in. eeeeeeee.

time to get to work.

also? for some reason, i can wake up at 6am on my own here. in the US, i can't bear to wake up earlier than 10am. maybe this is the time zone i'm meant to live in? maybe it's the 2 hour work days :)

well, i am loving it here.

everything that i've eaten has been SO good that i dream about the food at night.

funny thing is, at home i don't eat much chinese food. but here, i love it.

the BEST thing that i've eaten so far? wait for it. fried lamb. i know that sounds wrong, but O...M...G. no yonas, don't try to do it yourself. something about the way they marinated it and spiced it and fried it up. lordy, it was crispy on the outside and lamby on the inside. hooooo.

i love how at the hotel i can eat savory chinese breakfasts. there is sooo much stuff on the buffet. our host always feeds us a delicious chinese lunch, then at night takes us out for dinner. i had peking duck in Peking!

i teach for 2 hours a day. the students are so gracious and attentive. today me and brian went sightseeing to the "birds nest stadium" and the "water cube".