*NEW* Basic MED at TTDI Community Centre May 4, 2009

Starting from 9th June, there will be *NEW* Basic Class opened at TTDI Community Centre for the ladies who would love to get their hands (hips!) on Middle Eastern Dance (MED)/Belly Dancing. Details are as below:

Time and day: 10.30-11.30am every Tuesday
Venue: Recreation Room, TTDI Community Centre
Teacher: Suzi
Package: RM80 for 4 sessions
Drop In: RM25

Package is Limited to first 10 7 spots only!

Grab this great deal quick. To book for your spot please e-mail to elwardadance@gmail.com with your name and contact details!

Thank you Hijabtrendz! March 2, 2009

For the past 3 weeks, Hijabtrendz, a lifestyle blog dedicated to the modern hijabi  has been featuring me and my belly dancing journey on their website. Mariam Sobh, the founder of Hijabtrendz has been so kind and helpful throughout the process.

Do check them out here!

The first part is Belly Dancing: An introduction

The second part is Belly Dancing: Naziehah’s story

The third part is Belly Dancing: So you wanna learn?

While you are at it, do check out the whole website! It has really cool sections such as Marvelous Mama, Pop Culture Hijabi, and Health and Wellness section where yours truly is featured, thanks again Mariam and Hijabtrendz!

Fill that gap December 23, 2008

Trading Tuesday: Fill that Gap

One of the true purposes of entrepreneur is to ‘fill that gap’. In a market there’s always an unfilled demand. No one consumer is alike so chances are there are many consumer’s need that are not fulfilled by the existing market. Especially now, when consumers are becoming more sophisticated, more discerning – the opportunities are opening left, right and everywhere!

For example, in my Elwarda Dance business, I am filling the gap of the need for fun and gentle exercise for women. Since Middle Eastern Dance/Belly Dancing is a low-impact exercise, women with low level of fitness and women of all ages can easily enjoy the acitivity. When I taught  in a gym/fitness centres before, I saw that  most of the classes were mainly geared to the young and fit. Therefore, by me offering a Middle Eastern Dance/Belly dancing class to women, I am fulfilling the need for fun and low impact exercise for women.

Another gap is the all-women class. Some women are shy to work out in a mixed-gender gym. Therefore, there’s a gap – a need to have an all women exercise class. I also filled that gap by teaching an all-women class only!

Another gap is the need for privacy and exclusivity. Some women learn best one-to-one, and they need a personal attention which they can’t get in a group class. Therefore, I started a Personal 1-1 session at my home to fulfill this need.

There’s actually a few more gaps that I filled in operating my Elwarda Dance business. But I am thinking you already get my drift

Whatever business that you are in, or if you feel like starting a business, but you do not have any idea what to do  – think about those gaps. And go fill them up!

Elwarda Dance: 50% off Drop In in December! November 4, 2008

You know how you will always be rewarded for taking action quickly? Hear this!

If you plan to learn Middle Eastern Dance/Belly Dancing in 2009, I have got great news for you!

In this coming December (next month), I will give 50% off for all Drop In for my Saturday session 4.30pm-5.30pm at Living Arts Studio, Mentari Court, Sunway. The normal Drop In price is RM35. Only for the month of December, it is RM17!! (I give further 50 cents discount )

Drop In is pay per class scheme. It is great for those who wants to experience belly dancing session for the first time. This will give you a great start to your Belly Dancing Journey in 2009!

Ask your friends, sisters, mothers, daughters to come and join us this December. Experience for yourself the the wonderful mesmerising movements of Middle Eastern Dance!

To book your place please e-mail elwardadance@gmail.com.

See you in December!

soften your fingers ladies (in one of our session in Ara Damansara)

Also, do visit Elwarda Dance blog for more info.

p/s: The Belly Dancing session is for ladies only.

Dance-lah! October 24, 2008

It’s been awhile since I last post an entry about dancing/Middle Eastern Dance and it’s kind. I do want to, but everytime there’s always something else I want to write about – more. (if you don’t know it already, I love to write and have limitless materials to write about)

The ability to dance, for me is one of the greatest gift that I am always thankful for. When a person can move their hand in graceful manner, it means all your muscles from big to small are healthy and functioning. To be able to shift your body weight from one leg to the other, and to twirl and turn, it means you have healthy and normal balancing capability and focus. Your whole body is breathing and working and functioning gloriously!

Whenever I dance, and I teach my students, I always asked them to ‘be aware’ of their body. So often we went by our everyday life without thinking or being aware of our body. Of our fingers, our toes, our legs, our arms. Dancing allows me to be completely aware of them, what they are doing, how do I move them, what do I do with them?

Middle Eastern Dance or belly dancing especially. Since the dance focus a lot on isolation (which means to move only one part of body and keeping all other body part still), it requires complete mental focus and bodily ability to separate the movement.

For example, the ribcage circle. When one does the rib circle, one has to only move the rib cage (upper body) in circle without moving the hip (lower body). So if you can imagine a whole body -head still, rib cage move in circle, tummy still, hip still, leg still. There you go!

It is so much fun learning how to do all these! I still remember when I first started learning and I am just blown away at how amazing it is to learn that you are able to move your body in so many ways, in so many directions, and at so many varying levels and intensity.

If you are a woman (I only teach women), and are interested to learn to do amazing movements with your very own body – check out my Elwarda Dance blog and do e-mail me

Come on, lets dance-lah!

(picture of me and my students in Nur magazine Jan 2008)

Teach me to fish: Passion and Flair 2 June 12, 2008

Flair

Now you can also use your Flair to start up something. What is Flair?

Flair is something that you are naturally good at. What is it that you found so easy to do? What is it that you found almost natural to you?

You can easily detect this from your childhood experience. Are you the type that found math so ‘kacang goreng’ you don’t know why the teacher keep going over the concept of substraction? Are you the type that loves history and reading about the facts? Are you the type that is on the field most of the time playing all sorts of sports you can get your hands on?  Are you the one that jumps to any opportunity to act/sing/dance on stage?

Find some connection and correlation to what you are good at, used to be good at. And apply it to the present time. Now.

For example, if you are good at maths, you could perhaps do a part-time tuitioning. Teaching Maths to students who need the help. I am one of the people who need Math tuition. Of all subjects in school, Math is the subject that I need to go to tuition. On the other hand, Big Z used to be Math tutor because he is very good at it. He found immense satisfaction in sharing his expertise with students.

If you are good at accounting and tax, you can offer your service to people who does not know how to do their own tax (hint: me!). In fact, you can also offer your service to do the accounting for small start-ups. Small businesses always made the mistake of not keeping tab of their finance, simply because they know nothing about accounting and profit and loss and balance sheet. You have no idea how valuable you are to these people.

For me, since I have flair in belly dancing, I helped people through my teaching of the dance. There’s many women who wants to learn, but are just too shy to join the gym, or mixed-gender clubs – so they went to me! Some of them might feel they are too old, or too young, or too unfit, or for whatever reasons that made them feel more comfortable with me than the other people. I am just so happy to be able to share with them my knowledge and skills. It gave me undescribable feeling, to be able to reach out to women, and helped them through something that I am naturally good at.

 In coming series, I’ll give more ideas how to turn your flair into something more meaningful and profitable!

Copyright © Naziehah 2008

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Image 1 from here

Image 2 from here

 

Teach me to fish: Passion and Flair – My Story June 12, 2008

My story of finding my passion is a long and winded one. Witnessed by my parent, my siblings, some of my friends, mostly by my husband, Big Z.

I did a degree in accounting and finance. Absolutely terrible at it, it’s a miracle I graduated at all. I knew from the very beginning, I will never ever be working in the industry.

So I set off on a path of finding my passion.

I tried beading. I am always a bit of a crafy person, so maybe I can be a jewellery-maker! I bought the supplies, I bought a few beads, I took a class with a very good friend and extremely talented hand-made jewellery maker, Murni. I had loads of fun creating my own jewellery, I made a bunch of them. Guess what, after I made my 100th earrings, my hand started to cramp, my back is aching, and I am starting to lose interest. I already told my family and a few of my friends, I want to be a jewelry-maker and sell my jewelry! Very malu you know..but what to do. It is just not for me.

I then dabbled in the spa industry. Also, this time around, a lot of people knew about it. I took a course, I worked part-time in a spa, I read spa, drink spa, breathe spa. I wanted to buy an existing spa business, went through the whole process, didn’t get through. I even attempt at starting a spa business from scratch, went through the whole process, didn’t get through. Needless to say, a lot of time and energy and money were invested into this. Again, after much deliberation and thinking and soul-searching, I found out that I actually like going to spa more than building a spa business! Ehehe. I know it sounds funny now, but it is so heart-wrenching, gut-twisting not to mention soul-crushing to find out that in the end, it’s not what I want to do. I even went through a short phase of depression, so I knew all too well about the hardship of finding your passion and yourself.

I tried being a painter. I bought a few art supplies and is now gathering dust in my cupboard.

I tried being a unit trust consultant, an insurance agent, an MLM agent – you name it, I have tried at all.

I can go on and on and on, of the hundred thousand things I have tried. You can verify all the stories with Big Z. He is my witness and my loyal supporter through my whole finding-my-passion phase.

Difficult as it was, those experience were the ones that I cherished the most. It made me a better person, wiser and more ’street’. Since I dipped my feet and get dirty in a lot of areas, I know how things work in practical level in many different industries. Along the way I also picked up many valuable contacts, skills, and life-lessons that served me very well now.

I have now found my true passion. Yes, one of it is belly dancing. And I am grateful everyday that I am able to do what I love while also helping other women to become happier and healthier through the dance. There’s also a few other passion that I will let you know as we go along the series.

Copyright © Naziehah 2008

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Image 1 from here

Image 2 from here