About Me

My photo
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
I am based in Perth, Western Australia. You might enjoy my books - The Dagger of Dresnia, the first book of the Talismans Trilogy, is available at all good online book shops as is Book two, The Cloak of Challiver. Book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. I trained in piano and singing at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. I also trained in dance (Scully-Borovansky, WAAPA) and drama (NIDA). Since 1987 I have been writing reviews of performances in all genres for a variety of publications, including Music Maker, ArtsWest, Dance Australia, The Australian and others. Now semi-retired, I still write occasionally for the ArtsHub website.

My books

The first two books of my trilogy, The Talismans, (The Dagger of Dresnia, and book two, The Cloak of Challiver) are available in e-book format from Smashwords, Amazon and other online sellers. Book three of the trilogy, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation.I also have a short story, 'La Belle Dame', in print - see Mythic Resonance below - as well as well as a few poems in various places. The best way to contact me is via Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/satimaflavell

Buy The Talismans

The first two books of The Talismans trilogy were published by Satalyte Publications, which, sadly, has gone out of business. However, The Dagger of Dresnia and The Cloak of Challiver are available as ebooks on the usual book-selling websites, and book three, The Seer of Syland, is in preparation. The easiest way to contact me is via Facebook.

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Dagger of Dresnia

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans

The Cloak of Challiver, Book two of The Talismans
Available as an e-book on Amazon and other online booksellers.

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance

Mythic Resonance is an excellent anthology that includes my short story 'La Belle Dame', together with great stories from Alan Baxter, Donna Maree Hanson, Sue Burstynski, Nike Sulway and nine more fantastic authors! Just $US3.99 from Amazon. Got a Kindle? Check out Mythic Resonance.

Follow me on Twitter

Share a link on Twitter

My Blog List

Blog Archive

Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Manchester, UK

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Gippsland, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Geelong, Australia

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've lived: Tamworth, NSW

Places I've Lived - Sydney

Places I've Lived - Sydney
Sydney Conservatorium - my old school

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've lived: Auckland, NZ

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier

Places I've Lived: Mount Gambier
Blue Lake

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've lived: Adelaide, SA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day

Places I've Lived: Perth by Day
From Kings Park

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: High View, WV

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Lynton, Devon, UK

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Braemar, Scotland

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've lived: Barre, MA, USA

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night

Places I've Lived: Perth by Night
From Kings Park

Inner Peace Blog

Inner Peace Blog
Awarded by Joanna Fay. Click on the image to visit her lovely website!

Versatile Blogger Award

Versatile Blogger Award
Awarded by Kim Falconer. Click on the pic to check out her Quantum Astrology blog!

Fabulous Blog Award

Fabulous Blog Award
Awarded by Kathryn Warner. Click on the pic to check out her Edward II blog!

Search This Blog
Monday, 1 June 2015

What a Weekend!

Monday, June 01, 2015 | Posted by Satima Flavell



I'm just coming down from one of the high points of my year – WAMED, Western Australia's annual Middle Eastern Dance Festival. Dancers and instructors came from as far away as Wales and Canada to participate, and they were well-supported by excellent local presenters.

Belly dancing might sound like a strange interest for a septuagenarian, but it holds a longstanding position in my life's journey. I've been belly dancing, on and off, since I was about twenty years old. In those days, I was in the 'ballet' at a King's Cross nightclub. We opened the show wearing the classic showgirl outfit of upstanding tail feathers and diamanté bras, and closed it with the can-can, complete with high kicks and frilly undergarments. Between shows, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, I would sneak out to double as a belly dancer at various pubs and clubs around the suburbs. It paid about twenty pounds a time, which doesn't sound much by today's standards, but it was well over a week's wages for a tradesman and was about as much as I earned weekly from my regular 'tits'n'feathers' gig at the nightclub. Of course, a lot of it went on taxi fares and costumes, but I was still ahead at the end of the night.

There were some excellent evening performances at WAMED, and they were only part of the festival. For three days, we were spoilt for choice as the four-stream timetable offered us goodies as varied as How to Decorate Costumes and Dancing to Quanoon. (There was a lovely little bonus from Laziza and Hassan in the form of a booklet delineating the various rhythms of belly dance music and the styles they typify.) Some of my favourite moments were found in the teaching and performances of Phynia, who dances in a style very like the one I learnt as a young woman. Even her choice of music was similar.

Oh, and quanoon? Yes, all right, I’ll enlighten you! Wikipedia tells us that the kanun (Arabic: قانون‎, qānūn, pl. qawānīn; Greek: κανονάκι, kanonaki; Armenian: քանոն, k’anon; Persian: قانون‎, qānūn; Azerbaijani: qanun; Turkish: kanun) is a string instrument played in much of the Middle East, Central Asia, and southeastern Europe. And here’s the pic to prove it:



This is ‘the first 79-tone Turkish kanun designed by Ozan Yarman - based on the 79 Moment of Symmetry out of 159-tone equal divisions of the octave tuning by the said author. Implementation of Wittner brand type 901 String Adjusters to the right is the author's’- courtesy of Wikipedia


As well as quanoon player Mohamed Lelo, we also had the services of an excellent drummer, Jamal Zraika, together with Emad Nasir on violin. These three gentlemen helped to lend the event a truly professional air.


The weekend was arranged by the founder of the WAMED festival, Keti Sharif, and it featured several mature dancers, including Belyssa Radzivanas, the doyenne of the WA belly-dance scene. We are very fortunate to have such enthusiastic and knowledgeable people here in Perth. Long may WAMED continue to flourish!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great weekend. I love watching belly dancing but I've never done it. Good for you keeping on with it. It sounds as if you've led an interesting life!

Monday, June 01, 2015
Satima Flavell said...

Sure have, Robin. I'm fond of telling people that I'm the only person I know who's been both a ballet teacher and a pig farmer. (Not both at once, though!)

Monday, June 01, 2015
Louise Reynolds said...

Great post. And what an interesting person you are, Satima!I keep learning new things about you.

Tuesday, June 02, 2015
Satima Flavell said...

I could bore folks to death with stories about my life, Louise. It sure has been an amazing ride so far! :-)

Tuesday, June 02, 2015
Post a Comment
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...