Dancing in the dark - Sol y Sombra

Hi everyone, it has been a busy week last week as I danced in two sections of the Bunbury Eisteddfod with my dance group - Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company and School of Dance. 
We were awarded first place in both our sections. 

Here are  a few photos....though none taken by me :) 

Wednesday - Over 25s theatrical style troupe -  dancing to Ricky Martin's la Copa de la Vida - a fun dance

my daughter in law and me

And Saturday night -   the flamenco dance Bulerias in the "Any age dance - National Troupe". This dance has no music, just keeping the rhythm and timing with clapping (palmas) and footwork. A more serious and precision dance. 

We just love these colourful sparkly shawls which were simply wrapped around our black leotard and black flamenco skirts.  And of course, add flowers and sparkly ear-rings!

These are all back stage photos as unfortunately they do not allow photos to be taken of the performances. 

That is our teacher and choreographer, Nicole, second from the left. 
I am 4th from left. 

 And our second teacher, wardrobe mistress and makeup artist - Susie, first on left.

 A huge thank you to my flamenco family and to Delia Dillon, our newest dance company member, for these images. All phone photos - I love the editing she has done on this last image. 

I've been a part of Sol y Sombra since 2012 after my daughter-in-law invited me to join. In 2015 we held our 25th anniversary celebration. I blogged about it here Ole - Celebration of 25 years of flamenco
 
Learning flamenco has been both daunting but wonderful too being with this amazing, kind, generous, talented and supportive group of ladies and our one male, Peter. 
I thank them all for their support and encouragement over the years. Flamenco is certainly not the easiest dance form to learn. And I didn't go to dance classes when I was young. I wish I had found flamenco in my 20s or 30s, not my 50s! 

Any form of dancing is great for exercise, co-ordination, memory, balance, timing, confidence, and personal growth being put out of your comfort zone when we perform on stage. And it is fun!

Do you dance? Perhaps you would like to tell us about it in your comments. Never think you are too old to start. My dance teacher also teaches an adult ballet class.  If this old bird, me, can learn, so can you!

 Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf

Our World Tuesday

Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity.

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

September days

This past week seems to have flown by, with a burst of winter weather, a flower designers show, bush walking, meetings, an artist talk, supporting a friend at a fund-raising event, editing a couple of stories, a flamenco dance workshop, spending time with grandchildren, and not forgetting lunch with friends. 

So for this week, I thought I would take the pressure off myself, and just share a few pics.

Here is the rain. We are in spring, but this past few days we have had three rain fronts cross the coast. We are not complaining as the farmers need the rain, but you wouldn't have wanted to be out boating. 

Ole - a celebration of 25 years of Flamenco in south west regional Western Australia

In 2012  I started lessons in Flamenco encouraged by my daughter-in-law who had been a member of Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company and School of Dance for over 10 years. 

On Saturday night, 12 September, I was privileged to be a part - both as dancer and photographer - of "Ole" a celebration of 25 years of Flamenco dancing in regional south west Western Australia.

The Eliot Street Bar in Bunbury was transformed into a Spanish Taverna when Bunbury’s Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company celebrated 25 years of local South West flamenco dancing bringing the heat and passion of Spain alive to a packed and very appreciative audience.

Weekends of art and dance

I have had two lovely weekends of art and dance and another one on the way next weekend.

A couple of weekends ago I was involved with Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company & School of Dance (of who I am a member) when they performed flamenco dancing and held portrait poses for a life drawing afternoon at Jacksons Drawing Supplies in Busselton on Sunday as part of the Margaret River Regional Open Studios arts program. 
We were made very welcome - it was a wonderful event - and everyone, dancers, artists and photographers thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon.
Many of the artists took photos during the performance so they can draw or paint pictures later.

I am updating Sol-y-Sombra's facebook page, so I took lots of photos, and then joined in for the last two dances.  Here is their Facebook link if you would like to take a look - Sol-y-Sombra on Facebook

This is our beautiful principal dancer and teacher Nicole performing an amazing dance with castanets.  

  To keep reading and see more pics, please click on "read more" .....

Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company

Last year I  started Spanish Flamenco dance lessons at the Sol y Sombra Spanish Company & School of Dance - a group of dancers with ages ranging from early 30s to 70 who love to dance. On Saturday night, along with other cultural groups, we performed at the free family concert at the Bunbury Multicultural Festival (Western Australia). The Multicultural group is a wonderful supporter for people of other nationalities coming to live and work in our city and the night is a fabulous evening of entertainment which showcases the diverse multi-cultural environment in which we live.  I love hearing the music and seeing the dances of other nationalities.

I danced in one of the three dances that Sol y Sombra performed. It was my first full scale public performance. Flamenco is certainly not easy to learn and I sincerely thank the ladies and gent at Sol y Sombra for their amazing support to me as a newbie dancer. Sol y Sombra put on a fantastic  performance of three different types of Flamenco styles which were well received by the crowd.                               'Fantastico'

When I was a child I wished I could go to ballet and tap classes like my friend Anna. And now many years later I am going to dance classes. Sometimes it takes a while to get the things you wish for.
Here we are at dance class in the dance room at the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery - 

Below are two mosaics of images from rehearsal last week when we were practising on the stage where we performed - that is my teacher Nicole in the second set of images. And yes Pete does dress up for the performance. The red lace skirts and gold collars are stunning. 

All these images were taken with manual settings on my camera - another new skill I have just started to learn!

Below is an image from Saturday night. When my teacher saw the pic on Facebook she asked me how I managed to get a camera on stage. LOL. This pic was taken during the first dance which I wasn't a part of - the Overture from Carmen - very dramatic. I was sitting on stage as one of the "cafe" people stage props. Tricky to get a snap when you are trying to not be noticed doing so!

And a quote from Ruth Tearle - 

"Harmony is about being with people who play your kind of tune".

Have you taking up a new skill this past year? Do you like to dance? 
Thank you for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little look into dance practise. I look forward to hearing from you.

I am linking up to Mosaic Monday and Our World Tuesday and Travel Photo Thursday - please click on the links to see the wonderful work of other contributors

Have a wonderful week. 

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