Isn’t it funny how sometimes we appear to have all the time in the world, and can sneak snacks and naps into our schedules, and other times we seem to be flat out from dawn to dusk for weeks on end. Then, just as we are about to crawl into a hole to die in peace and quiet, things ease off again. This last month has been one of those busy times for me. It culminated in a very enjoyable but terribly busy week that is now drawing to a close.

Keti Sharif

Last weekend was a highlight. Keti Sharif, one of the movers and shakers of the Australian belly dance scene, held a three-day workshop at Margaret River. I joined seven keen dancers, including several other mature ladies, in an intensive timetable that involved up to five or six hours dancing a day. That’s rather a lot of exercise for a dancer in her seventies, but I stayed on my feet and, of course, learnt a lot.

Keti Sharif has devised a training system called A-Z. She has created a graded series of twenty-six short routines, and by the time the student has mastered all of them she will have a pretty good idea of the basics of the dance style. I am nowhere near mastery, but Keti gave me a tick for the first five routines. I sort-of stumbled through the others.

At my age, memory is problem. Because of my earlier dance training, I don’t find it hard to pick up new steps, but remembering to do them in a set order is, shall we say, a bit of a challenge. However, I am not easily discouraged and I plan to go to another workshop with Keti mid-year. You can learn more about Keti and her work at http://www.ketisharif.com/

Of course, I got home to find three-hundred-odd emails waiting for attention. Having an interest in conservation and human rights (among other things!) I get a lot of emails from political and charitable concerns. As a rule I do like to read their news, but even being a bit ruthless, it took me a couple of days to catch up on the backlog because more were coming in all the time. By the end of the third day I felt as though I was drowning in a sea of pixels. Add a few appointments and a couple of very enjoyable social outings and you have an exhausting week to look back on.

Next weekend is Shakespeare's birthday, and today we have a rehearsal for an extract from A Midsummer Night's Dream that committee members of the Shakespeare Club of WA are preparing to present at the club's party. Then, maybe, this busy period will be over. I'll let you know in the next post!