I had the fortunate opportunity to attend a bellydance workshop locally this weekend.  It was with Bozenka and was hosted by The Bellydance Shop and Yasmine.

It was a one day workshop and I had a lot of fun and I learned a lot.....

First, Yasmine ran it well.  She did her best to allow for each participant to gain as much as possible from the time spent.  This included having Bozenka on a platform with a nice microphone headset, having 2 different vendors with complementory items, having the lines of workshop attendees periodically shift lines (as it was a good turnout and if you were in the back, you really did have a difficult time seeing).

Second, Bozenka was a good instructor to bring in.  She has an interesting fusion style of Middle Eastern and Latin.  She has a warm and inviting style of teaching.  She was clear in both her speach and in her direction (describing movements in detail, how it feels, etc).  She took the time to go into more detail when asked.  She provided excellent written choreography notes.  She was able to complete the instruction on the choregraphy in the time alotted, not an easy feat.  She also provided the music, the song chosen was out of print, on a CD for a nomial price.

Third, most everyone there was nice and friendly.  Even though I study regularly with Zarifa and not Yasmine, I felt welcomed at the event.

Forth, I learned from parts of the workshop beyond just the choreography.  I walked away with ideas on arms (from the warmup) and on strength building (warmup and combos) and on attitude (choreography.

It was definitely time and money well spent.