The weekend before last I completed my JWAAD Teaching course; The Safe Delivery of Belly Dance Classes. I hope to complete the full Teaching Diploma with JWAAD and undertaking this first module has definitely inspired me to continue with determination towards the Diploma.
There was not a single aspect I didn't enjoy about this course. (Ok I lie, the awful karaoke underneath my hotel at 2am was horrible :S) But excusing the bad singing the course was a much needed and wanted stepping stone in my teaching and dance development.
I would highly recommend the course for those already teaching belly dance or those that wish to. It gives you a firm foundational knowledge in the essentials that you need for teaching in general and for specifically teaching belly dance.
The course was really helpful in developing my knowledge of anatomy and physiology, health and safety, professionalism and administration, establishing and catering for technique level and for planning and organising lessons and lesson content.
It has already had an impact on my teaching. I feel more equipped to support my students and develop as a teacher. The feedback from the tutors was extremely valuable and as was their willingness to share their vast experiences and offer considered and appropriate advice.
I have a renewed confidence in my ability as a dancer and teacher and have in general been provided with the support and resources to be able to apply my ideas and utilise my skills and knowledge.
My own dance has taken a back seat this year while I have concentrated on developing as a teacher. A down side in completing the course has been the fact that, for financial and time reasons, I haven't been able to attend other dance workshop and training (No JOY Festival this year, booo!!!) and have felt that I have been distant from the local and surrounding dance community by doing so. I also feel as a consequence my personal development as an individual dancer has remained on a plateau rather than improving. I definitely need to work on reaching a compromise and fix a balance between Rachel the teacher and Rachel the dancer, not solely focus one at a time to the neglect of the other. (Cue the same old excuse, when I'm rich . . . )
I feel it has been worth it though. I have noticed a growth in my confidence in my ability to deliver organised, fun and productive classes and workshops and I have gained a huge amount of new knowledge that I feel will benefit my students.
The feedback that I treasured the most was given after my warm-up assessment. My assessors told me that they really enjoyed my warm up and commented that my love of teaching was obvious and a pleasure to see.
Despite being unable to attend workshops over the summer, on the JWAAD course I did choose to join the JWAAD Personal Development Programme. From the first personal technique assessment and private tuition it was good to have feedback on my dance from a teacher at the top of their game and have personalised feedback on what I need to work at. I did feel really under pressure being assessed and hawk-eyed watched by a dancer I admire so much but the advice was more than worth the moment on panic when asked to perform for her!
I was also pleasantly surprised at my assessed technique level, I was alot higher than I expected to be!
While undertaking the course I also set up a new local belly dance class. It have been a pleasure to teach experienced dancers and complete beginners. The enthusiasm of the students and positive feedback and their obvious enjoyment of the dance has been a real motivator to continue giving them the absolute best of my ability.
Teaching has never been and isn't for me a financial venture or profit making, but belly dance is a joy that I feel privileged to have and share.
I love teaching and I love seeing other women learning and enjoying themselves, relaxing, being creative, taking time out and getting to know themselves. I love that I can give them the opportunity and the tools to learn about their bodies, their sensuality and share both in a friendly, understanding and loving environment.
The last few months have truly re-enforced for me the joy of learning and being able to teach.
Friday 13 September 2013
Thursday 3 January 2013
Dance 3: The Swan Song
I should really have finished this post last year, as it was the last of my 3 dances but I have been so busy I have only just got round to it and it has quite a long story! Here it goes . . .
A story that has always fascinated me is that of the Swan Maiden. I remember reading the story in a book of welsh myths and legends when I was younger. I couldn't say exactly what it is about the story that fascinates me but the story I know is briefly as follows:
Last year I attended a few story telling events 'Tales and Veils' In Shrewsbury and a welsh tales event at a the smallest welsh folklore museum at Eagles Meadow, Wrexham. They rekindled my love of myths and legends and re affirmed my love of story telling.
During and after these events I considered how much dance has the potential to be like story telling; to take someone on an adventure and engage their senses, emotions and imagination.
I then decided that I would like to interpret, in dance form, a story that meant alot to me.
So I came back to the Swan Maiden
I had almost given up searching for a song that picked on the theme of release from emotional and physical captivity (that i connected to and could dance to) when I remembered a song I had downloaded a while ago while searched for a music for a fusion veil piece. The song is aptly named 'The Swan Song' and is by Within Temptation.
The song although not strictly about the swan maiden, explores the same theme of the release, freedom and often peace that comes from the end of life or the end of stage in life.
Supposedly a swan is said to never sing until its last day, when it sings its own death song and dies immediately afterwards.
It is a fascinating mixture and saddness and joy
Here are the lyrics
I tried to keep the choreography loose in the dance and leave time for improvisation, as the song explored freedom I wanted my dance to be free also. This was a little bit scary for me, I'm still scared of going blank while improvising and it can therefore be tempting to always fall back on the safety net of choregraphy, but practice makes perfect so improvise it was :)
Again this dance really summed up another aspect of my personal life journey of last year (2012). And it did help myself personally in sharing my emotions and feelings about the darkness and light that comes from endings and change. In the deep dark depths of pain and loss we find ourselves standing still for a moment looking at ourselves stark naked and seeing sometimes for the first time, or sometimes it is a much needed return, and considering who we really are, what we are really feeling and what we really need.
Here is a (not so good) video of my dance peformed at Azhara, Wellington in September '12:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswdcrtXhPQ
And thank you everyone on the costume compliments, it was one of the most difficult outfits I have done and I did try to make it look swan- like, not an Angel but ah well :D
A story that has always fascinated me is that of the Swan Maiden. I remember reading the story in a book of welsh myths and legends when I was younger. I couldn't say exactly what it is about the story that fascinates me but the story I know is briefly as follows:
The Swan Maiden shape shifts from a swan to human form. In one tale the swan maiden meets a young man and they fall in love. Her steals her magic robe so that she cannot become a swan again and fly away. They then marry and have children. Constricted by her human form and unhappy that she cannot return to her natural state she steals back her cloak, and leaves her human form forever, flying away to freedom and her true self.
Last year I attended a few story telling events 'Tales and Veils' In Shrewsbury and a welsh tales event at a the smallest welsh folklore museum at Eagles Meadow, Wrexham. They rekindled my love of myths and legends and re affirmed my love of story telling.
During and after these events I considered how much dance has the potential to be like story telling; to take someone on an adventure and engage their senses, emotions and imagination.
I then decided that I would like to interpret, in dance form, a story that meant alot to me.
So I came back to the Swan Maiden
I had almost given up searching for a song that picked on the theme of release from emotional and physical captivity (that i connected to and could dance to) when I remembered a song I had downloaded a while ago while searched for a music for a fusion veil piece. The song is aptly named 'The Swan Song' and is by Within Temptation.
The song although not strictly about the swan maiden, explores the same theme of the release, freedom and often peace that comes from the end of life or the end of stage in life.
Supposedly a swan is said to never sing until its last day, when it sings its own death song and dies immediately afterwards.
It is a fascinating mixture and saddness and joy
Here are the lyrics
Winter has come for me, can't carry on.
The Chains to my life are strong but soon they'll be gone.
I'll spread my wings one more time.
[Chorus:]
Is it a dream?
All the ones I have loved calling out my name.
The sun warms my face.
All the days of my life, I see them passing me by.
In my heart I know I can let go.
In the end I will find some peace inside.
New wings are growing tonight.
[Chorus]
As I am soaring I'm one with the wind.
I am longing to see you again, it's been so long.
We will be together again.
The Chains to my life are strong but soon they'll be gone.
I'll spread my wings one more time.
[Chorus:]
Is it a dream?
All the ones I have loved calling out my name.
The sun warms my face.
All the days of my life, I see them passing me by.
In my heart I know I can let go.
In the end I will find some peace inside.
New wings are growing tonight.
[Chorus]
As I am soaring I'm one with the wind.
I am longing to see you again, it's been so long.
We will be together again.
I tried to keep the choreography loose in the dance and leave time for improvisation, as the song explored freedom I wanted my dance to be free also. This was a little bit scary for me, I'm still scared of going blank while improvising and it can therefore be tempting to always fall back on the safety net of choregraphy, but practice makes perfect so improvise it was :)
Again this dance really summed up another aspect of my personal life journey of last year (2012). And it did help myself personally in sharing my emotions and feelings about the darkness and light that comes from endings and change. In the deep dark depths of pain and loss we find ourselves standing still for a moment looking at ourselves stark naked and seeing sometimes for the first time, or sometimes it is a much needed return, and considering who we really are, what we are really feeling and what we really need.
Here is a (not so good) video of my dance peformed at Azhara, Wellington in September '12:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uswdcrtXhPQ
And thank you everyone on the costume compliments, it was one of the most difficult outfits I have done and I did try to make it look swan- like, not an Angel but ah well :D
Sunday 21 October 2012
Dance 2: Baladi
Again, this dance was inspired by a particular piece of music and a workshop.
The dance began last year. I attended a workshop at JOY in October 2011 with Diana Tarkan. The workshop was titled 'Beloved Baladi' and aimed to explore the beauty of traditional baladi. During the workshop I was very moved and felt a deep connection to a piece of music she used from her own C.D for the workshop. The workshop explored different combinations of moves and how they could be used with varying speeds, positioning/angles, and levels to express certain emotions and feelings. After the workshop I bought her C.D determined that I would return to the song and choreograph a dance to it. At the time however my life was too hectic and find I couldn't find enough peace nor time for me to even dance. I can see now that not dancing is unhealthy and truely suffocating but at the time it was sacrifice I chose to make. Therefore, the dance and music were, not forgotten, but pushed to the back of my mind.
A few months later I had one of the worst experiences of my life. Although its was a time of suffering and pain, for me it was also a time of renewal and strengthening. Dance in particular, as well as my faith and friends brought me peace. I returned to the song baladi from the workshop determined to channel my emotions and feelings into the dance and creativity express them. So I drew from my life experiences at the time to choreography a dance that explored the literal progression of music and used it as a tool to reflect my personal emotional progression, from heart break to celebration of life.
The dance is therefore about loss, heart break, hurt and pain but also about hope, trust, faith, inner peace and thankfulness
It was a dance of healing, choreographed through my months of healing, that re-affirmed the value and importance of dance in my life.
Picture, taken by Katherine Soutar-Caddick at Judee Tee's Oriental Prom Hafla in Shrewsbury on 30th July, of me performing 'Baladi'.
The dance began last year. I attended a workshop at JOY in October 2011 with Diana Tarkan. The workshop was titled 'Beloved Baladi' and aimed to explore the beauty of traditional baladi. During the workshop I was very moved and felt a deep connection to a piece of music she used from her own C.D for the workshop. The workshop explored different combinations of moves and how they could be used with varying speeds, positioning/angles, and levels to express certain emotions and feelings. After the workshop I bought her C.D determined that I would return to the song and choreograph a dance to it. At the time however my life was too hectic and find I couldn't find enough peace nor time for me to even dance. I can see now that not dancing is unhealthy and truely suffocating but at the time it was sacrifice I chose to make. Therefore, the dance and music were, not forgotten, but pushed to the back of my mind.
A few months later I had one of the worst experiences of my life. Although its was a time of suffering and pain, for me it was also a time of renewal and strengthening. Dance in particular, as well as my faith and friends brought me peace. I returned to the song baladi from the workshop determined to channel my emotions and feelings into the dance and creativity express them. So I drew from my life experiences at the time to choreography a dance that explored the literal progression of music and used it as a tool to reflect my personal emotional progression, from heart break to celebration of life.
The dance is therefore about loss, heart break, hurt and pain but also about hope, trust, faith, inner peace and thankfulness
It was a dance of healing, choreographed through my months of healing, that re-affirmed the value and importance of dance in my life.
Picture, taken by Katherine Soutar-Caddick at Judee Tee's Oriental Prom Hafla in Shrewsbury on 30th July, of me performing 'Baladi'.
And here is the youtube link for my performance of the dance at Lindsey Soloman's hafla in Morda 20th October 2012
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Feeling the sensual aspect of an emotion connects us to it and helps us express it and integrate it into our experience. When laughing, feel it in your belly. When sad, cry and feel the sorrow in your chest. When angered, connect with the volcano inside before it erupts. Not only does this help us feel other emotions, it also gives us back control over our actions that come from emotional responses."
~Emotions in Dance article issue #15
Wednesday 26 September 2012
3 is a magic number
The process of trying to be more me in my dances has led me to create three choreographies over this year.
The first was medieval themed and explored the archetype 'maiden'.
The second was a baladi piece
The third (yet to be performed) explores what is called a 'swan's song'.
These three choreographies have challenged and rewarded me in different ways. I hope to share my thoughts and reflections on these three dances and through them my dance journey over the last year.
Dance 1: The Maiden
This dance was inspired by a workshop given by Pauline Qu on 31st March '12 (http://www.britishtribalstyle.com/). Organised by Azhara Dance (http://azhara.weebly.com/) the workshop involved an exploration of several peformance archetypes; Maiden, Temptress, Diva and Wise Woman. The workshop encouraged participants to 'let down [their] inhibitions and allow [their] inner persona to shine through'.
After exploring the four archetypes I found myself wanting to be the wise woman; she is the woman I aspire to; I was indimidated by the seductress; my body could be her but not my mind, and I was unsure about how to be a diva. I found the Maiden the most comfortable archetype.
At that point in time in my life my responses were not surprising to myself, the maiden was a comforting retreat and a safe persona to enact and the positivity of innocence was very appealing.
I felt that it would help my personal healing at that time to get in touch with this part of myself that I was drawn to. I hoped she would help me approach my dance and life with a new, fresh, positive and lighthearted outlook.
After the workshop, and when I had decided I wanted to choreography a dance based on the maiden, I returned to the workshop notes.
They said:
'MAIDEN - Air
Keywords: Innocence, lightness, flighty, airy, joy, shyness, coyness
Focus: Outward, upward, seeking, discovering, open hearted
Caze: Clear straight gaze, open smile, daydream
Motivation: The love of dance, the love of life, joyful expression of youth and the promise of the future
Body Centre: Upper Body, Lifting Arms, open body language'
This was my starting point for the dance. I began by dancing like a maiden to lots of different pieces of music and exploring the characteristics. This part did involve prancing around the garden singing to flowers and birds, which i could quite happily spend most of my time doing! (Snow white was my inspiration here ;-) One dance and song in particular stood out in my mind as a great example of 'maidenly' dancing; the scene from Severn Brides for Severn Brothers where the girls are dancing around the bedroom dreaming about getting married: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faQHDd1KEwg
(Anyone fancy re-eancting this song at a hafla with me?? hahaha!)
I also had an event and music in mind;
3 months later Mel Jones was hosting a Games of Thrones hafla. Although a pure fantasy theme, It seemed the perfect context in which I could a explore a 'medieval' themed dance. My academic study of medival history and learning belly dance are to great loves in my life and I have always been tempted to incorporate elements of medieval history into my dance.
However I did have to take into consideration that it could not be authentic (having studied medieval history at University I tried not to be too serious about authenticty, I would have gone bonkers and had to write an essay justitifying my dance otherwise!)
In the end the only near authentic part of my dance was the medieval music (based on a piece of music written in 15th century France but played with modern reproductions of medieval intrustments and played by modern musicians). In respect for medieval history I cannot claim that it was in any way a medieval dance rather a medieval inspired dance influenced more by fantasy than fact.
My outfit owes a big thank you to Rita Williamson (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ruabellydancer/) for amazingly putting into reality the dress I had in mind and creating the following outfit (picture to follow at later date) from descriptions and very badly drawn diagrams (Included below just for you to laugh at!)
----------------------
The end result was thus:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DGh3ibpiiw&feature=plcp
The picture is not clear due to low lighting but I hope it is clear enough to see the dance :)
---------------------------------------------------
I really enjoyed the performance and dancing The Maiden helped combat some performance nerves as approaching my performance and dance itself with her pure joy of life, love and laughter and innocence was liberating and alot of fun.
Perhaps In the future I will try to explore the other archetypes in my dance, when those parts of me want to be expressed and explored :)
The first was medieval themed and explored the archetype 'maiden'.
The second was a baladi piece
The third (yet to be performed) explores what is called a 'swan's song'.
These three choreographies have challenged and rewarded me in different ways. I hope to share my thoughts and reflections on these three dances and through them my dance journey over the last year.
Dance 1: The Maiden
This dance was inspired by a workshop given by Pauline Qu on 31st March '12 (http://www.britishtribalstyle.com/). Organised by Azhara Dance (http://azhara.weebly.com/) the workshop involved an exploration of several peformance archetypes; Maiden, Temptress, Diva and Wise Woman. The workshop encouraged participants to 'let down [their] inhibitions and allow [their] inner persona to shine through'.
After exploring the four archetypes I found myself wanting to be the wise woman; she is the woman I aspire to; I was indimidated by the seductress; my body could be her but not my mind, and I was unsure about how to be a diva. I found the Maiden the most comfortable archetype.
At that point in time in my life my responses were not surprising to myself, the maiden was a comforting retreat and a safe persona to enact and the positivity of innocence was very appealing.
I felt that it would help my personal healing at that time to get in touch with this part of myself that I was drawn to. I hoped she would help me approach my dance and life with a new, fresh, positive and lighthearted outlook.
After the workshop, and when I had decided I wanted to choreography a dance based on the maiden, I returned to the workshop notes.
They said:
'MAIDEN - Air
Keywords: Innocence, lightness, flighty, airy, joy, shyness, coyness
Focus: Outward, upward, seeking, discovering, open hearted
Caze: Clear straight gaze, open smile, daydream
Motivation: The love of dance, the love of life, joyful expression of youth and the promise of the future
Body Centre: Upper Body, Lifting Arms, open body language'
This was my starting point for the dance. I began by dancing like a maiden to lots of different pieces of music and exploring the characteristics. This part did involve prancing around the garden singing to flowers and birds, which i could quite happily spend most of my time doing! (Snow white was my inspiration here ;-) One dance and song in particular stood out in my mind as a great example of 'maidenly' dancing; the scene from Severn Brides for Severn Brothers where the girls are dancing around the bedroom dreaming about getting married: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faQHDd1KEwg
(Anyone fancy re-eancting this song at a hafla with me?? hahaha!)
I also had an event and music in mind;
3 months later Mel Jones was hosting a Games of Thrones hafla. Although a pure fantasy theme, It seemed the perfect context in which I could a explore a 'medieval' themed dance. My academic study of medival history and learning belly dance are to great loves in my life and I have always been tempted to incorporate elements of medieval history into my dance.
However I did have to take into consideration that it could not be authentic (having studied medieval history at University I tried not to be too serious about authenticty, I would have gone bonkers and had to write an essay justitifying my dance otherwise!)
In the end the only near authentic part of my dance was the medieval music (based on a piece of music written in 15th century France but played with modern reproductions of medieval intrustments and played by modern musicians). In respect for medieval history I cannot claim that it was in any way a medieval dance rather a medieval inspired dance influenced more by fantasy than fact.
My outfit owes a big thank you to Rita Williamson (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/ruabellydancer/) for amazingly putting into reality the dress I had in mind and creating the following outfit (picture to follow at later date) from descriptions and very badly drawn diagrams (Included below just for you to laugh at!)
----------------------
The end result was thus:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DGh3ibpiiw&feature=plcp
The picture is not clear due to low lighting but I hope it is clear enough to see the dance :)
---------------------------------------------------
I really enjoyed the performance and dancing The Maiden helped combat some performance nerves as approaching my performance and dance itself with her pure joy of life, love and laughter and innocence was liberating and alot of fun.
Perhaps In the future I will try to explore the other archetypes in my dance, when those parts of me want to be expressed and explored :)
Saturday 4 August 2012
Be brave, pinch a bit of courage and be me
I have been trying to motivate myself to begin my dancer’s
blog for a few months now and have put it off due to not knowing how to start.
I have always found in my studies that the title and the first line are always
the hardest part of an essay, very much like a dance!
However having just returned from Lorna of Cairo’s workshops
in Manchester crammed full of inspiration I feel that I MUST now start to my
blog just to share some of Lorna’s wisdom.
Firstly I must say a thank you to her for giving me a much
needed four hours of fun and being such an inspirational person. I feel blessed
to be a part of the belly dancing community in that I am always surrounded by
female role models that are courageous, strong, tremendously giving and follow
their hearts.
-------------------------------
Lorna’s second workshop:
Make it Masri – What is
that makes someone’s dance style ‘Egyptian’?
Lorna answered this question with the following answer:
What makes Egyptian dance Egyptian –> YOU
What a wake up call!
A bit of scary one to be honest! – no
chance of hiding behind those hip drops now.
Lorna emphasised the importance of not just stringing a few
moves together that we have seen someone else perform, nor should we attempt to
perform our repetitive class drills. Rather
she encouraged us to reach deep down inside and connect with the music, presenting
what we felt and appreciate the usefulness of utilising our own personality and
intuition. Most importantly she asked us to allow ourselves to be FREE. The
workshop reminded me that I need to be able to trust myself enough to let go of
fear for a little while and be free to be me.
I probably spend far
too many hours on you tube drooling over Randa, Dina, camellia, thinking oh I
wish I could be like then! Thank you Lorna for reminding me that I am not them,
that I have something unique to contribute to belly dance and that’s me, my emotions,
feelings and personal creative expression.
Lorna talked about how we uniquely express a song/piece of
music and she beautifully illustrated it by comparing dance to ‘language’. We all
learn the same words, the punctuation, the sounds, but how we piece it
together, how we express and speak the words is unique to us.
We are so used to ourselves speaking that it can be easy to
forget that our voice and the way we put words together and present them is unique.
Wouldn’t it be nice to also get used to dancing like ‘Rachel’
so that it becomes second nature just like talking?
It would certainly make improvising a lot easier, it I knew
what to expect of myself, could establish where my strengths lie and what I
wanted to get across and have the confidence just to give.
-----------------------------
The workshop has re-enforced my ‘dance aim’ for this year:
To explore dancing from my heart, not my head.
I have been taking a step back again to look at my own dancing
and get to know it better; really search who I am, what I have to give and try
to be more of myself in my dancing. It has been more of a challenge than I
thought but also rewarding in that I have been able to share and channel my
feelings creatively within a supportive and understanding community.
The next few blogs will look at several dances that I have
been working on this year and share my progress on being Rachel!
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