My weekend in pictures...

I'm fully enjoying being hectically busy and I can foresee I won't be a very good blogger for a bit but I'll try to share some of the fun with you with random snap shots of what we're up to. Although there were a lot of fun shows the highlight was Corporate Dance Company's artist showcase at Wit's Theatre. It was fun to watch all the other dancers, singers and performances of all kinds including seriously smoking salsa and tango duets. Scrumptious! 

We added some new moves which spiced up our choreographed group drum solo which I really like the look of and can't wait to see on video! Hopefully we'll be uploading some new videos soon.

In the meantime, 'tis the season to thank God for all that He's given us and enjoy each day to the full and find some way to reach out and help put a smile on someone's face. Keep your chin up. ;)

Art that Matters

I'm reading a beautiful book by Cindy West called "Saying Yes". It's one of those great books that I read with a highlighter in one hand and mark all the quotes I'll want to read again. It's those quotes that affect you and get your mind ticking, your heart beating and your foot tapping (yes, it's possible to do all three at once!) ;)

We all sometimes feel like life squelches the artist inside us, whether it's circumstances, busyness, conflicts, the industry or lack of opportunity. It's good to sometimes stop and think what it is we've left behind that maybe we should dust off and re-discover. What is it that makes creating something so beautiful and fulfilling, to have something you're proud to have been a part of?

Definition of ARTIST 

art·ist noun \ˈär-tist\

1: one who professes and practices an imaginative art

2 : a person skilled in one of the fine arts

3: a skilled performer

4: one who is adept at something 

What does being an artist mean to you?

Art that matters-truly great art-shows you more of who you are, or more of who you'd like to become. "Great art," says British art expert Sister Wendy Beckett, "is something that, when experienced lifts you out of yourself, puts you in another dimension and places you back down transformed."

I knew I wanted my life to matter. I simply wanted to use my creativity in a way that would move beyond the defenses of the human heart and change it forever.

"Becoming an artist" isn't something that typically appears on the 10 Things I Want to Be When I Grow Up list. It just doesn't seem to fit within society's demands. It never registered in my brain that the creative things I'd so joyously engaged in as a kid, could actually equate to God's design for my future.

Who along the way has influenced your artistic tendencies?

Sure, the stresses of life can be overwhelming as years tick by and obligations add up. But every time "life" wins a victory-however small- another canvas gets covered up and placed in the back of the closet, another brush gets laid down, another song goes unsung...

Twenty years after the canvas had disappeared into the closet, this mother; wife, cook, veritable taxi driver and friend reclaimed her status as artist. She discovered her spark of passion for painting was not only still there, but that it had welled up into a raging fire.

Expressing Hope Concert

Being a focused Bollywood and Belly Dance group we were very excited that Oriental Fire was invited to be a part of this amazing benefit concert. The catch was we would be performing to a completely different genre of music. It's was a good challenge for us and we thoroughly enjoyed the process.

As a great belly dance blogger was lamenting one time that she felt she lost the inspiration for dance. Sometimes when you feel that you've hit a plateau with the style you regularly perform, switching to something else or taking on a project like this, breathes new life into your choreography and opens the door to new ideas. Since singing is my other passion, it was lovely hearing such great live singing as well.

It was a beautiful event we were so blessed to be a part of.

Backing up Die Dahlings and Marlee van der Merwe

                                                             The incredible acapella group, Navi Redd

With the amazing Bobby van Jaarsveld

Our finale number to 'Hallelujah' sung by Elvis Blue and joined by all the artists

Syncopate- Saturday Night Clips

Just a glimpse of the MANY belly dance schools in South Africa that participated in Syncopate, it's a truly rich and diverse community. Women and children of all ages and sizes just enjoying the beauty of dance. Magnifique!