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“The Opus” of Belly Dancing — Grande Prairie

Laura Beauchamp — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 05:54:06 +0000

It’s been a while since we’ve posted. Our lives have been incredible busy since we moved to Grande Prairie in September 2010. I can’t believe it’s been over 1 year. Our two businesses we started are going great Beauchamp Creative and Beauchamp Photography, we volunteer for the Reel Shorts Film Festival, I belly dance and volunteer to dance at events, Chris does indoor rock climbing, we dable at some skiing and cross country skiing in the winter and I’m thinking Yoga and choir for winter which lies ahead of us.

Here’s a video of what my friend and I like to call “The Opus” of belly dancing. It’s a 6 minute and 40 second dance we performed for the first time at a Christmas Festival called the Festival of Trees in Grande Prairie.

Learn about the symbols of Iranian “Persian” Carpets (Video)

Laura Beauchamp — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:47:06 +0000

In July 2010, Chris and I visited Iran for 3 weeks. While there, we met a man named Abed. I like to describe him as an “Iranian hippie”.

We spent four wonderful days with him in Esfahan, Iran. He shared his mind and style of life with us, taking us to the new, hip parts of town, as well the old historical ones. Above all, he opened our eyes to the history, the unique story and the life behind each and every Iranian “Persian” Carpet. Each carpet has meaning unique to itself. The two broad categories of carpets are City Weave and Nomadic.

In this video, Abed teaches the significance of common symbols found in carpets. The video features the two Nomadic carpets Chris and I bought to commemorate our epic eight month journey and visit to Iran.

Music by Niyaz. Footage by Chris Beauchamp. Video production and editing by Laura Beauchamp.

Please do not reproduce without permission. www.outtheresomewhere.ca

Explore Siem Reap, Cambodia (Video)

Laura Beauchamp — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:52:37 +0000

This is a mixture of video clips and photographs taken during our trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia in August 2010. The creation of the video and the footage was taken by Laura Beauchamp. The featured photographs were taken by Chris Beauchamp.

The video was made using iMovie. Laura was feeling cheesy when she made it so she used the “Photograph Album” video template. She also apologizes for the glitches in the sound, she’s looking into a solution.

Meet Josie, our new niece who lives in London, Ontario

Laura Beauchamp — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:36:36 +0000

Geoff (“Daddy”), Josie and Emily (“Mommy”)

Auntie Laura, Uncle Heath and Josie simply having a ball together being in each others company.

Grandma and Josie.

Geoff (“Daddy”) and Josie enjoying a laugh together.

Auntie Laura practicing her motherly instincts by feeding baby Josie.

Jake, the king of cats.

Josie’s grandma, Margaret enjoying the personalized book from Heath and Lorraine, to Josie.

Uncle Heath feeding hungry Josie.

Geoff (“Daddy”) and Josie enjoying story time with a personalized book from Uncle Heath and Lorraine.

Josie trying to decide if she likes this guy called “Uncle Heath”. He sure likes her!

Josie chillin’ in the back seat of the car.

Emily and Josie, off into the big world for big adventures.

Emily (“Mommy”) with Josie at “Books for Babies”, a program the local library hosts for free!

Josie says, “Thank you, thank you very much.”

No related posts.

Regional Belly Dance Show in Grande Prairie

Laura Beauchamp — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:55:38 +0000

I’m happy to say that our bellydancing performance went well yesterday! The entire theatre sold out, and seven of the seats were filled with my loved ones and friends. It was pretty special for me to look out and see my mother-in-law, two nieces, husband, sister-in-law and two friends.

The entire evening was three hours long. Below is a video of two of the dances my class performed. I’m in the green outfit in the front. Enjoy. –Laura–

Belly dance performed by students of Moondance Shimmy. Teacher and choreographer: Oksana.

The first dance is a Fan Veil dance followed by a Drum dance.

Dancers: Laura Beauchamp, Macia Bell, Linda, Shirene, Deidre, Carrie, Julie, Christina, Shauna and Oksana.

The Gibbon Experience, in Pseudo-HD

Chris Beauchamp — Wed, 18 May 2011 18:46:06 +0000

Some of you may remember the Gibbon Experience from previous posts on the blog.

The Gibbon Experience is a conservation project in northwestern Laos based on eco-tourism. Apparently the local people were hunting the gibbons to extinction before a conservation group helped them to transform that lifestyle into sustainable project.

Tourists who pay for a chance to visit the Bokeo Nature Preserve also get to sleep in tree houses connected by a remarkable zip line network. We went for three days and had a fantastic time.

The project is set up to employ as many locals as possible so as to spread the relative wealth. Although some of the trekking was a bit arduous in the humid jungle, the whole experience was fantastic. Check it out if you’re heading to Laos.

http://www.gibbonexperience.org/

The music in this is by Canadian singer-songwriter Dan Mangan.

http://www.danmanganmusic.com/

The video was edited together quickly using iMovie. Please excuse some of the poor quality shots. This thing was filmed with a small Canon point-and-shoot camera in the sweaty jungle. We were far more concerned with having a good time than getting award-winning cinematography.

Purple Party!

Laura Beauchamp — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 18:00:34 +0000

When I got the invitation to the Purple Party, I asked the same question you’re probably thinking, “What the hell is a purple party?” It’s quite simply actually. The name is telling you exactly what it is. It’s a party where everyone wears as much purple as they can. Then of course all the decorations, drinks and food will be purple as well. In this case, Abby, the host loves purple so the decor of the appartment is actually what inspired the theme of the party. Unfortunately this evening I was more interested in talking and drinking then documenting the decor. However, I did manage to catch a couple shots of some of the lovely purple people that attended.

Laura’s Diary Entry: the bus to Tehran, Iran — June 23, 2010

Laura Beauchamp — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 18:00:35 +0000

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Daily Notes
Pizza lunch for two: 57,000 rials (~$5.70)
($1 US = 10,034 rials)
Bus from Quazvin to Tehran for two: 30,000 rials (~$3.00)

Chris and I got an expensive hotel last night for $66.00. We needed a little western feeling to re-coop and collect ourselves. We had Internet and BBC in the hotel room. It was glorious.

Today we decided to head for Tehran and skip the excursion to the Valley of the Castles. We didn’t have it in us to take a taxi on a winding mountain road for 110 kilometers and them be stuck in a small town. So here I am sitting on a rather hot, packed-full bus bumping along the highway to Tehran.

Northwestern Iran landscape, somewhere between Tabriz and Zanjan.

Hordes of young Iranians were gathered at the bus station. We had to push our way through the crowd to make sure we didn’t keep getting squeezed to the back of the line. A young man who helped us find the right bus to get from Qazvin to Tehran, was already on the bus. Chris and I were unsure about pushing and elbowing too much because we didn’t want to insult anyone. We slightly widened our stance, to keep from being pushed over as we stared longingly at the door of the bus. Seats were running out fast and this was already the second bus in the matter of a few minutes to fill up to the brim. What if the third bus to Tehran didn’t come for a while....or hours? This thought alone made me push and elbow a little more than usual. The heat of the day was hightened by the exhaust of the bus and my headscarf and hot, conservative clothing put me into a bit of “survival of the fittest” mode. Chris and I were going to get on that bus.

Suddenly, the man who helped us find the bus called out and waved. We pushed by a handful of people to get on. The man had saved us two seats. Relief and thankfulness swept over me. As we scooted into the dusty, sand crusted, torn seats, I heard him giggling and taking with his girlfriend and other friends.

In front of me a couple are cuddling and caressing one another. The young man has his arm around the woman’s shoulder. Her head is nestled in the crook of his arm. He gently strokes her face and the part of her hair that is showing. Kitty-corner from me, another young couple is doing the same thing, although I’m convinced they’ve snuck in a few kisses.

The bus is overflowing with hip, young Iranians; the new generation of Iran. Some young ladies have enough make-up on their faces that I could carve my name into it. This outward, public display of affection and western ideal of make-up is surprising to see but it also makes me feel like I could somehow communicate better with the individuals on this bus than the older individuals we’ve met so far in Iran.

Skiing at Powder King in B.C., Canada

Laura Beauchamp — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 17:52:27 +0000

Our good friend (who I also work with) Phil Bell, chillin’ on Powder King. If you’ve never been to the ski hill, I highly recommend it.

Chris and I met Lindsay through Marcia and Phil. She’s an art teacher, and yes you guessed it, she’s super rad. Here she is waiting her turn in the rental shop. This was the first time she was going skiing since she was 9-years old. She did amazing!

Just a glance back down the hill while slowly on the way up.

Marcia and Lindsay eager to get to the top.

We got a good chuckle on the way down when we came across this fake, bloody, arm on the trail. That would be the plaid thing hanging from Lindsay’s face. Hee,hee. Silly ladies. So much fun.

Chris and I enjoying a romantic chairlift ride. I apologize for my turtle face and fake smile. I seem to have trouble not making that face while trying to hold the camera away from us and actually get us in the frame.

Looking sexy after a full-day of skiing.

Marcia and Lindsay enjoying comfy clothes and drinks in the luxurious log house we stayed in that evening. The house belongs to Lindsay’s friends brother. It was the most beautiful log house I’ve ever been in. Thank you so much friends brother!

Here’s the kitchen of the log house. There was a foosball table in the house which occupied and entertained us for hours! Not kidding. We played one-on-one, two-on-two, boys vs girls. Afterwards we enjoyed pasta and wine and slept like babies.

The log house from the outside. We literally had to shovel our way out the next morning. You can see why they call the mountain “Powder King”. I highly recommend skiing at “Powder King”. It was the best snow and powder I’ve ever skied on.

This is the little Echo that got all five of us and our gear the three and a half hours from Grande Prairie to Powder King and back.

Laura’s Diary Entry: in Zanjan — June 19, 2010

Laura Beauchamp — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 21:19:09 +0000

Saturday, June 19, 2010
Daily Notes
Breakfast: 14,000 rials (~$1.40)
Taxi to bus terminal: 20,000 (~$2.00)
Bus tickets from Tabriz to Zanjan: 90,000 (~$9.00), about a 4-hour ride
Hotel in Zanjan: 450,000 (~$45.00) Dinner: 33,000 (~$3.30)

Chris exchanged $300 US at a shop located in what appeared to be a gold souk. The exchange rate was $1 = 10,034 rials.

The bus from Tabriz to Zanjan doesn’t actually pull off the highway into Zanjan. Instead, it pulls over on the side of the highway where a bunch of taxi drivers are waiting to shuttle you off the highway into town. The taxi from the highway took us to another designated taxi area where it was apparent we had to cross the street and find another taxi, a city taxi, to continue.

As we crossed the street somewhat confused, due to the order of things, a lady in her late 20’s recognized our confussion and gestered for us to share a taxi with her. Shrugging our shoulders, “Why not?”, Chris and I got in. In her beginner English she asked us where we were from. After that, conversation pretty much seized for the remainder of our 5-minute ride. She ordered us to get out and insisted on paying for the taxi ride. She then proceeded to walk us to a hotel. When I hesitated to cross the street she smiled and looked at me lovingly like I was a young, innocent child. She grabbed my hand and lead me across the weaving traffic. When we came to the next big intersection she instantly did the same thing. I felt silly being guided by this petite lady who was a foot and half shorter than me, but who’s bravery/experience with road crossing was four feet taller than I. Her name was Meana.