Kismet Bellydance News

News

New Class!

Starting April 1 2008

Performers College

Southend Road

Corringham

SS17 8JT

This class will be taught by the lovely Susie who has been dancing with Sarah and the Kismet Bellydance Troup for over four years. She is fabulous and beautiful dancer and we are proud to welcome her to our family of teachers.

For full details of this new class, please visit the Classes page of this website.

Kismet School of Bellydance - Newsletter, December 2007

Well, here we are, almost at the end of yet another year! And what a wonderful and exciting year it has been!

For me, the highlight of the year was gaining certification in American Tribal Style bellydance from its creator, Carolena Nerricio of FatChanceBellyDance, San Francisco. What made the whole experience even more exciting was that she made me her UK representative! This has opened up some very exciting doors not just for myself, but for our ATS group Tribe of Kismet - more on that later!

The summer saw the usual round of fetes and festivals, both for Kismet and Tribe of Kismet. More of the experienced students have started performing professionally. Some of the cabaret girls are now performing at our regular slot at Asia Spice in Basildon, and we all made our debut at Planet Egypt, London's premier bellydance showcase.

In September, Deana, one the principle dancers with Tribe of Kismet, started a new ATS class in Basildon, helping me to officially launch The Kismet School of Bellydance. Look out for new classes, cabaret and tribal, starting in other areas in the new year....

October saw our lovely Sarah H giving birth to her beautiful daughter Jessica Mae - both are doing well, and we look forward to seeing Sarah back dancing next year! Congratulations to Sarah and Baz!

As for next year - I think we are in for an exciting time!

In January, some of the professional dancers with Kismet will be attending workshops with world renowned dancer Aziza - something we are all thoroughly looking forward to! We have been invited back to Planet Egypt at the end of January - we are there again in July visit www.planetegypt.co.uk for more details - we would love to see you there supporting us!

I will be teaching an ATS workshop at Tribalondon 8 to 10 February - a weekend of tribal bellydance organised by the world famous Bellydance Superstars. Deana and I will also be performing in their show - a great honour and something we are both very excited about. For more details of this event visit www.tribalondon.co.uk

On 23rd February, Tribe of Kismet will be performing in the Jewels of the Nile show in Luton.

Kismet and Tribe of Kismet already have several bookings for next Summer and there is a possibility of a VERY special performance....watch this space!

In October, my ATS master, Carolena Nericcio, will be back in the UK as I host her Tribal:Pura workshop in Glastonbury - there will also be opportunities for dancers to study intensively with her for General Skills and Teacher certification during her stay. And this is only the beginning! There will be much much more to come!

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their love and support during 2007 and to wish each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy and Healthy New Year, full of love and friendship.

With much love from

Sarah

and all at Kismet Bellydance

Sarah H has baby!

The lovely Sarah H (pictured left with her bump and below with her beautiful daughter), one of Kismet's professional dancers, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl on Friday 19th October 2007! Congratulations to Sarah and Baz on the birth of Jessica Mae from all the Kismet girls!

Asia Spice Restaurant

Dancers from Kismet and The Tribe of Kismet will be performing regularly at the newly refurbished Asia Spice Restaurant, Cranes Farm Road, Basildon. The food is delicious and the surroundings are wonderful. Perfect for your celebration!

Call 01268 523526 to find out performance dates and to book a table.

Raqs Britannia - Blackpool 2007

Once again, some of the girls of Kismet Bellydance made the long journey to Blackpool to participate in this years mega-event staged by the Bellydance Superstars.

Myself (Sarah J), Sarah H, Christine, Jasmin and Karen J all stayed at the Claremont Hotel - which was OK once we actually managed to get our rooms! We had all had a long, long journey (7 hours - there had been a major accident on the M6!) and, having arrived in Blackpool at around 11pm we found that the hotel had really, badly messed up our room reservations. We finally managed to get into our rooms at around 12.30am - so much for getting some sleep before starting all the workshops the next day! It really was like being in a scene from Faulty Towers!

However, once we settled in, we all managed to have a fantastic weekend! Workshops were taken with: Sonia; Issam; Jillina; Sharon Kihara; Rachel Brice; Bozenka; Michelle Pender and Anne White.

One the Friday evening was Cafe Sha'bi - a buffet meal (which was very good) and a show featuring dancers from the UK and Europe. Afterwards there was dancing with the Nile Band - though this did start rather late in the evening, and the six months pregnant Sarah H was getting tired and we both had early workshops the next day! So we left early and took to our beds :-)

Saturday evening saw the lavish Superstars Ball. This was a lovely sit-down meal and a full show from the Bellydance Superstars. As expected, the show was fantastic and a wonderful time was had by all. Afterwards there was dancing to Oojami - but once again this did start very late in the evening and Sarah and I needed to be up early again the next day! Christine and Jasmin did stay and have a boogie though - Christine is now addicted to Oojami...

The highlight of the weekend for me was when the beautiful Karen J (known as Curly Karen by the troupe - because of her fab hair!) was talent spotted by Miles Copeland and asked to audition for the Bellydance Superstars! Karen was totally unprepared for this (no costume, not prepared audition peice), but, will a little encouragement from myself and the rest of the girls, she went for it; and, out of around 100 entrants, she made it to the last four! None of the four were offered a place right there and then, but all of their details are being kept on file for when dancers are required. Congratulations to Karen, Kismet's very own Superstar!

We managed to take a few pics over the weekend - and here they are:

The lovely Karen with Jillina Jasmin with Sonia and Issam Sarah J with Jillina

A tired Sarah J with Issam Jasmin with Issam Christine and Sarah H at the Superstars Ball

Christine, Sarah H, Sarah J and Jasmin at the Superstars Ball

(Miles had cornered the lovely Karen at this point - hence her absence!)