The best students make the best teachers

After another fabulous weekend of workshops with Aradia of Las Vegas, I've been thinking about what it is exactly that makes her workshops so fabulous.  Comparing them to other dancers I've had the opportunity to learn from, I think it comes down to one major thing - where most dancers present "dance moves" to you, Aradia presents the dance, along with its context. 

Let me give an example of what I mean - Dancer X may explain a move like so: "This is a hip circle, but it only goes to the front, so push to the front and then contract back in before you start to circle back."  Aradia, however, will say "This is a hip circle that only goes to the front.  We do it this way when we are dancing in the style of the Golden Era, because the dancers back in those days considered pushing their butts to the back to be vulgar. So, before you start to circle around to the back, contract back in to center."

Or, Dancer X might say "now we are going to do tush pushes to the left."  Aradia would say "Now we will do Mona's gooey tush pushes to the left.  Mona El Said does these while looking over her shoulder at her hip; she's very flirtatious with this step so that is how we will do it." 

Just looking at the notes Aradia hands out after every class, you can see they contain not just the descriptions of dance moves, but the names of the dancers to whom the signature move belonged.  Learning a choreography from Aradia means you are also learning the history, culture, and context of the dance. 

Aradia is the ultimate student. She absorbs information from dancers all over the globe, and spanning across generations, and is able to pass that information on to her own students.  It makes for a so much more of a rich class, when you can learn more than just a dance move, but the who, what, how and why of that move as well.

When is it lying?

In a dancer's bio, she often lists the teachers she has studied under in the past, particularly if they are "big names," to give others a sense of what style she is, how much knowledge she has, and how much time she has put into her bellydance education.  Of course, the general public, reading a bio, will not know (or likely care) who the dancer has studied with, but other dancers will.  And the general public will like to see that a dancer has a broad dance background, even if they don't have any clue who the particular teachers are.

But my question is this - when does a teacher "qualify" to be listed on a dancer's bio? In other words, how long/often do you need to take classes or private lessons with a teacher before you can put them in your bio as someone you've "studied under"? 

In my own bio,  I only list two teachers by name, because those are the only two teachers who I have spent a significant amount of time with.  I studied with my first teacher, Amira Mor, for two years.  I danced in her company, I was in her DVDs, and she was basically my first and only intro to bellydance for quite a while.  I studied with my second teacher, Alyne, for much less time, but her impact on my dance and my style is just a great, if not more so, than Amira's.  I was with Alyne for three months, while living in California with my boyfriend/now husband.  I attended classes twice a week and had several private lessons with her. 

I consider these two women my "teachers," worthy of being in my bio as dancers who have trained me and shaped the way I dance.  I've taken lots of workshops over the years, with "big name" dancers like Suhaila, Fathiem, Jillina, Nourhan Sharif, and of course Aradia, whom I host in NYC every year.  But I wouldn't include any of these dancers in my bio, because I haven't actually "studied" under them - in my opinion, one or even two, workshops does NOT equal "studying under."  If the teacher doesn't even know your name, doesn't know your individual needs as a student and doesn't help you on an individual basis, you haven't studied under them.  (Hmm....since I will now be hosting Aradia for the third time this September, maybe she does qualify as someone I've studied under at this point.  I'll have to think about that one!).

That's just my personal opinion.  BUT.....I've seen loads of bios where dancers list basically every "big name" bellydancer as someone they've studied under.  It's clear to other dancers that these dancers have only taken a workshop or two, at most, from these dancers, because it would be impossible to meaningfully study under all of them.  But that's how it's portrayed in the bio; there are no disclaimers given.  I've seen this happen in varying degrees - people who list loads of dancers, as well as people who will list only one or two dancers, but I personally know that those dancers were just in town for one workshop, and that's the "training" that the bio references.

I think it's false advertising to list dancers in your bio unless you have really, meaningfully studied under them. OR, unless you clearly state that your exposure to that dancer was a one-off workshop.  Again, I'm not sure how much impact this all has on the general public, so maybe it doesn't really matter.  But I think it all goes back to professionalism, which relates directly to truth in advertising.  You don't want to create hype around yourself that you can't live up to! 

What do you think?

Ballet for Bellydancers is BACK!

Back by popular demand - Jennifer Alvarado will be teaching another "Ballet for Bellydancers" workshop. The last workshop was such a success (and sold out!) that we had to do it again!! Don't believe that ballet can be fun?? Read HERE to see what everyone had to say about it last time!

Here's the info:

September 21, 2008

Jennifer will be teaching a 2 hour workshop including:

~ Barre exercises and center floor excercises focusing on proper posture, proper arm and hand positioning and proper foot placement;

~ Core and lower body strengthening and conditioning;

~Traveling movements, including turns and spins

If you attended the first Ballet for Bellydancers workshop, you are of course welcome to come again! Jennifer will be doing some of the same exercises, as well as working on new things, so it will be a great experience for new and old students alike!

Registration begins at 12:30

Class begins at 1:00

Workshop will be held at Queens Dance Project

34-57 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Bayside, NY

Prepay : $30At the door:$40 (space permitting)

Don't miss out on this amazing opportunity to improve your dance!!

Ballet for Bellydancers

Sounds like fun, huh? Actually, it was! Last week, I hosted a Ballet for Bellydancers workshop, taught by Jennifer Alvarado, the owner and director of Queens Dance Project.

The workshop was a ballet class, but instead of focusing on pirouettes and tour jete's, Jen focused on the skills that we, as bellydancers, need to know.

I've taken ballet since I was a little girl, and it's been drilled into my head by dance teacher after dance teacher that "ballet is the foundation of all dance." While that might be a very grand statement to make, now that I am a bellydancer - practicing a form of dance that seems to be the farthest thing away from bellydance - I see how true that statement really is.

Ballet teaches strength, but it also teaches grace. It teaches proper posture, and proper arms and hands. It teaches you how to be aware of your body, so that you can become a better dancer. And shouldn't everybody know how to do that?!

Were you at the Ballet for Bellydancers workshop? Share your thoughts! And even if you weren't - what do you think about the connection between ballet and bellydance?

Tips for Workshop Organizers

The Adriana Lira Workshop was the first big workshop I had ever hosted (and by big, I mean bringing in a foreign instructor). I kind of went into it a little blind and not knowing what to expect, but I did learn a lot a long the way. Here are some helpful tips I think other first-time workshop organizers could benefit from:

• Don't plan a workshop for the end of August. People go away during August. Especially the end of it. No matter how many people want to come to your workshop, most of them won't even be around.
• Make sure you have at least 10 people (or some reasonable minimum you deem reasonable) who swear on their lives that they will be at the workshop. Before agreeing to host Adriana, I asked around amongst my students and dance friends to find out who would come to the workshop if I decided to host it. Lots and lots of people said yes - some were, I'm sure, just saying yes because that's what they thought I wanted to hear. Some said yes without thinking about the logistics of the workshop - could they afford it, would they be able to get there, would they be available? Whatever their reasons, almost everyone who said they were interested did not sign up, and we were left scrambling at the last minute to find enough students to make the workshop worth it. So, get signatures in blood if you have to, but don't agree to host a workshop unless you are absolutely positive you will get a minimum number of students attending.
• Have video clips of your instructor performing and teaching. This is especially important if you instructor is not a "big name." People want to see what you are asking them to fork over cash for.
• Ask your instructor to bring his or her music with them as a carry-on on the plane. Or at least a few "emergency cd's". Adriana had a horrible flight experience - a diversion, a weather delay and a missed plane in Atlanta - and one of her bags was missing for the entire weekend. Unfortunately, it was the bag with her cd's for the workshop. (and all her clothes!! But she had her costumes, and really, that's all that matters, isn't it??). We had to do some creative song substitutions to make the classes work. They worked, but Adriana had plans for each class that she wasn't able to execute because of the missing music.
• Advertise heavily. Everywhere. On the internet. In your classes. In dance studios. Everywhere. People may really want to come to your workshop, but due to the procrastinating nature of human society, they will not sign up when they hear about it, and then forget to do so until it's too late. If someone told me they wanted to come to the workshop, I emailed them and emailed them until I got a registration. Yes, I was probably annoying. But they registered.
• Don't park your car in a bus stop in Manhattan. Um, well, that piece of advice is not really limited to workshop organzers - it's good advice for everyone. Don't park your car in a bus stop, or you will have to spend hours in the NYC Tow Pound and pay $185 to get your car back. Yeah, it happened to us after Day 1 of the workshop....

So, those are the little bits of wisdom I learned from hosting this workshop. Anyone out there have some experience in this field? Please share what you've learned!

Adriana Lira workshop was a success!!

Whew! What a weekend!! Adriana Lira has just left NYC after an intense weekend of workshops. The workshops were great!! Everyone really had a great time and we learned so much.

My favorite class was the drum solo. I will definitely be using that choreography in my classes! It was so unique and very appropriate - there was a samba section in the music, which is awesome, being that Adriana is from Brazil!

I loved Adriana's style of dance. With her ballet background, her dance is infused with much ballet influence, which I love. Her style is also unique to her in that she draws from her Brazilian background, and you can definitely see the samba in her dance as well!

There were some minor snags in the weekend (ie: Adriana's luggage with ALL her CD's got lost and the airline didn't find it until AFTER the workshops were over!) and I definitely learned a lot, not only from a dancer's standpoint, but from an organizer's standpoint as well. I'll post some of my tips for organizers later.

All in all, though, it was a great weekend. We were truly luck to have Adriana here in NYC and can't wait for her to come back!

Adriana Lira of Brazil is coming to New York

Well, the workshop I've been talking about this whole time is quickly approaching, so I thought I should start telling you all some more details...here's the little blurb I listed on bellydanceny.com:

Daniela presents a weekend of workshops with Adriana Lira of Brazil at Stepping Out Studios, 37 W. 26th St., August 25 and 26 (Saturday and Sunday).

Classes include drum solo, pop choreography, choreography and improvization for performance workshop, and Lebanese cane. $75 for one day, $140 for both.

See www.danielabellydance.com/adriana (now with VIDEO clips!) for information including registration form contact. Email danielabellydance@yahoo.com for more info an a registration form.

So, that's the info. Please visit the website to learn more about Adriana. I urge you all to sign up, even if just for one of the two days. The best way to grow as a dancer is by experiencing other teachers, other styles, and by just getting yourself out there and learning MORE. So, sign up ASAP, because you don't want to wait till it's sold out!

See you at the workshop!

Workshops!

Over the summer I will be hosting Adriana Lira of Brazil, for a weekend of workshops in New York (more about that in the weeks to come!). All this thinking of workshops has got me reflecting on my own workshop experiences and what I liked and disliked about them.



Most recently, I attended a workshop by Fahtiem, and one by Suhaila. Although the workshops were held on the same day, that was about the only thing that was similar about them!



The Suhaila workshop was intense. Suhaila is amazing, and I do love her dance style. However, I think her style is one that is better learned over time, and not in a three hour workshop. The class I took was on drum solos, and Suhaila uses a lot of layering in her drum solo work. I consider myself good at layering, but I felt like an uncoordinated goofball during this class. The movements that Suhaila incorporated into this dance were outrageous - I felt that only the most seasoned Suhaila student would walk away from that class feeling like they knew what they were doing.



The Fahtiem workshop was definitely more my speed. Fahtiem is a like a butterfly - her moves are effortless and she floats, rather than dances. I also found her to use a lot of jazz and lyrical type moves (not a shimmy in sight, actually), which were very easy for me to pick up, considering my dance background.

I left Fahtiem's workshop feeling like I had accomplished something. I had a choreography I could remember, and use, and I was enjoying myself during the class. I think all of these things are key to making a workshop successful for the individual dancer. It was definitely worth it for me.

So, what workshops have you taken? Who was your favorite? Why? Are there some things that make or break a workshop for you?

Pledge your allegiance?

Do you have to? Choose a style, that is. Can you be a bellydancer and dance both tribal and cabaret styles? Some students of mine recently took a tribal workshop and expressed the fact that it seems difficult to learn both styles, since they are so similar yet have distinct ways of doing the same moves.

It sort of reminded me of trying to learn Italian in college, after taking four years of Spanish in high school. I had always wanted to learn Italian, and I thought that my background of Spanish would help me, since the two languages are so similar. What I learned, however, was that the similarities actually made it sooooo much harder. The two languages actually merged into one, completely incorrect, language in my head. I lost the ability to put a sentence together in Spanish, without throwing some Italian in there, and I could never have a conversation in Italian without it being part Spanish.

Is this similar to the the tribal and cabaret conundrum? I have to admit I have no experience with tribal, so I'd like to hear your thoughts. Ladies who have crossed over to the "other" side - what do you think? Can you do both?