Candid Report on Teaching My First Class

You can buy the above gorgeous art by Martha League Here.


Well, guys, here is a story.
I used to go to camp every year as a teen. I loved it, and there was a group of "elders" ( people in their mid twenties), who took us. They were there for us, we cried with them, played games with them, they prepared all of our meals, and the whole experience was, well, great. Then I turned 19 and was too old to go as a teen, so they asked me to go as an "elder".
   It was disorienting, being on the other side of things. Not bad,just weird switching roles. It took some time for me to get used to it.
     This is how teaching my first bellydance class went last night. It was strange. Not bad, just weird being "on the other side of the classroom".
    It was odd watching 8 strained faces trying to imitate what I was doing. You gotta understand that for 13 years ( this year it will be the magic 13), of being a student, I am now a teacher. I have been the one giving the bewildered looks, now I am the one watching them being given. Weird. I am sort of still digesting it.

      The structure of the class went well, I was uber-prepared. I had handouts, playlists for warm up, dance circle, straight beledi, and cool down. I got there early, I had all of my ducks in a row.
I started the class by introducing myself, explaining a bit about bellydance, cabaret in particular, and then PUSHING Basic Bellydance Posture.

    
   As a student you are one person looking at one person ( the teacher, and you really don't pay attention too much to the other students). As a teacher you are looking at ( and trying to evaluate) bunches of people at once. I know I cannot in any way help the way people feel, but I do try to evaluate where people are in terms of comfort level. I think that is the basic responsibility of any teacher. But it was challenging to try to maintain a status quo, when I knew that Student A was having a much harder time than Student B, who seemed o.k., while Student C was barely keeping up, and Student D looked like they wanted to bolt for the door. I think you need to have a lesson plan, but then be ready to scrap/re-tool it based on the status quo of the students. I think you have to sort of have a medium level of where everyone is at, and base what you do on that. This was my very first time doing this and it was interesting. I have never taught dance ( just a bit of bellyrobics, and a few witchcraft classes), and trying to gauge and then evaluate at a moments notice, was, well, an experience.
    After my introduction we learned snake hips/reversed, and then figure 8 hips/ reversed. Then we did hands. I knew hands would be easy and accessible to everyone and a nice empowering way to end the class.

      Things I learned....

1. I underestimated how hard this would be for people. I have been doing this for so long I forgot that this kind of movement is completely different than anything most women have ever done. We warmed up super well, and I made them stay tucked, but I KNOW those ladies are gonna be soreeeeeee today. They also looked really challenged by the move,so I question that maybe I should have started with something easier.

2. I am really good at this. I am always looking ahead and trying to be better, without really gauging where I am, and a room full of beginners will make any bellydancer feel like they are the Queen, but starting at the beginning again is a good measurement of exactly where you are as a dancer. I am always trying to be better, but never taking stock of where I am. Teaching the basics helped me see the journey, from the beginning. Like a graduate looking back at what it felt like to be a freshman.

3. If the students looked like they were struggling it made me feel bad. Not for myself but, I don't want anyone to feel bad. I know this is completely unrealistic, and people are going to feel the way they feel, but in my happy- flower- rainbow-world everyone loves everything all of the time, and no one feels bad. I guess the only thing I can do is explain the hell out of everything, and encourage encourage encourage.

4. My goal of wanting to inspire them seemed to work. At the end when we were "playing" with our hands, there was one woman who was clearly having a good time. When I pointed at her and said "you got it, girl", she said " I am just expressing". ( this taken from my speech at the beginning of the class about wanting to help them have another means of expression-dance).

5. I am decent at explaining things, but that doesn't account for muscle memory. Someone who plays tennis for a living could be fabulous at telling me how to play, but since I have never played, I would probably still suck pretty bad at it until my muscles figured out how to do it.

6. I had an almost overwhelming respect for each woman that walked in the door. Not only because it was a butt-ass freezing cold January night, when most of us would rather be on the sofa, but for trying something new. Trying something new is always a little scary, especially something kind of intimidating like bellydance.

So all in all it was a good experience. I know that I will probably learn more than I teach, and of that I am glad.
    Even though I have a clear direction I want to go with the classes, I appreciate any advice or insight any teachers want to offer.

An Ode to Bellydance Husbands

 

 I think bellydance husbands have to be the most patient, most understanding lot on the face of the earth. I often hear Kis talk about her "shiny-jingly-appreciative husband", and the YIP Podcast duo recently talked about husbands and hiding bellydance purchases from them ( not in their case), but it gave me a laugh nonetheless. A while ago Naima told of her husband often asking her what she is thinking about ( and she always says bellydance), and my husband, well, he is nothing short of a saint.
     Today hubby and I were watching Julie/Julia and I loved how supportive Julia Child's husband was. He was so into what Julia was doing; you could tell that it was out of love for her, and the fact that cooking obviously gave her so much pleasure, that it became his pleasure in a way, too.
   Bellydance husbands often become back-door connoisseurs without trying to be. They aren't invested in bellydance, and other than our involvement, they could probably care less..... so their perspective becomes unbiased. I will never forget the day I realized that my beloved payed attention. Not in the way that I can tell an Egyptian shimmy from a hip shimmy,but in the way he saw the big picture. The day that we left our first Hafla down here (four hours south) I was mentally bawlking at how different cabaret bellydance was done here, but didn't want him to subject him to a conversation he either wouldn't care about/or couldn't keep up with. As I walked in silence to the car, he surprised me when he broke the silence and somewhat timidly remarked," man, bellydance really is different down here isn't it? ". He, with his untrained eye, could tell the difference and that little thing made me realize that he was paying attention. Despite the normal stuff, hauling equipment, watching the kids so I can go to workshops, etc, and everything else bellydance husbands do, it was really cool that he wasn't tuning out, or thinking about what his fantasy football team was doing during the hafla. ( well, maybe a little).
  I don't subject him to my constant mental bellydance- flavored diatribe, but he is my guinea pig. I try out new dances, new costumes, new ideas on him. If I find a really great/terrible performance on YouTube I ask him to watch it. He will very sweetly tear himself away from the Spurs game long enough to watch, and Goddess love him, he tries.
     .......and he, like bellydance husbands the world over, busts in on me practicing, and "bellydances". It is funny everytime he does it.
     He knows I care so he cares, and what more could you ask for in a partner? 

    So here is a goofy Ode to the Bellydance Husbands of the World, Goddess bless you all.

                   Satin, cymbals and Frankincense,
                   I am sure to you it doesn't make sense.

                  You go to shows and listen to our songs,
                   You glance at the clock and think" I hope it won't be too long",

                  You watch our choreographies till you could puke,
                   You see enough gold coins to adorn a Duke.

                   You put up with it all, with a smile and inner sighs,
                   Thinking later how great it will be between our ( yes I am going to say it)...thighs,

                   But post-hafla sex aside,
                    we really couldn't abide
                    our all consuming hobby
                    Without you standing in the lobby
                     Waiting for us to finish
                      and get re-dressed,

           Oh, bellydance husbands, you are the best!



BOY, I can't believe I even put that out into the blogging world.....I guess you guys now know what a big dork I am. :) 

And bellydance boyfriends, you rock too.                  

The Happy Drunk Reviews: Meaning in Movement, Dancing with Musicality,Texture and Nuance

Teachers teach technique. Dancers have to learn how to be dancers on their own. ( a teacher can guide but it is a different journey with each person). Technique is tangible and really is about the body. Dancing comes from the heart, the energy, the being. So when a DVD comes out that attempts to teach you how to be a dancer, when everything else out there is teaching technique, you have to get your mind in the right place to watch it.
Meaning in Movement:Dancing with Musicality, Texture and Nuance by Alimah is just that DVD. At first while watching this DVD all I could think was "this is wierd, this is wierd, this is weird"......even sweet little Nadira Jamal comes at teaching Improvisation ( Improvisational Toolkit Volume 1)  (a dancer's skill), in an ABC 123 way compared to Alimah. If Nadira is a beat poet then Alimah is the artist wearing full blue body paint while juggling pizzas to the soundtrack of baby cries. With relatively few ( I can think of TWO) DVD's out there not teaching technique, and attempting to teach what really is a personal journey, I expected to be coddled a bit. Nope. Alimah jumps right in there with bold creative imagery and no excuses. She LOVES to tell us that our hands are schools of fish, and you can tell by the way that she looks at them and moves them that she believes it too. Personally, she seemed to me like she'd be a very exciting and interesting person to be around, her energy is contagious.

Maybe it is just the mood I am in ( I have been dealing with my snowed in, bored out of their skull and fighting with each other kids all week), but I found this DVD a little overwhelming. Wonderful, but one that you need to be in the right mindset for.
       There are brilliant and I mean brilliant ideas about setting tone in your dance ( pretending to be wearing different types of dresses and how you would dance if wearing a red slinky dress as opposed to a flouncy white eyelet), and I loved her different arm movement descriptions" slipping on a dress, gathering, pushing, etc".
     As far as her dance style she reminded me a lot of Sandra. While I can appreciate Sandra as a great dancer, her style does not appeal to me.... so if you buy this for the 8 and yes, I said 8 different combos, maybe watch a YouTube of her dancing first to see if her style is one that you want to imitate/learn from.( which I recommend for any DVD). If you buy this for the multitude of ways to bring....well, all kinds of different things to your dance and could give two shits about the combos then I guess it doesn't matter. The first sections teaching tone and texture can be done by all dancers of all styles.
   This is a DVD to be digested. If you already are a dancer, then you can learn some new ways to use visualization in your dancing. Little bit by little bit you can add some things to what you already do, how you already express yourself. If you are a beginner/intermediate, and have technique out the wazoo but have no idea how to bring it all together into something personal ( dancing), then this DVD would be GREAT. Maybe even invaluable. Once again, all the good shit comes out after I sweated and fretted and figured it out on my own.
I am not saying buy this, I am not saying don't. I am saying read the above thoroughly and maybe some other reviews before you make that decision. You need to know what you are paying for.  As usual it is a well shot, well organized well thought out DVD, as all of CheekyGirls stuff is.  You might like this DVD, you might not....I think it all depends on who you are, and where you are in your dance.

I Take It Back

Words are made to be broken. Words about silk veils, mostly.....but other stuff too. I am sure I will be eating crow on pretty much anything I have said on this blog at one point or another.
Oh, I always wanted to dance with a silk veil, and I think I tried for about two minutes, and after wrapping my self up like a human burrito I gave up and went back to my chiffon.
I tried several times over the years borrowing silk veils to try, being envious of people like Mena, and my friends in the Women of Selket and the Queens of the Universe, and pretty much every dancer I knew for using silk and how prettily it moved through the air. But I felt too rough, too impatient, too clumsy for a silk veil.
   Reading Delilah's Post renewed my interest in the veil and for a few weeks now I have made myself pick it up, put on some music and let it "carry the vibrations from my inner core" or whatever.
     I started to think that maybe silk might not be that bad. I still got wrapped up in it,but I found that without the added weight of chiffon, that I had to pause a half second for the silk to do its thing. It was a whole new relationship. I gave her space, she gave me space. We had to take turns being in control. Hmmmmmm....... ( don't psychoanalyze that).
    So yesterday I took a veil workshop from the lovely Samra, and tried her 4 yard and heavier weight silk veil. ( L Rose) I got to watch myself working with the veil in a large mirror, and I loved the way that the swirly dark purple looked. I felt like I was moving with some sort of alive matter that consisted of a churning stormy sky and melted chocolate. ( put food in anything and I am game)....the veil changed, it morphed with the movement. It took on dimension.
 * cue starlight, daisies, and the hallelujah chorus*
Yeah, I loved working with it. ....chewing a mouthful of sauteed crow right now....burp.
So I take it back. I am forming a new relationship with silk. It is a slow one, I don't really trust her yet not to surprise me at the last minute with the burrito wrap of our former relations, and she doesn't trust me to not slow it down a bit and let her be the lady that she is, but we are working on it. Maybe there is a therapist there somewhere that can help us work out our issues.......oh yeah I guess there is.
   It is called MUSIC.

The Happy Drunk Reviews- Modern Oriental with Ranya Renee

The kids are going in late today, icy roads, so basically I dragged my butt out of bed at 6am for nothing.....well, except to bring you another Happy Drunk Review.

Sometimes you just buy something because you like the instructor, rather than whether or not you need the DVD. I adore Ranya Renee. She is like the teacher in high school that made a subject come alive for you with her passionate approach. She is funny, beautiful, thorough and clearly knows her stuff. Having said that I almost didn't buy Bellydance Egyptian Style-Modern Oriental with Ranya Renee. I own her two disc DVD set, The Baladi ( see trailer at end of post), and was so pleased with it. I had read on a review somewhere that if you own the Baladi DVD's that this one was not worth buying, because it contained a lot of the same information. Well, I bought it anyway, so here is the review.

The reviewers were right except for the fact that she includes a wonderful ( long) choreo to "Layalina", on this DVD. ( with two versions, Beginner, and Advanced). It does have a lot of the same information as the Baladi DVD's, but at the affordable prices that World Dance charges, the Modern Oriental DVD is worth buying for the choreography , IF YOU LIKE HER STYLE.  I would recommend watching her dance on YouTube or something before you buy. I happen to like her dancing ( it very closely mirrors my own style), it is passionate and very Egyptian, a lot of dramatic pausing, shimmies, pops, and dramatic arms. She is in a word, dramatic. I like that, but you might not. So please, view first.
AND if you want to only buy one of these then buy the Baladi set. It is friggin amazing. It is the kind of set that I will be so bold to say as every dancer should own it. It is almost head-spinningly chocked full of information, and not so much a DVD that you " do" to but more like a DVD that you watch a lot until the information sinks in. I would say it is more like going to a workshop to learn about the Baladi, and Egyptian music. Ranya's teacher/ mentor is Yousry Sharif, and it is clear that she has been taught proper Egyptian cabaret. The Baladi ( and all of her others) is full of Arabic terms, information about the instruments used in Arabic music, and I think she captures the soul of it all. This really is very different from anything else out there...in a good way.
Yep, Ranya has got it all; looks, skills, and homegirl is really funny, to boot.

     Annnnddddd, she has got a new DVD coming out on Taqsim! Hooray!!!! ( the last in the parade of trailers at the end of this post.)

Definately buy the Baladi set, if you want a good choreo then buy the Modern Oriental, and I will be buying the Taqsim DVD and letting you know about it.

O.k., now to wait another hour until I can drop my angels off at school, and have some peace and quiet.