Here it comes! The secret I've been dying to tell everyone!

So, last night I finally went public. I had an interview lined up with the local paper today and had been given permission to tell them what was happening. I really didn't want my friends and bellydance colleagues to find out from the press before I told them myself, so last night at London's Bellydance Trophies competition I said the words I've been dying to say for two years now...

"In the next few days I will be signing a contract with a major Hollywood film studio who will be making a film based on my life story!"

Yes. Really!

I can't quite believe it myself, although I've had a long time to get used to the idea. The plan is that it will be a classic British film, telling the story of me and my students, and the classes I used to run in my tiny village in Kent. They are billing it as the next Calendar Girls, but edgier. And of course with lots of bellydancing!

If the film is a success, then they will make a West End show of it. A West End bellydance show! How amazing is that??

We are hoping to have some of the great British actresses starring in the film, so hopefully I'll be teaching some of my favourite actresses to bellydance some day soon! And I really hope I get the chance to choreograph the dancing in the film too - they've certainly promised I will.

I hope I'll be able to tell the story of how it all happened in this blog sometime, but basically this is what my Project Lift Off is all about. When they started to talk about a West End show, I realised that bellydance isn't geared up for the West End stage - our dance was developed for small scale environments like restaurants and nightclubs. The big stage needs bigger movements because tiny vibration shimmies and lovely internalized mayas will be lost across a big auditorium. We need our work to be seen all the way back in the upper circle!

And if the stage show does indeed get commissioned, we need to be ready with lots of amazing bellydancers! Capable of doing anything that a choreographer wants to throw at them! And if we are to dance night after night on a big stage, we need tough dance training - to make sure we are strong, fit and flexible. We need to do the sort of dance conditioning that other dance forms do, but that has tended to get missed in bellydance.

I've got at least three years to get UK dancers prepared for what I hope will be an unbelievably exciting opportunity. Something that will put bellydance on the map. Something that will hopefully raise the profile of bellydance internationally. And something that could be a major milestone in the history of bellydance.

Whatever happens, it should be one amazingly exciting journey!!

If you want to find out more about Project Lift Off, I explain a bit about it on my website here. If you want to join in, the next two courses start on Sunday - details here. One is a four week choreography course, the other is based on combinations so you can just try a class out without committing to a full course.

I'll tell the story of how it all happened very soon. It has all been quite magical - for everyone involved.

I also want to say a massive 'thank you' to my students and a few very special friends, who have known about this story for a while, but didn't tell! Thank you for keeping my secret. It meant a lot to me to be able to confide in you when I was just bursting to tell the world but couldn't!