MEISSOUN on the road!'s topics - tribe.net

The official DVD thread :-)

2008-04-29T13:08:34Z

OK, so finally we did it! We finished Bollywood Dance Vol. 2

If you want it:
http://www.meissoun.ch/dlai/bw-videos-e.htm
(scroll down)

A more detailed description and a trailer clip will follow.
Man, I am so relieved! We filmed the material last April - but inbetween there were some months when we couldn't work on it (too much other stuff going on).

Oh, and of course I already have ideas for 2 other DVDs...
But first I have to sell some of these!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 7 replies

Outback - in France

2008-02-11T14:22:32Z

It's not like I always travel to big cities. Sometimes people invite me to small places far out in the country.

Next weekend I'm going to Chatuzange le Goubet. The name says it all :-)
I have a theory that the smaller a place is, the longer the name.
Unterlunkhofen
Oberengstringen
Sankt Jakob am Arlberg

Big cities often have only 2 syllabes
Rome
Paris
London
Hong Kong (hm.... I'd like to go an teach THERE!)

Anyway, I'm sure it's going to be a pleasure. If ony I didn't always have to translate my notes into French...

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 5 replies

When will the DVDs travel?

2007-11-20T07:53:43Z

So, I'm curious. I know that your Bollywood DVD is available on Amazon.de. I've wondered for a while why you don't make it available on Amazon.com too. (and .ca, .fr, .co.uk, etc.) I imagine that there are probably complications, and that Amazon takes a cut, but it would be so great if people searching for, say, bollywood dvds on Amazon.com would find yours among the lot! Why not?

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 2 replies

Me on YouTube

2007-11-15T14:41:37Z

For those who aren't in a place where I will go to in the near future, watch me on YouTube!

http://www.youtube.com/meissoun

I have uploaded quite a bunch of videos and will add more in the future.

Enjoy!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

I wanna go to the States in June 2008!

2007-10-24T14:54:17Z

Dear Americans, next June is going to be HELL in Zurich.
Millions of people will hang around to watch the European football (soccer) cup.
And I don't want to be there when that happens!

Just leaving the country is not an option, I have to leave the CONTINENT!

So I'd either go to Asia or America. And I said to myself: Why not do a little US-tour?
I might even get to see something else of the States than California and Hawai'i :-) Oh, and I wouldn't be totally against going back to Canada either!

The UEFA cup starts on June 7 and goes on for 3 weeks. So this is about the time when I have to escape.

If anybody wants to sponsor me for workshops/shows or knows somebody who would, let me know!

Here's what I teach: http://www.meissoun.ch/e/unterricht-e.htm
And here's how good I am :-) : http://www.meissoun.ch/e/california.htm

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 11 replies

Back to Oslo - October 2007

2007-09-27T21:18:12Z

I haven't even recovered from my last jet lag, and already I am starting to prepare for my next voyage.
But this will be a quicky: 3 days in Oslo, strictly on dance business. After all, there is no surfing in Oslo.... ;-)

If you are a northern light:
http://www.1001natt.com/1001nattMagedansfestival.htm

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

where is this girl?

2007-09-13T20:04:05Z

Hey Meissoun, when will you be in Sandy Eggo, and for how long?
Did David get the package I sent for you?

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 3 replies

August 07 - Vienna with a little extra on the side.

2007-08-16T15:19:06Z

Funny thing happened yesterday: A dancer e-mailed me that she just found out I will be in Vienna this weekend. But to teach Tribal Style and Indo-Arabic.
So, would I like to come to her town (1,5 hours from Vienna) and teach a little extra workshop for Raqs Sharqi there?
Who cares if there are only 6 days left until then - nowadays so many people book workshops in the last minute anyway :-)

Anyway, I have to make sure to pack enough chocolate for this teaching marathon!

The official workshops:
http://www.yesirahtribal.at/workshop.php5

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 1 reply

Update on the second half of 2007

2007-06-30T19:14:28Z

If you think that I haven't been "on the road" as much as last year, you are absolutely right :-)

I actually did limit the amount of workshop dates in the last few months because I needed some air - and right now I am preparing for my Salangai Puja, so I have to spend my practice time on Bharata Natyam and can't really prepare anything else.
Well, there was supposed to be a workshop this weekend in Germany, but unfortunately it got cancelled.
Which is sad, but on the other hand I believe that the Universe (or whatever is out there) is looking after me and decided that it would be better for me to have a free weekend and a little less money :-) instead of being rich and stressed...

I did some workshops around Switzerland recently and it IS less stressful than having to travel far and spend an entire weekend away. But then, this is a small country with limited workshop opportunities.

So! As soon as my Salangai is through, I am going to pack my bags!

Vienna in August!
Hawai'i in September!
Oslo in October!
See? I really make an effort to get into every corner of the world *LOL*

Hope to see some of you there!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 1 reply

Paris, je viens! .... en 2007

2007-02-19T10:38:11Z

I guess, once youv'e made it to Hollywood, you need a new goal *LOL*

Actually, teaching/performing in Paris has been on top of my wish list for at least 2 years. Maybe because I like a challenge? I can tell you, getting into an IAMED show is easier than breaking into the Parisian dance scene!

Well... I've started with the South and East of France and now I am finally heading for PARIS! And apparently even twice next year :-)

First will be on the end of April for workshops organized by http://www.etoiledessables.com/
I'll do a good "something for everybody" mix of Tribal style, shimmies and Bollywood dance. The first and the last are practically unknown there (except for a BW dance teacher who happens to be a private student of mine...).

I'm really looking forward to this, I haven't been in Paris for AGES!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 3 replies

Back to the roots...

2006-12-06T12:21:53Z

Maybe there's somebody out there who can relate?

I have taught workshops all over the world (literally!) and danced in so many countries.

But this is special: on December 16 and 17 I will go an teach workshops in Wil. That's a small town in the East of Switzerland - where I have grown up! I lived and went to school there until I finally moved to Zurich at 20.
And it took me sooo many years to actually go and teach there, that's quite crazy, isn't it?

Maybe there will even be some old friends from school in the classes? That would be fun!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

Hawai'i in September 2007 - and some California too....

2006-11-10T18:27:34Z

My surfer boyfriend and me decided that we needed to go back to the other side of the planet.

I'm working out dates and topics for workshops with Willow Chang, so watch this space, if you live on Oahu and the islands around - I might teach in different places.

And on my way there or back I will also stop over in San Diego some days!

Hah, nothing to cheer up a dark, cold November night like travel plans.... :-)

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

Good Morniiiiiiing Mumbai!

2006-10-23T11:37:17Z

Finally I arrived in THE place - and yes, I already went to the cinema (where one of the actresses says above title every morning in her radio show - If you can guess the film right, you win!).

Check my blog for my adventures and detailed descriptions of what I bought :-)

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 1 reply

MEISSOUN on IAMED's latest DVD!

2006-08-05T06:31:49Z

Don't cry if I am not coming to a place near you soon... You can watch me at home on IAMED's latest performance DVD "Belly Dance Live!" that was shot during the big show at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood in August 2005.

http://www.bellydance.org/shop/product_info.php/products_id/114

I can't wait to watch it :-)

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 4 replies

Wann biste denn mal wieder in Berlin oder Hannover?

2006-08-05T06:26:08Z

Hi Meissoun,

bevor du noch als erste Tänzerin auf dem Mars auftrittst, meine Güte bist du unterwegs, wann sehe ich dich denn mal wieder in Berlin oder Hannover?

Gruß
Helena

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 1 reply

Istanbul and Beirut

2006-06-11T14:34:46Z

I'm on a 2 weeks trip to Istanbul and Beirut, my two favourite places in the Middle East.
Read my blog to see what I am up to here!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 1 reply

Bonjour, la Romandie!

2006-05-19T07:53:01Z

Time to brush up my French! :-)

Actually I have wanted to teach in the French speaking part of Switzerland for quite a while and now that it finally has worked out, I am going to two different towns in a row :-)

Geneva - End of May - Bollywood workshops and shows at Alhambar http://www.alhambar.com/
Lausanne - End of June - Bollywood and Indian Party dance workshops

Fortunately I have somebody to translate most of the workshop notes. The last one I presented my own translation to somebody, she had a good laugh!....

It's already difficult to describe dance movements in your mothertongue, but even more in a foreign language (so far people have been very well behaved about my English choreography scripts....).

A bientôt!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

Finland, here I come!

2006-05-08T07:12:50Z

I always seem to pick the wrong times... How about going to Finland for workshops in NOVEMBER???? Brrrr....

Just as good as when I went to Montréal in February...

But anyway, if you live up there, check out this link http://tribal.fi/
There's practically a workshop for every taste.

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

OriSwiss Festival, March 2006

2006-03-22T18:58:31Z

It was about time for Switzerland to have its own big festival. So that I didn't have to go to Germany for that :-)
Well, it's not that big (what in Switzerland is? excepte the mountains maybe...) because it was the first, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

One of the co-organizers being a well-known German dancers, most performers in the Saturday night show were Germans. We will have to convince her that there are loads of talented Swiss dancers around!
But nevertheless I enjoyed bein able to just sit and watch for a change - it's been some time since I last saw a show from the front side... And there really was a lot of good dancing to see.

I had my turn in the afternoon program on Sunday - and spend the rest of the day chatting to other dancers I met which I always enjoy a lot.
I didn't even buy anything!
But then, my closet is exploding with costumes, so it's better that way.
Here's a short clip of my performance, Bollywood Dance:
www.meissoun.ch/video/ghagra.mov

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 1 reply

On the road? For sure!

2006-03-06T15:14:55Z

Even if there is nothing planned as spectacular as my two USA-tours in 2005, I am "on the road" regularly.
I decided that after all the self-promoting trips it was time to earn a little money for a change!

I'm teaching at least one weekend in Germany every month plus some more in Switzerland. My car can tell you that it's out on the road a lot! :-)

The next time I'll hop on a plane will be in June to go to Istanbul and (hopefully) Beirut for a round of Tango, shopping and taking dance lessons!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

On TV!

2005-12-03T21:29:48Z

OK, I didn't have to travel far for this one... :-)

In case you haven't noticed yet, Bollywood films are a HUGE trend here - and so the culture editors of Swiss TV decided to make a doku about it.

They filmed in one of my recent workshops and did some interviews.
Of course most of the material is NOT in the thing they acutally broadcasted.
But then they also talked to other people (DVD shops, a Swiss film director who plans a film in BW style).

Wanna see and hear me?
http://www.sfdrs.ch/system/frames/highlights/kulturplatz/index.php?/content/highlights/kulturplatz/archiv_sendung.php?docid=20051130

MEISSOUN

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 3 replies

Freiburg / Germany

2005-12-01T22:05:11Z

Trying to catch up with all those things that are happening. Is October - December always such a hectic time for you as it is for me? One show after the other, loads of workshops...

My last was weekend was in Freiburg from Friday night to Sunday. And it was WORK - but fun.
We started out with what people in the US would probably call a hafla. Of course I performed there and I taught a short lesson on Indian Party dancing - and brought some CDs to play afterwards so they could practice what they learned.

Then I taught my biggest Bollywood workshop to date. 30 inscriptions!!! Luckily the room was big enough. There were two Austrians (sister and brother) who had driven the whole day on Friday to come to this workshop (because there isn't anything like this in their corner of the world).

And I taught 7 (!!!) hours on Sunday - cane dance and Indo-Arabic.
The motto was "since you are already here, you might as well work for us!" :-)))

Oh, and I'll be back in February 2006 for more Bollywood dance (of course!).

A good side-effect: I can afford a new computer now :-)))

MEISSOUN

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

Layali Festival in Stockholm, Nov. 2005

2005-11-10T10:21:16Z

It's about time I told you about the Stockholm experience! :-)

I spent 3 days in Stockholm (Nov. 4 - 6) doing basically nothing but
- dance
- sleep
- try to get some food

Thank goodness I had been there before because I saw practically NOTHING of the city itself except from out of the car windows and walking from the theater to the bus station...
I even stayed in a private place that was just 2 min. away from the dance studio!

This time I didn't teach - but that's OK because I had the possibility to take workshops with Amani and Sami Khoury from Lebanon, and that doesn't happen every day!

Instead I performed both on Friday and Saturday.

The Friday show was in a big Lebanese restaurant.
There were a lot of group dances and some solos.
I had the honour to dance as the "star guest" and did a Lebanese style routine - of course!
Amani complimented me on it the day after: "You were amazing yesterday!" *big grin*

There was also a surprise dancer after me, Ali/Alissa who did a Warda parody first and then a really great dance performance.

Then a bunch of us went to another Lebanese restaurant to party (wow, they have so many nice Lebanese restaurants in Stockholm!).

Of course I didn't get much sleep.... But I had enough chocolate with me to take me through the 5 hours of workshops on Saturday.

The gala show was in a very nice old theater. Did my Suheir Zaki and Surf Sharqi numbers there (talk about multiple personalities!) that were well received by the audience.
And I finally got a picture with Amani (see the photo album)!
It was so wonderful to finally see her live!
She's a real professional, be it on stage or in the class room.

This night I insited on going home straight away and SLEEPING. I must have been the most awake person in the whole dance studio on Sunday :-)

Right after the workshop it was already time to drive back to the airport and fly home....

It was a great experience and the Swedish dancers were all very friendly and helpful. Hope to be back there sometimes!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

The IAMED shows in Los Angeles - August 2005

2005-08-29T12:23:17Z

Man, I feel lucky today :-)

I'm performing not only in one but in two IAMED shows!

They will be on August 12 and 13. The Saturday show will be at the Ford Amphitheater. A dream come true for a Lebanese style dancer: performing on a big outdoor stage, just like you see them all the times in the videos!

Friday will be a bit smaller, so I will do my Dina-number (her Tahtill Shibbak choreo) which uses less space ;-)

Here are the details:
http://www.bellydance.org/event.php

And if that's not enough for you - here's what else I will do in LA:
Going to see Suhaila's show on Thursday.
Hang out at the Marrakech on Sunday.

BTW, I won't be teaching that weekend - I'll leave that to Delilah and Aziza :-)

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 2 replies

Workshop in San Diego, August 2005

2005-08-29T12:21:47Z

So, we fixed a date: I will be teaching a workshop for Lebanese style on August 26 at:
http://go.to/yaarajaanstudios

I'm especially glad about this because the owners of the studios, DaVid and Patrisha are both absolutely lovely people!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 2 replies

MEISSOUN in San Diego

2005-08-24T18:47:16Z

And finally! She is here!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies

Workshops and performance in Honolulu, August 2005

2005-07-23T07:50:04Z

I will spend a whole week in Honolulu - we have a great hotel right on Waikiki beach! I will even try to learn surfing!

And of course I will also take the opportunity to teach a bit :-)

August 19 - 21, 2005

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 2 replies

Unterschleissheim - Germany

2005-05-03T10:20:58Z

Hey, ever been to a place called Unterschleissheim? Yeah, it's as exotic as it sounds... Just north of Munich.
And you can bet that this time - as always when I drive there - I will get lost.
And all this just because I want to go and have a look at Isis Basar in Munich first...

But hey, the line up for the show is the TOPS!

Nacht der Zauberfrauen at http://www.nesimah.de/

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 1 reply

La Ciotat - France

2005-04-26T17:01:01Z

OK, OK.... I guess most people on Tribe live in the US. But let's try: Going to Festival des Orients in La Ciotat.
And this time I have my partner in crime with me: Lavanya!

Our motto: "They will love us! The MUST! Because we're the cutest duett there ever was!"

http://festivaldesorients.free.fr/

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 5 replies

Suggestions?

2005-04-20T16:27:25Z

I'm always open to suggestions :-)

Teaching and performing Oriental and Bollywood dance has already brought me to places that I never thought I would go to - so keep them coming!

posted in MEISSOUN on the road! - 0 replies