holmes on homes

It's certainly been awhile since I've posted anything under the "belly" category of yummy belly. But with spring around the corner, our studio's gig calendar is starting to fill up. We kicked off this year again with the Burlington Women's Show, where local businesses geared towards women set up booths and tables at the Tansley Woods Community Centre for a day of shopping, beauty secrets, fitness tips, and best of all, free food and cocktails! Last year's show was my first ever performance as part of a BellyUp troupe. At the time, I was still part of the student troupe, and I can't believe how much I've progressed in just one year... to the point where I've taught classes at the studio, do gigs on my own, and sometimes get paid for them too! I still have a long way to go in honing my technique and style, but I feel great about where I'm at so far.

goofing off at the BellyUp booth

The show was just as fun as it was last year. Besides getting to dance for a receptive crowd of fellow women, my favourite part of course was wandering around between sets and booth duty to try out all the food and drink! (I know this was supposed to be a "belly" post but the "yummy" part of yummy belly simply can't be ignored!) I nibbled on sliders, pad thai, grilled shrimp wrapped in bacon, lobster & crab cakes, caramel corn, and chocolate cake just to name a few things. They were all sample-sized servings but with so many things to try, it was easy to get full! I also tried martinis, Caesars, wine and other cocktails... all sample-sized too of course, so there was no getting inebriated :P

we do our little turns on the catwalk

There were also onstage recipe and mixology demonstrations by Jeremy Parsons (who apparently does segments on tv as CHCH Morning Live's "Entertaiment Guru"). As he demo'd, servers went among the audience with trays of samples. I was able to try his ginger-cranberry jam on pork, a yummy smoothie with banana and Kahlua, and an easy but decadent dessert that was simply slices of puff pastry topped with chocolate ganache and slivered almonds. Mmm!

Ninang Marion is in the crowd!

All in all, it was a fun day. The show is always great promotion for the studio too, with many women who take our brochures and flyers and end up enrolling for classes!

We did another event with good exposure just this past weekend. It was a fundraiser at Philthy McNasty's for an Oakville girl with a genetic connective tissue disorder. She could only receive specialized treatment in the States, so the event was to raise money for her treatment and for awareness of children with chronic pain disorders. We do a lot of fundraising events like this (like the breast cancer and WELNepal events I posted about before), but this one got quite a bit of local media attention because of special guest Mike Holmes of Holmes on Homes! LOL.

c'mon, who wouldn't want to be Mike Holmes at that moment?

After doing our numbers we got him up and dancing with us, he was quite a good sport about it. He may or may not have gravitated towards me and told me I was the best dancer. LOL! Of course, he told me not to tell the others, so keep it a secret k... *Mike Holmes sooo has a crush on me* hahaha! Obviously I'm more likely to have an eye on his son (he was there also), he was pretty darn cute but was accompanied by what appeared to be a girlfriend :P

his tool belt would have accentuated his shimmy!

Anyway, fun event! CHCH cameras were there, and there was another "celebrity appearance" after we left by Pinball Clemons. More importantly, Montfort was passing around samples of babaganoush and hummus with pita (there goes the "yummy" again)!

love our costume colours together!

So far, a good kickoff to bellydance in 2011, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year! We've been working on some really great choreographies in class and I can't wait til they're ready to perform :)