Hi Devi! You are very pretty and feminine in your moves, I would love to see a contrast, maybe a BIG hip circle, BIG punch to accent music... something to think about!

Very good usage of veil. Nice let goes, retrievals, and wraps. The shake out of veil in beginning reminded me of doing laundry, but otherwise beautiful. I'd slow down the arms a bit more and slow down the tucks and untucks of the veil. Try to make tucks (both removing and adding) inconspicuous.
Dancing slow is hard. Captivating the audience is most important. Sometimes with slow music, as a dancer, we can get lost in our own emotions and forget that we are entertaining a crowd of people. Keep a little more focused on the audience. Finishing off a number like that with a fast drum sounds exciting.
Good luck competing!

This post was deleted by GibsonPearl

This post was deleted by GibsonPearl

My first comment is you are hitting your accents before the music hits. This is a common problem with choreography or when someone has worked with the same music for al ong time - you start to pre-anticipate. Since you are probably doing either or both of those things, try to pay extra attention to waiting for the music.
My other comment is that some of your accents are a little small. In the section with the shimmies & accents around 1:53 - it's hard to tell the difference betwen your shimmies and your hip bump. On a big stage like Rakassah (or in a competition on a stage), you need to make your accents more visible. Maybe step out with your hip bump?

Overall I loved watching your dance. This is one of my favorite pieces of music and it is such a pleasure to watch you dance to it. The musical segment starting at 2:15 was one of my favorite sections. You have a very nice smile as you dance to this. Other good points - you use the stage well and danced to all parts of the audience.

In the segment after that (around 3 minutes), there is a strong baladi beat but you don't work it as much as I think you could - work this beledi section and make it different than the other musical sections, have some contrast here. You are dancing to it like it's a malfouf.

Veil - you know the initial pose you take with it around your head - It is fine but I would suggest studying in Aziza's veil video, she talks about a clever way to spin into that pose (she calls it "the burrito") I think that would add even more dramatic impact. I would also dramatize the section where you are getting your veil out of your hips and then unrolling it in front of you. Why not make that part of your dance rather than just looking like you are getting out your prop. Your veilwork is beautiful - I love those spins with the veil in one hand. And I know from owning one of those veils that it's difficult to maek them behave so I am extra in awe. LOVE the section starting around 5:13 with those juicy accents andundulations.

What a beautiful piece!

I am a huuuuge fan of slowing down with dance and you do that just beautifully. However, to be honest - I felt your dance could be made more dynamic by dancing to those strong accents. Alf Leyla really requires some "meat and bones". As has been mentioned, some nice big hip circles would look nice... you could toss some in right at the beginning. While it's very effective to cover stage space on your intro, I wouldn't turn away just yet here...bang - right up to one corner of the stage - bang to the left corner and back to centre. Really show 'em you're HERE, yanno?

Your piece was beautiful, but you have a constant, calm essence to your dancing. While I particularly enjoy that style of dance the best, tossing in a few dynamics will keep your audience on the edges of their seats wondering what you are going to do next.

As for the veil, I'd say less posing and more dancing...

Overall, I really enjoyed it. Certainly a performance I'd have stopped to sit and enjoy.
Good luck with the competition!