AUTUMN '10 NEWSLETTER

Here's The Goss.

There is a chill in the air but the sun is shining beautifully! Now is one of the best times to vist the Blue Mountains and witness the change of season. Visit us!
This weekend, though, Mountains dancers will be trekking to the city for Sydney Middle Eastern Dance festival, hopefully we will see lots of you around and performing. Have a great festival. And everybody else...happy dancing wherever you are!
Love, all at Ghawazi Caravan Studios x

News...

Stage Make-Up Workshop with Rachelle Bryden... FREE!
As part of our 10 year anniversary celebrations, we are putting on free workshops throughout the year for Devi's regular students. The first will be 'Tribal Stage Make-up' taught by top notch hairdresser and make-up artiste Rachelle Bryden of Ghawazi Caravan at 6.30pm on Monday 5th of July. Be there or be ugly!

Our fabulous April Erzetich has been teaching ATS in Pushkar for the past few months, along with learning Odissi and Khalbelia Gypsy dance. We miss her!! She will be back very soon...but then is jet setting again! Off to TribalFest in Sebastopol, Calaifornia to help her teacher, Colleena Shakti with her mechandise. Is anyone going over this year? Look out for April and say hi.

Bellydance Oasis leans on the tribal side again this issue. There is a stunning photo of Melusina on the cover and Devi writes 'Tribal Corner' as usual, this time with an interview with April about her India trip. To find out what else she is revealing this issue...subscribe at www.bellydanceoasis.com

Devi has been asked to co-teach General Skills with Carolena in Adelaide in November! And then again in Taiwan next year. This is a great honour and should be way fun too.

Congrats to Cristie who came first in the competition to design the Tribal and Trance Fest 2010 t-shirt!! She will be receiving lots of great festival goodies but the real prize is seeing HER design on YOUR boobs!!!!!!!!!! ;)

Confirmed: Our Big G.C. Studios celebration concert (ie: a total extravaganza) is Saturday 4th December, 4pm at the Hazelbrook Public School Hall. This will be a great chance for all GCS students to dress up and show off what they have learnt this year ...and over the last 10.

Upcoming Public Events...

Friday 30th April - Sunday 2nd May: The 21st Sydney Middle Eastern Dance Festival, SYDNEY 2010!!! Come along to one of the highlights of the year. Many exciting guests, performances, shows and workshops. Friday 30th April - Devi and drummer extraordinaire Tarek Sawires will be presenting Live Tribal Drum Solo workshop.
Saturday 1st May - 'Souk in Sydney' Ghawazi Caravan perform at the evening concert, see the website for tix.
Sunday 2nd May - 'Festival Follies' Ghawazi Caravan plus student troupes Ghaziya and Ghawazi Girls will perform at the all-day hafla and market day at Marrickville Town Hall, 10am - 4pm. www.sydmedfest.com

Saturday 8th May 2010: Dance Week. Springwood High School. Grose Rd, Faulconbridge, starts 5pm. Ghawazi Caravan will be doing a number along with Ghaziya and Ghawazi girls.

Saturday 23rd May 2010: COOL ALERT! ZenRasa at QUIRKZ with Devi and Emily! 103 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville. ZenRasa are 'the Intertwine musicians' and they are having Devi and Emily do a couple of dances at their gig. Excited much?
Photo by Damien Baker. Look at these guys, they are always sitting down on the job.

Sunday 30th May 2010: "Al-Ikseer".(Pron: Elixir) A night with Jill Parker hosted by Kellie Harkin (Kurvy). Ghawazi Caravan will perform plus solos by Devi and April plus heaps of other amazing Aussie dancers and of course, Jill Parker. Not to be missed... Contact: events@kurvy.com.au www.kurvy.com.au For tickets and more info: The Factory Theatre

25th May - 22nd June: Cristie will be guest teaching a 5 week course 'Introduction to Tribal Bellydance' for gorgeous Sydney dancer Georgette's intermediate Oriental students in Parramatta. www.ameraspalace.com.au/timetable_parramatta.html

12th and 13th June 2010: Workshops by Devi and April - Akoroa, NZ. ATS, Indian Classical and Indian Fusion workshops. Contact Margy: margyathome@clear.net.nz or Tracy: stu.tracey.miller@xtra.co.nz

19th June: Winter Magic Festival! Yay! Time and venue unconfirmed but we have a great set lined up. Dress warm and wild for the quintessential Blue Mountains festival and join 50,000 of our most intimate friends on Katoomba St. www.wintermagic.com.au Miss Emily is the 'banner girl' of the website this year. I spy a tassle!

Sunday 20th June 2010 - Winter Tribal Student Soiree 1:30-4:30pm at Ingleburn Community Centre. Contact Annie on 0421 863 914 or email globalgypsie@optusnet.com.au for performance and merchant information. Proudly hosted by Annie Alchin and the students of Global Gypsie Studios.
We are not sure if we are performing at this one. The Winter Magic weekend is usually huge for us but there WILL be much fun and lots of neat-o performances as usual! Annie is sure to make a memorable one.

Thursday 22nd July - Aussie Dancers for Animals. ESMA (Egyptian Society for the Mercy of Animals) Black Tie Charity Fundraiser. Anahita Persian Restaurant, Lane Cove. Tickets $70 includes scrumptious Persian dinner, soft drinks and dessert PLUS 5 Star professional floor show by Sydney's leading dance artists WITH special interstate performer Melissa Cristina!!!
Other performers include: Jrisi and the Hathor Dance Theatre, Shiva, Devi Mamak and Ghawazi Caravan, Fire dance with Kurvy and Hilary Cinis, Rachel Bond and Partner with Tango, Jamal Zraika live Arabic Drumming plus more to be announced. Book your tickets NOW!!! www.hathordancestudio.com.au 0409 243 764 and www.thesilkbazaar.com.au 0411 049 331
All profits go directly to ESMA.

Saturday July 24, '10. Evernight 2. We have started working on our 'Gothic Pieces'. Devi has come up with a haunting, vampy narrative to some very dramatic music! Evernight 2 is hosted by UMBRA Theatrical Gothic Belly Dance of Desert Moon Dancers.
Special International guest...dark fusion star "Sashi". With performances by Ma'isah, Saahirah Ravyn, Ghawazi Caravan and Arabiana and UMBRA. Contact Dani: 0417043307 or email: desertmoondancers@aapt.net.au desertmoondancers.bravehost.com

Recent Events...

Saturday 24th April, 2010 - Gianne Abbott Brazilian Dance workshops. Yep, Gianne from So you Think You Can Dance came to Hazelbrook! And she kicked it's butt! Sponsored by Devi Mamak and Javier Rodriguez from King Parrot Bloco de Samba, the classes were fun, hard and fast... as one participant put it... "I have discovered two new places on my body I never knew existed before....ouch hahahaha."

Saturday 24th April: Ironfest. This year they had a dedicated Bellydance Tent and Ghaziya and Ghawazi Girls performed very well in it! By all accounts, a great weekend was had by those who like to dress up in strange costumes and either dance, shoot old guns or stick poles into each other while on horseback.
Photo right is of Ghaziya in their latest photoshoot... see their facebook page for lots more.
R-L across top: Sara, Victoria, Hannah (who has since departed for smoggier horizens... we miss you!), Kate, Kirsty. Bottom: Nina, Kelly, Fiona and Rebecca in the middle. Cathie Gorman will need to be photoshopped in!!.

Sunday 21st March '10: Tribal Bellydance Student Soiree - Hosted by Hilary Cinis and Sydney Tribal Bellydance at 'Red Rattler' in Marrickville. Squishy but with good vibes and so many beautiful and diverse slants on Tribal Bellydance. Student troupe, Ghaziya zilled their fingies off and the younglings, Ghawazi Girls, exhibited their attitude and skills. Ghawazi Caravan performed 'Sadats' (oH YEHH!). More importantly, we debuted a fresh new cossie... massive pantaloons, skirt and a comfy halter tie-on top, all in lovely brown tones. Ahem... latte, darling!
It was excellent to see some new troupes and new dancers practicing their performance skills which is what it's all about and also great to catch up with the old faces :) and see what everyone's working on. Personally, I loved Vivianne's strechy solo... ahh.. swoon...Tribalista's spirited improv and Fi's hard core heavy metal catharsis - GO the Canberra chickas. Plus HEAPS more... can't list 'em all! Photo above and at very top of Ghawazi Caravan by Brad McDonald.

March 2010: Ghaziya performed at the celebration of Holi Mahotsav at Darling Harbour this year. They looked awesomatic in new cossies featuring Indian embroidered little tops and lots of blue and yellow. Represent.

26th - 28th February: The 2nd annual Tribal soul dance retreat Soul Dance Retreat was hosted by Soulfire Dance Academy in the lovely country town of Gympie, QLD. Kerrianne and Melanie did a marvelous job at making everyone feel relaxed and welcome at the beautifully restored Soulfire Dance studio. Devi was a special guest, teaching and performing along with Ravyn Wynters Nyte (formely Saahirah Ravyn), who performed a spine tingling Medusa dance; and Belladonna from the North coast of N.S.W. whose enthusiasm and joy spills out into her dance and affects everybody. Photo right: Devi and Ravyn Wynters Nyte.

February 2010: Drills and Individual Critique Lvls 1 and 2. We all had an intense time drilling and pulling apart ATS moves for 3 days straight...exhausting and exhilarating. We received some great feedback saying the participants felt that they got a lot out of the course (and the critiques that they were sent afterwards) and have seen marked improvement in their dancing. Level 3 and 4 coming in August see below. A great bunch: Devi, Cristie, Jennifer, Pippa, Satya, Colleen, Kylie... front: Antonia and Ellen.

Into the future...

Saturday July 31st and Sunday August 1st 2010: Festival Mystique - "Magic, Music & Mayhem”... sounds like a good theme for visiting the Hunter! Rachelle and Cristie are teaching 'Tribal Duets' and April will be teaching 'Khalbelia Gypsy Dance'. Dinner and performances on the Saturday night. Directed by Anne Dunston of Eastern Spirit Belly Dance at Pokolbin Hall, McDonalds Road, Pokolbin. www.festivalmystique.com

6th, 7th and 8th August 2010 (Fri-Sun): Drills and Individual Critique Levels 3 & 4. Join Devi Mamak and Cristie Fuller for drilling, individual attention and constructive critique on advanced ATS moves and Ghawazi Caravan moves. An exciting and intensive workshop where you will really see improvement in your dance and come away with a toolbox for working on your specific needs. For a complete breakdown of what will be presented for levels 3 and 4 please contact Devi - devimamak@ghawazicaravan.com. Held in Hazelbrook, Blue Mountains.

Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th August 2010: 'Build Your Own Workshop' - Private lessons with Carolena Nericcio... a rare and exciting opportunity! First in best dressed, so contact Devi - devimamak@ghawazicaravan.com. Will be in the Blue Mountains.
Click to enlarge poster.

11, 12, 13th September 2010: Tribal and Trance Festival - Ghawazi techers holding workshops will be Devi (Flamenco Fusion), April (Indian Fusion with Devi) and Emily (African Dance with Trance Elements). Book NOW!
Plus April and Cristie will be sharing a stall with Jacqueline of Tribal Jewels at the All Day Soiree. April will have her Indian wares... she is developing sweet contacts, people. Cristie will have handmade headgear and belts (if she gets her ass into gear) and Jacq will have her divine Indian-made bags and accessories.
We will, we will tribalise you (please someone make me shut up). More info at www.tribalandtrancefest.com

Quote of the season...

'There is a bit of insanity in dancing that does everybody a great deal of good.' - Edwin Denby

'Practise what you know, and it will help to make clear what now you do not know.' - Rembrandt