Oslo travel blog!

Hello again,

As promised, a short update on my recent dance trip to Oslo, Norway.

Oslo <3

I have been invited by Siri Ydstie (and her sister Catherine!) to teach and perform at her studio 'Oslo Magedansstudio' for five times now, and each time it has been a delight.

Norway is a special place to me dance-wise, as it was one of the first countries where I got to travel for teaching a full weekend of workshops back in 2010.

2010 - Lookit my bangs! :)

Posing with Siri backstage

We worked quite hard that weekend

Although I was fairly nervous about teaching a full weekend for the first time and traveling by land instead of by air, thanks to Mr/Ms Eyjafjallajökul creating flight schedule mayhem all over northern Europe that week, I absolutely loved it.

Thanks, bro.

Since then I've been lucky enough to have traveled there (and other places!) for teaching again 4 more times, and it always feels like 'home' to me.

Case in point - Check out my 'wigged out' mini cameo with bonus ad hoc Zaar finale at last year's 1001nattfestival, starting at about 5:35 in an Aziza inspired Shimmysista's drumsolo duet - This was all unplanned, or rather 'planned on the day' :)

This year my visit was quite impromptu, as the official 1001nattfestival is taking place in November instead of April, yet an International Dance Day weekend can of course not go undanced.

Siri's current studio is located right in the heart of Oslo centre (Rosenkrantzgt 8), and the city is quite easy to travel to from Europe, so be sure to check out her festival (or any of the bellydance and hula studio courses offered at the studio) if you can. 

There are direct KLM flights to Norway from Amsterdam Airport, and flybussen.no offers a affordable, yet comfy 40-minute coach ride with free wifi(!) from Oslo Airport Gardemoen to different locations in Oslo city centre every 20 minutes.

A view of Oslo from the sky

Anyhow, back to the current visit :)

I was lucky enough to be able to teach 4 different workshops at the studio this time, as well as perform at the Saturday evening hafla. The weather was a bit crazy that week (snow and sunshine in April!) but not too cold.

2016: Lovely on- and backstage memories

The topics of the workshops were: Performance Tips and Tricks, Oriental/Raqs Sharki choreo, Conditioning and Drills and Drumsolo Choreo.

Check out some of the post-class pictures here:

Some 'give and take' at the Performance Tips workshop

Oriental choreo mayhem - expressing our inner souls in dance :)

Sunday Conditioning and Drills - I absolutely adored this class!
I'll be creating a DVD/Online class series based on this topic this surmmer.

Drumsolo choreo - with feelings!

3D drumsolo finale shot - with thanks to Maikki for the awesome picure

I also got to meet up and hang out a bit (while enjoying post-dance noms at Habibi.no) with the lovely Ingunn and Tina (aka the Ladies of the North) of Alta - Two beautiful dancers and warmhearted souls <3 They performed a fantastic Khaleegy duet at the hafla, and I loved Ingunns Bollywood dance at the studio party to bits.

I have known Ingunn since 2009 (I think :)) and she is one of my favorite persons in dance. Check out the Alta bellydance/yoga/bollywood studio website here!

Backstage in the dark

On top of that I was also lucky enough to catch up again (finally!) with my awesomest Norwegian dance sister (and co-dance-philosopher) Maikki of Norway.

Maikki is a gorgeous performer and teacher specialising in Baladi and Reda style, who currently teaches at Helene Skaugen's Studio Orient in Norway.

Maikki The Great

She will be hosting a Baladi Camp (!) with live music by Guy Shalom this year. Be sure to check it (and her!) out if you can!

Soo.. that's it! Stay tuned on this blog for some more articles soon, including travel tips for dancers,  a folow-up on the 'how I got pain-free' series, information about new upcoming DVD/Online class releases, and more.

Until next time,

xx K.
www.khalidadance.com


PS: For a beautiful article by Farida Fahmy herself on the origins of the Reda troupe, as well as tons of fantastic blog posts on Egyptian dance and dance history, check out this: http://www.faridafahmy.com/history.html and all of this: http://faridafahmy.com/articles.html

PSPS: Also do be sure to check out Maikki's excellent interview with Joana Saahira on the topic of TARAB here.