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Written by Sapphire
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Thursday, 31 March 2005 |
- May 28, 2004 - a few of my classmates came over for practice on Wednesday night. It was a good session for both practicing the choreography and learning some finer points. Here are some of the things I learned that night
- I am reminded of what I learned in grade school. It doesn't take an extreme amount of practice/extra work to make a big difference.
- It is helpful to practice outside of class with others in addition to practicing outside of class by yourself. There were points that we are unclear on as a group. It would have been helpful to have this practice with a class still left before the show instead of just the rehersal, but hey, that's life.
- It is good to have people in the group that don't necessarily share your point of view. It is good to see the same situation from another perspective.
- Each dancer has a strong point and it is great to watch how they do something that you personally may be weak in or could just that "extra something"
- Each dancer has choreographies she is strong in, some she is weak in, and that's ok. Actually that is good, especially in a practice session.
- Share the stage and be mindful of other dancers and their space.
- If I am going to use French ballet terms and there are ballet dancers in the group, I better know how to pronounce them correctly. BIG GRIN
- and related to that, EVERYONE has quirks and that adds to the experience.
- When another dancer gives me feedback, I need to receive it graciously. I do value feedback and by receiving it graciously, I am more likely to get more.
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Written by Sapphire
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Thursday, 31 March 2005 |
- December 9, 2004 - ok, it has been forever since I put anything up here. Life has been crazy including my husband being deployed to Iraq.
Well I am back, at least for a short little bit.
I don't current study American Tribal, but I have been looking for a CD to work with for my zill practice. Something with songs in the different rhythms, one per song, that are roughly 5 minutes long. This CD had that. I just practiced to it and it is exactly what I was looking for. A loud Zaghareet to FCBD !
- May 28, 2004 - a few of my classmates came over for practice on Wednesday night. It was a good session for both practicing the choreography and learning some finer points. Here are some of the things I learned that night
- I am reminded of what I learned in grade school. It doesn't take an extreme amount of practice/extra work to make a big difference.
- It is helpful to practice outside of class with others in addition to practicing outside of class by yourself. There were points that we are unclear on as a group. It would have been helpful to have this practice with a class still left before the show instead of just the rehersal, but hey, that's life.
- It is good to have people in the group that don't necessarily share your point of view. It is good to see the same situation from another perspective.
- Each dancer has a strong point and it is great to watch how they do something that you personally may be weak in or could just that "extra something"
- Each dancer has choreographies she is strong in, some she is weak in, and that's ok. Actually that is good, especially in a practice session.
- Share the stage and be mindful of other dancers and their space.
- If I am going to use French ballet terms and there are ballet dancers in the group, I better know how to pronounce them correctly. BIG GRIN
- and related to that, EVERYONE has quirks and that adds to the experience.
- When another dancer gives me feedback, I need to receive it graciously. I do value feedback and by receiving it graciously, I am more likely to get more.
- May 21, 2004 - Some things that I have learned about myself
- Blue eyeshadow is NOT for me
- Have someone take a whole bunch of still pictures or video tape your performance. I learned a lot from the pictures my brother took at Sunday's show. I had video taped my practices before AND performing brings out different things.
- I need to work on engaging the audience. I tend to down-gaze too much.
- I need to not be shy of the mirrors during class. I started using them as a tool this past week. Ok, I am a late bloomer on that one.
- Smiling makes people look prettier, more relaxed, and more approachable. Crystal is a very good example of that. She smiled during the whole cane dance we did together, have a look.
- Always, always, always practice at least once in full costume before you perform in it. I didn't and it showed at Sunday's show.
- If you are going to forget a whole section of choreography, do it in a solo and not a group piece. Yeah, I know, like we can really control that one. grin.
- April 20, 2004 - I have been working on my first choreography, a veil piece. It is quite the challenge. I have a renewed respect for those dancers who can develop good choreography.
I am working with the design principles of repetition and contrast. I have a chorus that repeats 4 times, 2 different variations. That seemed to be easier. I have three more melody, improv sections. They are a combination of flowing music and drum accents. This is proving to be more difficult.
I am definitely finding this process well worth the effort. It is focusing me more on my technique. I highly recommend it to all students.
- March 17, 2004 - On March 6th, I had my first opportunity to go to a belly dance workshop. It was with Ansuya with the Belly Dance Superstars. I was quite nervous as I didn't know what to expect and none of my regular classmates were going. I am glad I went even though I was feeling a bit under the weather with a headcold. I met some new people and I actually knew some dancers there.
Ansuya has a warm and friendly presense and she adapted well to the number of dancers and the shape of the studio. There were quite a few of us (I am guessing about 40) and the floor space was a long rectangle.
She had brought 2 choreographies with her to teach and after a vote from the students, she decided to teach the drum solo. It is a nice piece with some interesting and challenging moves to it.
After we had learned it, she showed us the concepts from the second dance. This is what I found most valuable. In particular, she talked about enterances and "taking your space". She talked about the variations on the basic Egyptian hip hits, how spins can define your dance space, and how one could almost do a whole dance with the variations. The reason I found this valuable is because a classmate and I have been working on Jillina's drum solo but as a duet. There is a 16 count space at the beginning of the solo that Jillina uses more as enterance space. In the choreography on the video she has standing shimmies. As you can imagine, 16 counts of standing shimmies can be a bit boring. So, we have altered it by doing 8 counts standing shimmies with welcoming arms, followed by 8 counts of basic Egyptian. Yes, a very simple alteration, and it just feels better now.
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