The International Bellydance Congress and the launch of the H.M.S Cecil!

I've been meaning to write a post about the Congress for a week now, but before I go into that, I'm going to inform you of a slight change of plan.
I've been meaning to create a bellydance 'stuff' only blog for a while, so I've decided to keep this blog as it is, but only post stuff about bellydancing, eg. dvd reviews, info etc. Sooo, my new blog is going to be used for all my other stuff, but I'd appreciate it if you read both ^^ Also, if you know any bellydancers, it would be great to have more people to read this blog ^^ For updates about Cecil's random life, please go to:
http://theadventuresofsailorcecil.blogspot.com
Yay! Ok, now we can move onto the congress:

Saturday:
It's probably impossible to explain how ridiculously excited I was when we arrived. Seriously. No, srsly. Anyway, the queue to register didn't actually take as long as we were worried it was gonna (registration opened at 12, first workshop at one, about 1000 bellydancers attending the weekend to register etc etc.(...I use etc. too much...and these dots, I forget the name for them)), but we were done by about 12.15pm, which left 45mins to have a drink and try to quell my excitment before the first workshop: LST Signature moves with Les Soeurs Tribales.
LST are a trio of italian tribal bellydancers who are covered in tattoos, in the most awesome way possible. The one who spoke the most english sat at the front and translated what the others were saying. Another danced in the little patch of flooring in the middle of all the carpet and demonstrated moves, and the other stood towards the back, so that when we danced facing the back, we could watch her for what to do next. The workshop was great fun; we were taught combos that they as a group use, then we practiced using them in improvisation. Tribal bellydance is always done with at least one other person (as our translator put it; you can't be a tribe by yourself) and is all improvised. You follow a leader (the dancer in the front) and depending what little cues she does (a certain hand position, or a "yip!"), you all dance in near perfect synchronicity. Hard to begin with, but easier and lots of fun as we went on.
Next, we were going to go to another workshop, but I wasn't particularly interested and I managed to sufficiently distract my mum with the prospect of shopping.
Aw man, I don't even want to think about the shopping too much, cos it makes me wish I'd taken advantage of all the great stuff and spent more money. Baisically, there were three different shopping areas. In the first day, we spent...lets just say a lot. There was sooo much stuff for class wear and performance wear, casual wear and awesome props! But yes, must not think about it!.
After going back to our hotel to shower and change etc, we went back to the congress for the evening show. Of course, it didn't start at 7pm, but it definatly made up for it! The first show was put together by one of the women who had organsied the congress and who runs a bellydance company, which also provides qualified teachers to the masses. The theme of the show was elements, and in the first half we had water and earth, and in the second, air and fire. All 4 included different bellydance styles and performances by soloists and small groups.
After the main show, there was a smaller, tribal show. This was amazing and included tribal improv., tribal fusion, gothic bellydance and a performace with fan veils by Les Soeurs Tribales. There were a couple of intervals between the dances, in which a dj played fusion tracks and people were invited to dance. We didn't. Well, a few did, including what was obviously part of a Tribe who had all gone to the congress together. As I said before, tribal is all improvised, and upcoming combos are displayed through the use of subtle cues. It was amazing to watch, as every time I looked up, another member of the tribe got up from the table they were sitting at, and immediatly fell into sync with the other dancers. And I don't mean hesitating for a moment, stumbling and trying to follow what the leader is doing, I mean instantly falling into step with the rest of the tribe. I really wish that I'd gone up to them afterwards (or at the numerous other opportunities I had) to tell them how great I thought their dancing was and how seemless they were.
Anyway, to prevent boring you to death straight away with an account of teh whole weekend (and also cos I need to go shower before I go out...(omg there they are again!!!)), I've decided to write about the congress in three parts, a day in each. Part Deux shall be posted tomorrow (...possibly).
Sayonara!
(If you find any spelling errors, I'm sorry, I'm just feeling particularly lazy atm >< (=^.^=))