International Bellydance Conference of Canada

Well, we are here again already. The mixture of stress, excitement and anticipation is the same as last year. There are a few less unknowns but somehow the anxiety has not diminished. This time though, I know the anxiety is worth it. It is worth the incredible experience of passionate discussions in hallways, sweaty workshops, laughter and tears in the seminar room and people learning new dance steps, trade tips and inspirational ideas everywhere, even in the kitchen and bathroom. I feel the goose bumps already.

The combination of featured artists last year blew me away and I thought it would be impossible to top or even equal, but this year the applications for Main Stage and Speaker spots more than doubled from the first year. Our group of adjudicators Denise Mireau, Mayada, Sashar Zarif, Maya Al Samry and I spent many hours deliberating the difficult choices while trying to keep a balance of styles and location origins. We delighted in discovering so many wonderful artists and scholars we were formally not aware of from all corners of the globe.

The combination of characters Tito and my mentor Aida Nour with their glorious infamous smiles will surely set a high energy mood for this conference. We are very excited to have such a unique artist as Amy Sigil to represent Tribal Dance. I am so honoured to have my idol Aisha Ali with us this year. I adore everything about Bozenka and could watch her forever. Two special Canadians blew everyone away on the Main Stage last year resulting in many requests to have them teach this year,so we made it happen with Ferda Bayazit and Nath Keo.
There is a little extra male energy this year so I thought it would be nice to invite a wonderful male/female duet I had the pleasure to discover in Germany a few years back, Mayyadah & Amir. You will love their beautiful artistry together. Unfortunately, Lesya Starr was not able to make it this year to teach (hopefully next time) but we found Bollywood Grooves director Lopa Sarkar to enchant us with Bollywood style dance.

We have some speakers this year we had to bring back because they are the backbone of international Bellydance. The vast knowledge of Shira, Andrea Deagon, Kathleen Fraser, Stavros Stavrou and Lynette Harper can never be tapped enough. My favorite part of the conference is the panel discussions and I can’t wait to hear what people have to say about the four topics this year. Dr. George Sawa and Suleiman Warwar are here again with more on the music front and the specialty classes with Roula Said and Ranya Renee look very interesting. Finally, there are the films. This is actually the most difficult and costly part to coordinate but there is so much valuable and important work to be seen we must try and share this with you.

Jennifer Watkins and Melody Bogin have worked nonstop for this conference since the day after the last conference finished and again they have floored me with their ability to pull it all together. Of course, all Arabesque staff are roped into getting involved especially Yvonne Liu and an army of advisors like the Arabesque dancers and musicians who ask for certain artists and Valizan, our resident Tribal and male Bellydance connection as well as webmaster.
When I started to write this letter, I thought it would end up one paragraph but OMG, a lot is going to happen April 23-27 and I can’t wait. I hope you will be coming to the conference and be part of the magic. I look forward to meeting or seeing you at IBCC.

Love,
Yasmina Ramzy
Artistic Director, International Bellydance Conference of Canada
& Arabesque Dance Company