Summer Term - week 11

 Our last session of the term, and the year! I hope to see you again in September.

Tonight we worked on the folkloric style again, using Sticks. Last week was all two-handed holds, but this week, I risked one-handed holds. I wasn't sure how flexible everyone would be in the wrist, but we did some Twirling and Figure 8 stick work, and combined that into an improvised dance, to Amouna Fi Al Said, by Bassem Yazbek:

The main focus for the evening was the Veil work, and putting together a routine for the whole of Windows of the East, remembering it's just a Roadmap, not a choreography. I was drawing the map, but you could find your own way of getting from A to B. The main elements were 

• the Entrance
• Travelling with the Veil
• Dancing on the Spot with the veil as a frame
• a couple of "tricks" as highlights
• Dancing without the Veil, and of course, 
• the dramatic Finale (being aware of the "boom, boom" ending).

I hope you've all enjoyed playing with Silk!

Have a great Summer break, and I hope I'll be seeing you again in September.

Enrolling for the Autumn term

Enrolments are now open for the September term.

The term runs from Thursday 14th September to 7th December. The timing is still the same, 7.00-8.15pm.

Click here to go to the Belly Dance page on the Surrey Adult Learning Website

You can enrol online on that page, or you can phone the Customer Service Team and enrol by phone.

As I've mentioned, this term I'm running this class as "mixed abilities", to encourage some new beginners and boost our numbers. I will make sure the more experienced students are still learning new stuff and being challenged!

Summer Term - week 10

As we're winding down to the end of the term (😢), we're going all out for Props - Veils and Sticks (not together!)

We started with the Veils, and putting together a kind of routine, for the music Windows of the East.

The structure of the music goes:

Introduction, includes a bridge into the main melody

Melody A, twice, but the second one has a big orchestral whoosh at the start

Melody B

Melody A again, the one with the orchestral whoosh

Melody C & Melody D

Melody A, twice, like at the top, the second one with the orchestral whoosh 

Finale, winds up to a very clear finish 

Last week we worked with the first half, this week we were using the second half, from C&D, into A (x2) and the finale. We'll put it all together next week.

We continued with our folkloric technique work, Egyptian Sa'aidi style. We recapped the Heel drops and Horse Steps from last week, and added some Stickwork to go with those moves. We also added the Side Step (sometimes called a duck step), to build a bit more folkloric repertoire.

The main Safety rule with the stick, when you're new to it, is give yourself LOTS OF SPACE. Don't let other people get into your dance space. Try not to let go of the stick, but (and I know this is going to sound contrary) don't hold it too tight.

A bit of background/context for the stick work. Here's a video of men doing Tahtib, a martial art/dance game, which is what Stickwork in dance comes from:

Here's Tito Seif, who is using the sticks (yes, plural) more as a dancer. 

And now to see how the girls dance with a stick - much more playful and feminine, using those basic Sa'aidi moves.

And a duet to show how a masculine style and a feminine style are different, even when doing the same moves.