Upcoming Events

Hope everyone had a great holiday; mine was fantastic!

During the break from my Mesa Art Center classes I will be teaching a bellyrobics class on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.  If you would like to join in on the workout send me an email to register, yasmina@joyofbellydancing.com.  Classes will be $5 each and will start Dec. 29th & 30th and continue the 1st two weeks in January 5th, 6th, 12th and 13th.

I am starting something new the first Saturday of the month mini workshop.  I'm adding a second workshop that day from noon until 1:00 p.m.  The entire 2010 schedule is posted on my website; check it out when you have a chance.

My Mesa Art Center classes will be starting January 19th, 20th and 21st.  Below is all the info on these classes.

Tuesday

beginning belly dance (American Cabaret Style)

CAW10DNC003-01 T Jan 19-Mar 9 7-8pm $47 R $55 NR

intermediate belly dance (Oriental Style)

CAW10DNC004-01 T Jan 19-Mar 9 8-9pm $47 R $55 NR

Wednesday

beginning dance (American Fusion Style)

CAW10DNC003-02 W Jan 20-Mar 10 6-7pm $47 R $55 NR

beginning tribal style (Basket Dance)

CAW10DNC001-01 W Jan 20-Mar 10 7-8pm $47 R $55 NR

intermediate tribal style (Skirt Dance)

CAW10DNC002-01 W Jan 20-Mar 10 8-9pm $47 R $55 NR

Thursday

beginning tribal style (Tribal Fusion, song Move It)

CAW10DNC003-02 W Jan 20-Mar 10 6-7pm $47 R $55 NR

register by calling the Mesa Art Center box office, (480)644-6500, or drop off your registration at the Art Studios at the Mesa Arts Center lobby.

late registration call (480)644-6500

brochures are at the Mesa Art Center or visit the Mesa Arts Center website, http://www.mesaartscenter.com/index.php/classes/dance.

My first big event will be January 23rd at the Women's Club of Mesa.  This will be my 15th Annual Belly Dance Swap Meet.  Below is more info:

Mark your calendars for Saturday January 23rd from 8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

Enjoy a day of shopping, workshops, networking with other dancers and having fun.

The event will be held at the Women's Club of Mesa - 200 N. Macdonald, Mesa, AZ 85201 (cross streets - University & Center)

Vending space is $10.00 (setup will start at 7:00 a.m.)

Please bring your own table(s) or rugs, setup will be outside. If you would like shade bring a tent.

Four workshops this year!!!

9 - 10 Yasmina - New Dance Combinations

10:30 - 11:30 Sherry - Fusion Belly Dance

Noon - 1:00 Helena Vlahos - Arm and Hand Movements

1:30 - 2:30 Aradia Rose - Zumba

Workshops are $5 each.

To reserve your vending and/or workshop spots please contact Yasmina - 480/962-6303 – yasmina@joyofbellydancing.com.

Workshops are starting to fill up; email or give me a call to reserve your spot.

Enjoy your weekend and have a fun, safe and wonderful New Year...

Chandler Parade of Lights

Sorry this has taken so long; what can I say it's that time of year! :0)

What a fun night it was and a very chilly night for us in AZ. The first Saturday of December was a very busy day. I started the day with teaching a dance workshop in the morning and that night was the light parade in downtown Chandler.

We needed to be there by 5:00 p.m. to get set up and ready to be judged for our category Best Lit Musical or Dance Troupe. The "lit" part was for lights on the costumes not "lit" inside :0)


I had my own contest going for the class and Dena and Paola won best lit dancer (again it was the use of lights) and Kyla won best use of glow sticks.

A huge thanks to Kelley and Melissa for getting us drummers to provide the music for us as we danced down the parade route with our lit candy canes.

Below are photos of the event and I'm already planning next years route!

group shot with the early birds

Roxy

Michele

Melissa and I

Melissa

Jade

Melissa, me and Ginn lit up

Jackie in the parking lot

Elisabeth

Kelley

group shot

Everyone have a great holiday season and a very happy New Year...until next year take care.

Craft class on November 14th

Hi Everyone,
I know it has been awhile since my last blog it's my super busy schedule and living life to the fullest!

Below are the boxes we will be creating in class on Saturday. These boxes are great for small gifts and candy treats.

group shot of all the boxes


Small acetate box with stamped images; sorry they are really difficult to see

Box in a bag

Mini bags using the Sizzix Top Note die cut

Small box using the Sizzix Top Note die cut

Triangle box

Mini pizza box with a turkey made with a stamp set by Stampin' Up called Fall Whimsy. The turkey is made with leaves, pumpkin and an acorn

Enjoy your week and see you in class....

Talent Show, October 17, 2009

What a fun evening performing at the Mesa Amphitheatre for the City of Mesa "Community Spirit" talent show to raise money for Longfellow School.

It was a beautiful evening under the stars with friends and family performing and watching the talent of the employees of the City of Mesa.

I have always wanted to perform at the Mesa Amphitheatre and now that dream has come true. It was a great stage and to enjoy it with my friends and students was fantastic!!!

Below is a group shot after our performance and a photo of our groupies :-)

Sonaran Rose - Melissa, Kyla, Jennifer, Elizabeth, Carrie, Rachel, Debbie, Kelley and me

Melissa and Rachel came and watched us perform

> Sword duet with Melissa

Drum solo

Smooth

Yasmina's Fall Belly Dance Swap Meet

The fall swap meet was a fantastic day filled with shopping, meeting new friends, seeing friends and dancers you haven’t seen in a long time, workshops and an evening show.

It was a glorious day of sunshine and even though the weather guy said it was 88 degrees it seemed a lot hotter :0)

The day started early with getting to the Women’s Club of Mesa at 6:00 a.m. The vendors were eager to start their day and started arrive before 6:30 a.m.! Even the shoppers were arriving before 8:00 a.m. when the swap meet was to start.

It was a really nice blend of vendors this year with 23 showing up to sell their wears. Welcome to the new vendors that joined us this year and thanks to everyone for making the swap meet a success.

Gina (Ginici) was the first workshop instructor for the day starting everyone with slow and slithery moves with a twist. Holly put the workshop students through their paces with pops ‘n locks 2. Habib started the lunch hour with “heavy duty beat patrol” learning how to tweak the visual impact of your musical interpretation. I ended the day with some new combinations in cabaret and tribal style flavors.

After my workshop all the vendors packed up and we prepared the Women’s Club for the evening show. I should say Kelley and Qianna did all the work they set up over 100 chairs for the evening festivities.

The show was fabulous; what talent we have in the State of Arizona. I didn’t perform in the show I ran the music and had the best seat in the house right up front! For me it was so nice to be able to watch a show almost in its entirety. I was taking photos and getting the music for the next performance ready but all in all I got to see a show.

Thanks so much to Morgiana for emceeing the show. Personally I hate talking into a microphone and Morgiana does it with such ease; she can adlib with the best of them!

Huge thanks to Kelley for helping in the booth, keeping an eye on Habib’s booth while she taught her workshop and for help with cleaning up after the show; this girl can run a mean vacuum! Also thanks to Paula for helping with clean up after the show.

What can I say about my hubby he is priceless; I don’t know what I would do with out him; thanks John for all you do.

Photos from the show:

Divine Chaos

Rukshana

Desert Menagerie from Safford

Gypsy Chicks from Flagstaff

Habib from Sedona

Qadesh

Sonoran Rose

Sonaran Rose

Mitra

Ginici

Ginci and Sherry

Dancers of DeNile

Hadara from Tucson

Banat Tabla from Yuma

Anaya Tribal


Thanks for all those that attended this years event I hope you found a lot of new treasures, learned some new moves and just had a wonderful time. See you all next year, Yasmina

Holiday Card Class

It's hard to believe that I'm ahead of schedule and have created the 8 projects for the holiday card classes for October 17th and November 12th.

We will be creating 7 cards and one treat or tag bag. The projects this year are gift card holder, a card with embossing, a paper bag card, shaker card, a card with dry embossing, Dahlia fold, side step card and the top for the treat bag will be a crayon resist technique with a punch Santa.

Group shot of all the projects we will be making


The gift card holder is made with two top note Sizzix die cut with a tag inside.



Using white embossing this card uses both a wheel and stamps.


Cute Frosty paper bag card that can hold a small gift


This year's shaker card uses a small plastic cup to hold the beads




The background on this lovely tree card is dry embossed using a Sizzix texture folder


This card has a dry embossed tag made with heavy duty aluminum along with an embossed background behind the Dahlia fold flower


The side step card is simple and unique


Sorry for the glare on the photo it is difficult to see how cute the little Santa tags made with 6 different punches are. The top note die cut is the topper to the bag filled with either treats or gift tags. The one shown in the photo contains a dozen tags. We will use the crayon resist technique to decorate the glossy white paper.


Enjoy your week and see you all in class...

MAC Show on Sept. 11, 2009

Friday night was a warm evening in downtown Mesa and we were performing outside on the walkway at the Mesa Art Center in celebrating the season kick off.

There were lots of entertainers there that night from bands, jugglers, fire performers, Japanese drummers, ballroom dancers and so much more we didn't have a chance to see. As the flyer stated “live music, mayhem and merriment", and they were so right.

Some of my intermediate students from the cabaret and tribal classes performed throughout the evening alternating with the ballroom dancers. It was a fun event and we had a blast and were wringing wet by the end of the evening.

Our 8:30 show got cancelled since Mother Nature decided she wanted to blow through and stir up a little dust along with spreading just a little bit of moisture when we were going to go on. So what do belly dancers do when they can't perform and haven't eaten? You guess it we all went out and ate! :0)

Below are photos of us during our breaks...

Group before we started performing. Back row: Melissa, Elizabeth, Michele, Dawn, Paula. Front row: Me and Debbie

Rachel

Melissa striking a pose

Elizabeth, Melissa, Debbie


Group after performing. Back row: Dawn, Elizabeth, Michele, Me, Melissa. Front row: Kelley, Debbie, Paula, Rachel, Melissa.

Zill dance with Rachel, Kelley and Me