To talk or not to talk?

I had a great experience teaching classes tonight!

I've had asthma for 8 years, usually very mild, but after some extended time with some dogs, I've been suffering miserably for the last week. Copious amounts of ventolin are being consumed and I've had some oral steroids too - not much good so far, sadly. So tonight I turned up at class feeling very sorry for myself, and for the first time that I can remember, wishing I'd asked someone else to teach the class for me.

Unable to dance and talk at the same time without fainting, I thought I'd try the dancing part, not the talking part. I've been a student in classes with visiting teachers whose English is limited, and still learned a lot by through the "follow the bouncing butt" technique (phrase coined by Zafirah!) so I knew it could be done.

What I didn't expect was how liberating it was! I realised that I was trusting my classes to follow me, having confidence in their ability to copy my body instead of listening to my voice. It also allow me to concentrate more on watching my students while they copied me - which was such a pleasure, noticing more than usual what moves they were excelling at! I guess I learned that I don't always need to give a bucketful - sometimes an eggcup is enough.

Sadly, when I tried the same technique in the later class, my iPod ran out of power! With no music I had no choice but to talk while it charged up again! But oddly, instead of being tireder after an hour of teaching, I found my lungs had opened up (especially through the arm and chest work) and I managed to get through an hour of mayas and tight, modern legs-together moves. Without feeling obliged to shout out moves or technical details while I danced, I felt much more able to concentrate on the music and the dancers in front of me.

As usual, I feel that there isn't a right or wrong way to teach (within reason!) - every lesson is different, every student takes something different out of the class. But it makes me happy when I try something new and, I hope, it works. Like a new pen in my pencil case!

I left the class feeling 20 times better than when I arrived. Hurray for the restorative power of dance! On Thursday evenings I almost always feel very, very lucky - I can go to work feeling dreadful and leave feeling great!

Shimmy by the Shore!

I'm excited about an event I'm organising!

Shimmy by the Shore! 
Sunday 14th November, 4pm-6pm
The Red Room at The Constitution, Constitution Street, Leith
£5 entry

This is going to be a very friendly, very relaxed, very informal afternoon in a lovely venue. I want a happy environment for belly dancers to perform.

Performing can be nerve-wracking. Whether it's big audiences, stage lights, unknown crowds who might know nothing - or indeed, everything - about bellydance. That's why I'm organising this afternoon event in a small venue, and any dancer of any experience can turn up and dance. Dancers can even decide on the day whether they want to dance or not. No pressure, no stress, just dancing and enjoyment!

If you want to share a dance, or something you've been working on, or a work in progress, dance in your jeans or full costume, all of that is fine. Just come along with your tune on your iPod, be there for 4pm prompt, and we'll sort out the running order there and then.

Please note that the venue is carpeted, and very small, so it is NOT ideal for isis wings, swords, big groups, veils or fan!

I hope everybody who comes along will be friendly and kind to the performers, and tell the dancers what they enjoyed about their performance. Now, I wonder if this leaves me open to accusations of over-nice-ing. Well, in the long run, it doesn't do belly dance any good if we dancers think we're way better than we are. But equally, it doesn't do us any good to feel unconfident and inadequate when what we really need is performance practice, a bit of nurturing and some friendly words! I wouldn't want to tell a dancer that she was brilliant if I didn't think she was - but equally, I want to make sure that good performances get good feedback!

So, if you can come along - and I hope you can! - please remember that the audience is just as important a part of the performance as the dancer and the music!

Theatres and Tents

Saturday 9th October was a hafla in Peebles organised by Borders Arabic Dance. They were celebrating a visit from Bellydance Superstar Samantha Emmanuel, who was teaching and performing. So there was a quality line-up for the hafla!

I admit my heart sank a little when I saw the programme featuring 25 - count 'em, 25! - performances. Ah well, at least the Eastgate Theatre has comfy seats! But the evening flew by - the dances were well-programmed to accentuate the variety of groups and soloists, tribal and oriental and everything in between. It was a really enjoyable night.

The Helwa Hurdies performed their latest routine, featuring veils and solos. We only started working on it 5 weeks ago, and I feel it was their best performance so far - what a great group of dancers they are!

The Hurdies also helped me out with the balady tableau I was performing - coming on-stage with me to act as my girlfriends, encouraging me to dance and cheering me on. Although I'd planned it for 'authenticity' and to give my dance more of a balady feel (balaldy being a style dance that egyptian women might do at a social occasion), it was a real treat to have the girls on stage with me! The Eastgate Theatre has proper stage lighting, so you can't see the audience at all when you're dancing, which I find quite nerve-wracking - so it was brilliant to have five cheerleaders in full view!

I enjoyed a lot of the other performances. Of the dances I didn't like so much, I really appreciated their technical merits and the standard of the dance! I liked watching Kate, who learned bellydance with Lorne McCall at the same time as I did (although Kate was in the improvers when I was a beginner!) Kate did a lovely traditional balady piece which I really liked. Celia and Cat did an amazing disco number with isis wings, which lit up the whole theatre, with the shimmering wings and the joyful dancing!

It seems like it's either feast or famine with performing, and the next day, we were dancing again at the East Lothian Multi Cultural Day at Prestongrange Industrial Museum. This time the venue was a marquee, with an audience of about 400! Thankfully it wasn't the coldest day of the year, and the reception was warm too.

The Hurdies gave 2 lovely performances, of their veil routine and their Spanish number

I repeated last night's balady dance (on my own this time, as they girls were off getting changed),

and then Laura, Lucy and I performed our sha'abi routine to El Enab by Saad, which is great fun!

Another busy bellydance weekend then, and now I'm off to have the cold in peace!!