On January 1st 2013, I stood at
the top of the Space Needle in Seattle looking over the glistening lights of
the skyscrapers and getting giddy from the brisk fresh air I was inhaling.
Looking over a city, where the people below look so small, your senses working
overtime 520 feet up in the air, it’s difficult not to have some kind of life
assessment up that high (especially if you’re scared of heights!). I remember
clearly what I thought on the first day of 2013 – I’m happy to be alive, I’m a
very lucky person, and 2013 is gonna be a good year. Many people say 13 is
unlucky, but I don’t believe them. I’d seen the new year in at the Beats
Antique gig, spent the day sightseeing with my favourite person, took a private
lesson with my favourite dancer, and conquered my fear of heights (well... for
about 15 minutes I did...). All in all I’d say it was a pretty good first day.
I wish 2014 was gonna open with such a bang!
2013 did turn out to be a good year, in
many ways. I feel like I really, truly progressed as an artist and as a person.
I achieved a lot of things that I wanted to get done, and as the year is
drawing to a close I’ve got my mind on new projects that are as a result of my
experiences this year. I’m super excited about what 2014 holds, and I have 2013
to thank for that.
I achieved a lot of personal goals in 2013,
including many training goals – passing the UNMATA ITS certification, passing
Jamila Level 1 certification, getting to do a lot of training with people that
have really fed my soul and made an unrivalled impact on my dancing – Zoe, Mira
and Amy for example. I’ve been lucky to be able to continue to travel and to
train, thanks to sheer luck of being able to scrape money together at the right
time (i.e. doing enough temping that it pays it off!). I feel like this year I’ve laid the
groundwork for 2014 for transitioning to dance being my full time profession –
which is both exciting and scary. I still feel the pull of a steady job (and
I’ve tried working them, unsuccessfully!), but I’m trying to be brave and just
go for it! If I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it, and I’ll always regret it.
ITS makes me happy, clearly!
The biggest turning point for me in 2013
was finding myself in my dance. Rediscovering the joy, and why I love dance so
much, and this all happened during a week of intense, sweaty and fun training
in ITS with 24 other amazing women. Finding out that I was actually sucking my
own enjoyment out of my dancing and not allowing myself to just live in the
moment and love what I was doing, was a big eye-opener for me, and created an instant
change not only in my life but also on stage. I also came out of my shell a lot
more in 2013 – I tried to learn my lessons – I’m shy, but maybe I come across
as anti-social? I don’t want to be that person, so I’ll try to be more open and
talkative!
Having this change of dynamic in my
behaviour gave me a lot more confidence to do things I had wanted to do for a
long time. The major thing it gave me confidence to do was to direct a group.
I’ve wanted to work with a group for sooo long. I’ve worked in tons of groups, but I’ve never had an
opportunity to choreograph and direct a group. This year I created the Juniper
Project, which got a great response both from the dancers that wanted to be
involved to the reactions of the audience when we performed at Infusion
Emporium this year. I was very fortunate to get to work with some of our most
talented dancers on this performance, and audience members were raving about the
performance. It was definitely a highlight of my year. It is an experience that
I have not only learned a great deal from, but also see as being a permanent
fixture in my future. I would love to do more work with Juniper Project and I’m
currently formulating plans and looking into ways to make those plans happen.
Talking of Infusion Emporium, what a great
year we have had – two successful events with April Rose, Kami Liddle, Giuliana
Angelini and Heather Labonte all teaching. Two amazing theatre shows, and great
support from the community in coming out to see the highly talented performers
we attract from all over the world. And 2014... what can we say? An intimate
intensive weekend with Tjarda Van Straten in May, and none other than RACHEL
BRICE for October and November, joined by Ashley Lopez, Samantha Emanuel and
Lamia Barbara... could we ask for a better line up?!
As the year ends, I feel like my focus is
taking a new direction. I have spent years as an improv dancer – and I feel
like I was pretty good at that. These days, I’m really getting into making
choreographies, and I have ideas buzzing around my head like never before – the
renewed love and passion for dance is really getting the creative juices
flowing, as well as the opportunities I’ve had to step out of my comfort zone (Skinner
Release, physical theatre....). I’m excited for all the opportunities 2014 may bring (I'm hoping more of the same - travelling, learning, time with friends and teaching!) and to see if I can tick off any of the goals and achievements I’ll write on my
list for next year.
It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog
post. In truth I’ve been trying to write one for weeks but inspiration has been
lacking, beginning them and then throwing them in the trash. This one might end
the same way...
I guess I haven’t really known what to
write about. I’ve been travelling a lot and I could bore you all to death with
the details of everywhere I’ve been teaching. But, while that might be of
interest to some of you, I don’t want to sound like a broken record. Every trip
has been fun in its own unique way; I’ve learned lots and come home happy with
some money in my pocket for teaching. Not really the content of a riveting blog
post is it?!
However there is something that I feel like
I could share with you, readers. If you’re a long time reader of this blog
you’ll have followed me with all my ups and downs. The highs and the lows of
being a dancer. Injury, self loathing, choreographer’s block,
mini-breakthroughs, massive breakthroughs, something that reignited the spark
for why you love this so much in the first place. And you’ll have read my posts
about being in a slump, for reaching the lowest points of despair of why you’re
even still dancing at all. I was in this state of dislike of myself and of
dance for some time, and over the past 18 months or so I have been working
through it. And for a long time I’ve felt like I was over the slump – I talked
to other dancers about what I should do and took their advice and thought I was
over the insecurity, the overly critical voice inside my head was a little
quieter than usual and therefore everything was ok again.
Photo by Florian Holbling
But, recently I realised that I’m now only
just leaving the dark place. The past 6 months I’ve been emerging, and now I
have finally emerged. At Tribal Umrah, on stage at the closing show, for the
first time in I don’t remember how long... I enjoyed performing. My head was
completely empty of thoughts on stage and I loved every second that I was up
there. My piece was a new choreography that I had struggled with so much. The
music I used I have had for some time, and tried to choreograph to twice before
and thrown away. I choreographed my piece a little over a week before I got to
Umrah, and only made the dance with the help of the Dance Spinner for
inspiration. I felt like the finished article was enough of myself to be
recognisably Alexis, but also pushing my own personal movement boundaries a
little from what I usually create for myself. And when I stepped on the stage,
my head wasn’t filled with worry, or self doubt, or even running the choreography
for what came next. I just danced it and felt the power within that. I have
been trying to replicate that feeling since February 2012 when I took a class
with Amy Sigil and gave myself permission to dance with complete abandonment.
When I met my husband after the show, he
asked me: ‘Did you enjoy it?’ When I answered ‘Yes’, he said, ‘I could tell’.
Dan sees me perform a lot, and although I had convinced myself these past 6
months that I was enjoying myself when I performed, he could tell that I wasn’t
quite there yet. Until Umrah. Since then I have had people coming to me at the
events I have performed at telling me that there’s something different about
me. That they always enjoyed seeing me perform, that I was always a good dancer
when they had seen me dance... but that something was different and they
couldn’t quite put their finger on it. Descriptions such as ‘more powerful’,
and ‘bigger’. And I feel like they’re seeing the change that is happening in my
attitude towards myself and towards my dance.
So what did change you might ask. Well....
I think there is a teacher out there that has had a really profound effect on
me this year. I sought out guidance from so many teachers to help me pull
myself out of this ridiculous feeling of self loathing towards my dancing. I
know we all have it to an extent, and that it can help us be better, but not
when it’s making you ask the question, ‘why does something I love so much make
me so unhappy?’ So there is one person that I feel like they got the message through.
That person is Amy Sigil. I feel like I have a lot to thank her for.
Performing ITS with Afsana in Munich. Photo by Florian Holbling
For years I have been the girl that doesn’t
like to cause a fuss. I’m totally an introvert and I’m incredibly shy. I will
take a backseat because I lack confidence in my own ideas, to the point where
I’ll follow someone else’s ideas even if I think they’re stupid. Not any more.
At Tribal Fest, Amy taught a workshop on team spirit. She made us write on a
part of our bodies (I wrote on my foot) with a Sharpie, the team quality we needed
to improve in ourselves (this stayed on my foot for about a week, despite
trying to scrub the writing off my foot several times!), and to high five the
door on the way out, shouting out the quality. I am totally not the kind of
person to feel comfortable doing that, but I did it and it felt good. And I
made an effort to embody that quality (mine was communicator) more often. I did
the Soul Food intensive with Mira and Zoe the following week and actually took
some responsibility in group work, confidently. Back home, in one week I lost
my voice, taught a workshop with no voice, presented a paper at a conference
(which I felt outrageously under-prepared for, but was praised for its content)
and passed my PhD viva for which the examiners told me I gave an excellent
defence. I’d spent the last four years of my PhD doubting everything I thought
I knew about it – when it got to the viva I was convinced I didn’t know my own
work well enough to defend it adequately. In fact, I did know it. But I lacked
the confidence in myself and my ability. And I feel like I’m now turning a
corner with this, and giving myself the credit I deserve.
This is how ITS makes me feel. Photo by Florian Holbling
At Umrah I completed the Level 1 & 2
ITS intensive with Amy and Kari of UNMATA. I spent up to 7 hours a day for 5
days immersed in ITS. I have fallen completely in love with this format, and a
lot of that has to do with having been around Amy and Kari so much. Their
energy, dedication and the way they build you up in confidence is astounding. I
cried a lot that week. I cried because I was sharing this intense and beautiful
and crazy five days with a group of women that all love the same thing. And
when it was all over I was heartbroken that we would be leaving each other. I
cried when we were all together in a huddle, staring into each others’ eyes
saying ‘I’m ready’ over and over again. There were moments tears rolled down my
cheeks when the two separate staggers busted out the same move in improv and it
was just such a beautiful sight and feeling inside when it happened. On the
last day, also being a teacher at the festival, I was obliged to go to a brunch
during the lunch break. Usually at lunch I would eat a little then practice
everything I’d been learning with the other girls. I was driven back to the
studio – I could hear the girls in the studio screaming and laughing with the
music pumping from three blocks down. And I couldn’t wait to join them – ‘Let
me out of the car! I need to be with my people!’ – I ran down the street and
jumped in to the stagger. In that moment I realised what I had been missing for
so long – the joy of just dancing. I’m an academic, so everything gets
over-analysed. And I’ve realised I need to stop over-analysing everything and
just experience things. That I need to let go more, to have more confidence in and
acceptance of myself and who I am, and most of all, to feel the bliss of
dancing with no inner critic telling you everything you do sucks. Being
critical of yourself is important so that you can improve your technique and
the outcome of your training – performance – of course, but not to the point
that it makes you hate yourself. That week in Marseille completely changed me
as a person, just like the flick of a switch. I felt it, my husband saw it in
me straight away, and other dancers – people that know me well – have seen the
change in me, in such a short time. I don’t just feel motivated – it’s more
than that. I’ve left other intensives feeling so motivated to work harder and
be a better dancer, but it doesn’t keep momentum, because of this negative attitude
I’ve been tarnishing myself with for so long. A month has now passed since the
intensive and even though I’m currently nursing an injury, the feeling hasn’t
left me. I hope it never does. I’m now going to focus on training my inner
critic to be used to my advantage instead of as a form of abusing myself –
using the analysis as a strength instead of a weakness.
Thank you Amy Sigil, for helping me to find
the joy of dance again. If it weren’t for the intensive I’m not sure that I
would be feeling any different than I have been feeling for the past two years
now. I am completely in love with dance again – really excited about so many
things that are coming up over the next few months, and excited to be starting
my weekly classes again next month. Amy really has a way with words that not
only make you feel better but also help you to question yourself as to why you
feel the way you do and what you should be doing differently. I’m not sure
exactly what happened to me in that intensive, but I’m not the person I was
when I walked in there the first day. So if you get a chance to spend any
length of time with Amy and the rest of the UNMATA girls, you should do it. If
you can get to Hot Pot Studio, even better – you’ll feel that vibe coming at
you from everyone there.
And of course, I’m totally delighted that
after all the sweat and tears, I have now qualified to teach Level 1 & 2 of
UNMATA’s ITS format. I’m very excited about this, and the prospect of sharing
this format with dancers in my city and around the UK hopefully.
Super looking forward to the future and
everything it’s going to bring my way, and most of all learning to enjoy the
ride no matter what arises – process vs. outcome!
I hope you’re all making your own dance
discoveries this summer and that, if nothing else, the good weather has
brightened your spirits!
It is incredible how long it has taken me
to get to write this blog about my trip – I have been so busy since I returned
home, and I had so many experiences so I will warn you – this is a very long
one. Conveniently I have split each section of my trip into individual stories,
so if you can’t stomach this all in one go, you can always return to the blog
later for the next chapter!
Before I went to the US last month I was
asked to write ‘the truth’ about Tribal Fest in my blog. Most of you know, I
don’t hold back when I write... that I will say if there were things that I
liked and things that I didn’t like about an event, a workshop, a show. I think
this is the way blogging should be, which I guess warranted the response (and
I’m paraphrasing) – if we can trust anyone to tell us the truth about Tribal
Fest, it’s you Alexis!
Chapter One: Molotov Caravan
Just some crazies I met at the airport...
Well, my journey to North America didn’t
start at Tribal Fest – it began in Vancouver, British Columbia in Canada! I
went along to Molotov Caravan to teach and perform alongside Martina
Crowe-Hewett and Samantha Riggs. So this begins the first of my ‘other
stories’. I often lament the push and pull of being a dancer that works on an
international level – we get to go to all these amazing countries! But on the
other hand, we don’t always get to see any of them... Vancouver was a bit like
that. The moment I arrived, greeted by Martina and Angelina dressed in hot pink
bikinis and Sally in a taco outfit, I knew I was going to have a riot. Canadian
immigration was not the most fun, but being greeted by these crazy people made
the horrific 10 hour flight with no sleep, crappy food and uncomfortable seats
all worthwhile! And sleep was not an option at this point... loaded up on
Starbucks, the first in many hilarious pursuits began in trying to get Sally’s
old, rusty, wasp infested car ‘The Tuna’ started. After dropping my stuff at my
host Angelina’s house, we were initially going to join Sally & Martina in
The Tuna, but thankfully her husband turned up to lend us the car – I was
relieved because it seemed the wasps had followed The Tuna all the way to New
Westminster and were frantically buzzing around the car. I have a terrible
phobia of wasps – I have never been stung, and so I don’t know if I’m allergic
or not (I have many allergies, so I wouldn’t put it past me), and North America
is the last place you want to get stung if you’re allergic and a foreigner
(health insurance, anyone?!).
Sunrise, sunrise....
We grabbed some food, and it was off to the
studio to rehearse...or should I say *learn* a complete choreography in time to
be performed on the Sunday night at the show. The four of us would dance this
piece together at Molotov, and later at Tribal Fest. By the end of the day I
had been awake for more than 40 hours, but like a trooper I caffeinated myself
and pushed through the sheer exhaustion. Thankfully I pick choreography up
pretty quickly (even with no sleep!), and this one was incredibly fun to learn.
I collapsed in to bed eventually at 10pm – a pretty good time to go to bed to
avoid jet lag I think, and slept for 8+ hours straight, waking up at 6:30am to
a beautiful sunrise. Then realised it was 6:30, no one was awake and I probably
deserved more sleep after 40+hrs of awake time!
Saturday was workshop day – I taught A Step
in the Right Direction, which is one of my favourite workshops to teach, and I
got a really good group of dancers that I could throw some of my most difficult
material at. I had a lot of fun teaching the dancers in the workshop and seeing
them picking up some of the challenging movement combos I was throwing at them
– they did damn good! Sam Riggs was the second teacher, teaching
Indian-inspired ITS. I didn’t take this workshop as I was rehearsing my duet
with Martina at the time, but from what I saw it was a killer workshop, and I
really wish I had taken it. Martina’s workshop was the usual sweaty drills,
pumping music, and crazy layering – fun, challenging and finished off with a
pretty choreography that we will be performing together in Vienna in July.
Bearded ladies, sword swallowers, humpty, and drinking Candian style!
The show took place on Sunday, at which
point the jet lag was catching up with me. I got really, really tired in the
afternoon, and this lasted for several days after. The show was an inspired mix
of bellydance, circus sideshow and other dance styles thrown in to the mix. It
was one of the best shows done in this way that I’ve seen. Neil, the sideshow
freak for the night, performed a bed of nails piece – this was my favourite of
the night as Sally reprised her role as the Taco that met me at the airport –
Neil sandwiched between two beds of nails, she lay down on top of the top bed,
as the sexy Taco she was, to the tune of Down in Mexico – hilarious. In no
other show can you see a Taco, a bearded lady and a quartet of three Canadians
(one of whom lives in USA) and a Brit dancing a piece they first rehearsed
together two days before. I hope they will have their trailer up for the show
soon – it was priceless. I’m so grateful to Angelina and Sally for
having me at their event, I had SO MUCH FUN and was honoured to be a part of
it. I was really looked after by Angelina and I totally fell in love with her
cats, especially Maine Coon Solly – what a beautiful cat he was! I was kind of
sad to leave it all behind and go down to Sebastopol, but being the main
purpose of the trip, I had to tear myself away from the cats and go catch a
flight to San Francisco.
Chapter Two: Tribal Fest
As usual, American immigration was not the
most pleasant, but I made it into the country! Travelling with Angelina and
Sally, I sat next to a couple wearing matching black and white striped pants.
We spotted them across YVR as Sally & Angelina had worn similar pants to
perform their duet in the night previously. The air hostess came over and asked
the couple ‘So I gotta ask, what’s the deal with the matching pants?’ The guy
turned around, gave her a look, and dryly responded, ‘We’re just awesome’.
Needless to say, she didn’t know how to respond, which led to much snickering
from me! I took the opportunity of being on yet another flight, to write half
of a paper for a conference I’m presenting at this month. Let me tell you, it’s
not easy to write an academic paper when you’re on holiday with people that do
not stop all day, that are constantly social and want you to be social too. I
wouldn’t change them for the world – I would have (in an ideal world) written
the paper before I left. Never again will I agree to the demands of my
supervisor to ‘just do this paper, oh you only have a week to do it...’.
Blooooooowdega Bay!
After a bit of a fiasco trying to get from
our rental car place, back into the SF airport to pick up Martina, we were on
our way to Bodega Bay, where we were staying. We picked up the Rustiqua girls
at the car rental place and were on our way! We were all tired by the time we
got to Blowdega Bay, as we nicknamed it (because of the sea breeze), and so
everyone was quickly to bed before Tribal Fest started on Tuesday. And thus
begins my tale, the truth about Tribal Fest...
I am going to be completely honest here –
for the first few days at Tribal Fest, I could not understand what all the fuss
was about. The vendors were not yet set up on Tuesday, meaning if you were
waiting around for class to start (as we were) you had *nothing* to do. It’s
HOT, there were wasps everywhere (and we already know how much I’m scared of
wasps), there is no shade anywhere and you’re not allowed inside unless you’re
taking a class. I spent the first day of Tribal Fest hiding and sweating
underneath my hoodie trying to avoid sunburn, waiting around while wasps
dive-bombed and terrorised me (and it seemed like they were targeting only
me!), and I was bored. There were very few stalls to look around at this point,
and everything was still being set up. I took my first class with Cera Byer,
and while the content was
excellent, there was so little space in the class I
felt like I couldn’t get the true value of Cera’s excellent teaching. We were
in a small room, which was crammed full of people. I had purposefully targeted
the smaller classes, but I felt I actually got better value in some of the
larger ones because I had space to move. Cera’s class covered Western dance
techniques, which included floorwork. I ended up sitting out towards the end
because I felt like I didn’t have enough space, and because the workshops are
on a concrete floor, my knee had started to hurt. I really wish I could take
this class with Cera again, in a dance studio, with a proportionate class size
to the space available so I could really get the benefit of her expert knowledge
– for me to learn I typically have to ‘do’ and I felt like I did not have the
capability to execute anything without attacking the person next to me, and
this made me shut down and not try hard enough to engage with the material as I
was more worried about hitting other people in the class. My second class was
with Asharah, which was a much nicer space – an actual dance studio , that had
only 10 people (myself included) in the class. Asharah drilled several movement
combinations from the Suhaila Salimour format, which was a great refresher
after taking Level 1 last year. However, with jet lag being how it is, I got
extremely tired half way through her class and found it really hard to
concentrate and be really present in the drills – this was frustrating for me,
as her workshop was very well taught and delivered and I finally had the space
to feel comfortable. Stupid jet lag!
Wednesday was kind of similar – lots of
hanging around, not everyone was there yet. I took April Rose’s class Shimmy
While You Work, which gave me some great ideas for ways I could build in extra
practice into my own daily life, and ideas to give to my students on how they
can practice when they don’t have two hours they can devote to dance every day,
or a studio they can dance in. Kami Liddle’s workshop was the only one I took
in ‘the big room’. I felt more benefit from this workshop, having space to
actually move around. The workshop was Gettin’ Hyphy with Saidi – a Tribal
Fusion choreography with movements taken from Saidi dance. I LOVED this
workshop. I used to dance Saidi with my first bellydance teacher Karen, and
having not done it for a few years now I was reminded of all these movements in
my repertoire that I have forgotten about using, and took me back to the good
old days of being a completely new bellydancer – I loved it! It was a great
choreography. Every workshop I have taken with Kami this year has made me more
and more excited to be bringing her back to the UK again for Infusion Emporium
in November.
Thursday I didn’t go to Tribal Fest during
the day. We were going to rehearse our piece.... but being with Martina, who
had gone to take her Rachel Brice workshop in the morning, she likes to
socialise and so she spent more or less the whole day there, forgot she had to
pick up the Rustiqua girls and ended up doing a mad dash between Bodega Bay and
Sebastopol to get them to their workshop. So we had no rehearsal time at all! Instead
I took the opportunity to Skype with Dan and my parents and do some work on the
computer and chill out. In the evening I went to the meet and greet event, and
from here onwards I began to understand exactly why people go to Tribal Fest.
Everyone you know (especially if you have travelled a lot, and know a lot of
people), are there in one room all at once. It was 1.5 hrs and I only got
around half of the hall, speaking to various people I know. I had such an
awesome time getting to catch up with people I hadn’t seen for a long time,
meeting people for the first time, and perusing the instructors’ merchandise.
As the weekend progressed it was very clear
in my mind why Tribal Fest is a must do for any Tribal dancer, at least once.
At the beginning of the week I was very adamant that I wouldn’t return, and
didn’t ‘get it’. By Friday I was talking of ‘when we come next year....’, ‘next
year we should...’ etc. Almost everyone
you know, and everyone you would want to meet is at Tribal Fest. They’re not
kidding when they say it’s like a big reunion cos it is. All weekend I hardly
saw any of the performances, because I was locked in conversation with people I
hadn’t seen for months or even years. How incredible to all be brought together
from all over the world by a common love for the same thing!
Friday for me was the best day – I took a
brilliant workshop in the morning with Donna Mejia – it’s a workshop I’ve taken
with her before but I greatly benefited from repeating material and she had
some new material in there, on practising while injured or compromised. Some
fantastic ways of maintaining muscular balance, health and alignment during
times when you’re not able to put 110% behind your practice, when you’re not
capable of performing an all out drills session hitting every muscle group.
This was the perfect routine for maintaining an appropriate level of fitness
and keeping going in practice at times when it may be difficult or impossible
to go through your usual regime. I also performed with Martina, Angelina and
Sally on this day. The whole thing went really well, the video looked great and
it felt good to be on stage. I didn’t even feel overly nervous – butterflies,
yes, but not the incapacitating fear I had been experiencing for a period last
year. This is a good sign! I was really stoked to see Zoe in the audience
watching us, and was really great to get her feedback afterwards. She is
definitely my foremost inspiration at this point in my dance career and so her
opinion means a lot. It was a great honour to share the stage with those girls,
and I hope it won’t be the last time we do that! After watching a few
performances I headed over to Lee Ali’s class. For me, this class made Tribal
Fest worthwhile from a learning perspective. It was the class I felt I gained
the most from, both in knowledge and in action, being taught how to enter into
a trance and gaining the experience of what that feels like. It was an intense
and emotional workshop – I cried my eyes out when coming out of the trance, and
I wasn’t the only one that shed tears. It’s incredibly overwhelming and
powerful, and to be able to reach that through sound and movement is
incredible. I experienced something similar in Amel Tafsout’s workshop in Texas
earlier this year, and in Lee’s workshop this feeling was intensified and
stronger. If you’re interested in trance dance, or just curious, I highly
recommend Lee Ali, being a leader in the field. It was money well spent.
I didn't take any workshops on Saturday – I
got up early and went for a photo shoot with the incredibly talented
photographer Sequoia Emmanuelle. If you don’t know the name you will certainly
know her photos – she has photographed the likes of Zoe Jakes, Kami Liddle and
Jillina, among many others, and her images are some of the most iconic in tribal
bellydance. It was a great honour to be able to catch a photo session with her.
She just sent me the finished photos from the selection I chose, and they are
nothing short of amazing. Certainly the best promo shots I've ever had. Photo
shoots are always really hard for me – I'm an introvert and I need to be
directed. Sequoia did a great job of putting me at ease and getting the perfect
shot. Being a model is the most uncomfortable thing – you have to exaggerate
every movement, stick your neck forwards, stick your hip out further, twist
into unimaginable positions. But the shots look great, and so it’s worth the
discomfort! I’m really happy with the results – photo shoots are a big monetary
investment so I wanted some shots that would be classic, and wouldn’t date
quickly like many of my previous professional shots – I want to be able to use
these photos for the next few years. I gave this brief to Sequoia and I
definitely think she’s nailed it from that perspective.
After the photo session I went off to
perform my solo at Tribal Fest. First I enjoyed the movement choir in UNMATA’s
performance (which I couldn’t miss, of course!) and then headed backstage to
get changed and warmed up. I felt more nervous about this performance, I guess
because all eyes would inevitably be on me! I performed an old favourite dance
of mine to warm me up and guarantee I got all the favourite tribal fusion
technique in there, followed by my new dance ‘Raphael’. By the end of it I felt
pretty good about my performance. It was really nice to see friends out there
in the audience. At the time I didn’t hear any cheering or zaghareeting, I
didn’t hear anything but the music. Angelina filmed me on her iPhone, and I was
astounded by the amount of noise coming from the audience – hearing Amy shouting
‘Dat’s Right!!’ was probably the most entertaining! ;) I got the official video
back the next day, and I didn’t actually get to watch it properly until I got
home – the avid Tribal Fest channel viewers got to see it before me! I just
approved it without really watching it – the internet connection at Bodega
house was pretty shoddy and so it kept skipping in playback. However I was
confident from my audience feedback that I did a decent job, and so gave the
go-ahead for upload. We also danced as a surprise act that night at the
Electric Vardo after party with DJ Amar – an improv set with Martina, myself,
Angelina, Sally & Rustiqua, which was a lot of fun.
Sunday was the final day of Tribal Fest. I
took a workshop with Amy Sigil – The Spirit of Teamwork – where we ran through
several basketball drills (yes, you read that right!) and tried to embody
characteristics required in a team. The key message was – your characteristic
in a team is not your personality – the more flexible you can be, the more
useful you are to a team. This highlighted for me a lot of what I’m trying to
work on as an individual – as a performer, as a teacher, as a business person.
I am, by my nature, an introvert. Many people scoff at the idea that I’m an
introvert, but I really am. I find it hard to be a networker – I rarely
introduce myself, or ask for an introduction, and there have been hundreds of
times that I’ve been left alone with people and had no idea what to say. It’s
not that I don’t have anything to say, I just find it hard to be the outgoing
person people often want you to be. But Sigil pointed out that that’s exactly
the point – it doesn’t have to be you. When I’m put into group work at
workshops I often take a backseat role – I’ll let someone else lead and just
follow what they say, whether I agree with it or not. The only time I ever take
the lead in these situations is if I’m grouped with others exactly like me –
where one of us has no choice but to realise some kind of control. I resolved,
in that workshop, to stop being myself in these situations (whether it was
group work, or social interaction) and be the person I wish I could be – to
play the role and realise that while it’s not my personality, it’s the role I
need to embody for that short period of time. From the moment I left the
workshop, high fiving the door on the way out shouting my new characteristic –
‘COMMUNICATOR!!!’ – I changed as a person. It’s incredible how Sigil can create
such a huge impact on your life with just a few words. She’s done it for me
many times, and I’m sure she’ll do it again. This is probably the one that will
change me the most. I took note over the two weeks that followed Tribal Fest as
to how much I really utilised the things she said – and really I used it a lot.
I felt more confident in holding down a conversation for more than just awkward
small talk, I told people how I felt, I introduced myself to the people I
wanted to meet or get to know at Tribal Fest, and at Soul Food the following
week I took the lead and contributed ideas during group work. I’m a better team
player now – I hope I can keep it up!
After the workshop I paid my entrance to
watch what was left of the Sunday show. Sunday was filled with amazing
performers including Sherri Wheatley, Suhaila and Jill Parker and the Foxglove
Sweethearts. My favourite performance of the whole weekend also took place on
this day – Zoe Jakes. I adore Zoe, and I make no secret of it – she has always
been a big inspiration of mine, and a favourite dancer too, and in the past few
years a favourite teacher. So of course it makes sense that she would be a
favourite performer at Tribal Fest, but for me it was the best of the weekend.
I didn’t see everyone of course, but having come back and watched videos (many
of whom I thought were also incredible), I still stand by my statement that no
one came close to Zoe. Her performance had everything – the emotive beginning,
the comical middle including mad prop skills, and the classic typically-Zoe
Tribal Fusion number at the end. From the moment they pushed play to the moment
she left the stage I was enraptured. For me, it had everything I want to see in
a performance, and I told her as such. It was amazing!
It wasn’t long before Tribal Fest was over.
Sunday went very, very quickly! We said our goodbyes throughout the day as
people left. I stayed to the bitter end, as I was sleeping on the couch of the ‘French
Embassy’ that night. I had starved most of the week, not having time to eat during
the day and not wanting to eat anything expensive from the festival, so I was
so happy to eat some delicious and filling Mexican food in the evening, on the
turf of a car park with Mat, Lauren Jeanette, Mardi, Zoe and their stall assistant Yuko. It was one
of those moments when you can’t quite believe that this is where you are right
now. And that was it, Tribal Fest was officially over. That night, after
several glasses of wine, I slept on the French Embassy’s couch ready for the
ride to Sacramento the next day.
So what’s the moral of this story? Everyone
should go to Tribal Fest at least once. It is one of those must-do things for
every Tribal bellydancer. Yes it has its negative points – classes that are too
full, rooms that are too small, nowhere to shade from the blazing heat until
Friday when the shows start... too many vendors on which you want to blow all
your cash (good thing or bad thing, I’m not sure!), no supermarkets or food
outlets nearby (unless you take the 15 minute walk to the centre – you can miss
a lot in the 30 minute round trip, especially when you need time to buy stuff
at the store too!), concrete floors on which to dance during the workshops (my personal
biggest gripe), and (in my humble opinion) too much focus on spending and not enough on learning
(sounds harsh but in my mind it was true, because learning is my priority). But it has its great points too – where else will you see
almost all the most famous Tribal bellydancers you know all in one room? Where do
you get to hang out with the teachers like they were your friends? Where do you
get to non-stop socialise with friends old and new? Sure, you have to queue 30
minutes for the bathroom (if you ever get there at all!), but really, it’s like
a family reunion. Will I go back? Probably, one day. Probably not next year –
it cost me an absolute fortune to be there, and doing that every year coming
from the UK is just not feasible for me unfortunately – if I go to America I
need a guaranteed learning experience that makes it worth the huge expense on
travelling there. But I’m sure I will be back there one day. And if your focus
is on becoming a better dancer, getting in-depth training... I would honestly
recommend other festivals. Individual workshops are not going to give you what
you need – if your budget is limited to one big event and you want to really
immerse in training and forget everything else (performing, shopping,
socialising...), Tribal Fest is not the festival you want to go to. But it is a
lot of fun, and having everybody there meant I got to have some really quality conversations with people, getting to know them and this was the benefit for me. It should definitely be experienced once, if not repeatedly!
Hot Pot was really like home. I have never
felt so connected to a place that was so completely new to me. At Tribal Fest I
got really homesick on those first few days (but as you saw, it did pick up). Coming to Hot Pot was like
being with family. Everyone is so welcoming, and friendly and just awesome.
Observing the community they have there, in such a unique way, was really
inspiring. It really makes me want to do something just like that here. I was
really, really sad to leave and move on to Oakland. I wish I could have spent
longer at Hot Pot, it really was an incredible few days. Entertaining ourselves
in the evening by re-enacting How Animals Eat Their Food probably helped with
that quite a lot! (Still awaiting the video!)
Illan and Moona were also leaving on
Wednesday – Amy drove us to the airport in the UnMetro – a converted ice-cream
truck, where we drove with the doors wide open, me in the front and everyone
else on benches in the back... it’s something you can’t really describe, it
just has to be seen! We waved goodbye to Moona and Illan and then drove on to
the train station where I would be getting my train to Oakland. I sadly said
farewell to Amy, Mat and Djeynee and went to buy my ticket. I was sad to be
leaving but a new adventure was ahead of me. I’m definitely going back to Hot
Pot – hopefully next year if I can save the money. I have to go back – it’s
captured my spirit now, there is no choice but to go back!
I enjoyed the two hour train ride to Oakland. It was the first time really in 10 days that I had been completely alone for an extended period of time. Other than the 30 minutes I spent at a cafe during Tribal Fest and the 15 minutes of exploration of the area surrounding Hot Pot Studio, grabbing a coffee and cake from a recommended coffee shop, I had been surrounded by people the whole time. It was nice to spend some time alone watching the scenery go by as the train thundered along to the Bay.
Chapter Four: The Bay Area and Soul Food!
I stayed in Oakland with DJ Amar and
Calamity Sam, THE best hosts a girl could asked for. The day I arrived, Amar
met me at the train station, with the awesome Dusty Paik in tow, dropped my
stuff at the house and took me out for amazing food out in Mission, before
driving me to Fat Chance studio for Strange Brew. Kami was the teacher at
Strange Brew – something I’ve been wanting to go to for a very long time. I
always feel envious of the dancers in the Bay getting to have weekly workshops
with Kami, Zoe, Rose Harden, Elizabeth Strong and regular guest instructors –
so I was surprised to find that most of the class were foreigners or non-locals
still in the area after Tribal Fest. Kami taught some pop and lock drills
before introducing a fun and sassy short-choreography that was so much fun to
dance. I really enjoyed the workshop.
Throughout the stay I visited different
instructors’ classes – on Thursday Sam took me to Elizabeth Strong’s first
weekly class in the Bay in her home studio. It was great to study with Liz
again and having recently trained a lot with Mira and Zoe I could definitely
see the lineage of their shared teacher Katerina Burda through the similarities
in the movements they teach. Again, it was a great class. Liz is also now
teaching Turkish Roman in the Bay too – I hope she will be next time I’m there,
as I would love to take some more classes in this style. Monday night was Sam’s
level 1 ITS class, which was a great recap for me of the whole format at that
level, and Sam is a really fun teacher. On Tuesday I took classes with Kae Montgomery at FCBD and with Jill Parker. I loved the format of Jill’s class,
and learning some classic Tribal Fusion from the mama of the genre. I hope to
study some more with Jill in the future.
My main reason for sticking around in the
Bay after Tribal Fest was Mira and Zoe’s intensive ‘Soul Food’. This took place
for 6-7 hours per day on Friday-Sunday in Oakland and was absolutely brilliant.
Yet again, I have left feeling incredibly inspired with ideas coming out of my
ears. Each morning Mira taught movement drills followed by exercises in
movement dynamics and qualities, and in the afternoon Zoe would drill the crap
out of us before teaching the tail end of her Tribal Fest choreography and
putting us to work in groups, staging the dance, utilising the movement
dynamics from Mira’s class and getting the chance to be director of the group,
experiencing what it is like to be the leader and to have creative control of a
piece. When I left I wanted to change my entire choreography for my class at
home (but I haven’t, because they would probably freak out and never come
back!) – the next one maybe! In a way it’s hard to take these intensives where
you work in a group of dancers that are around the same level of ability as you
are, create awesome work together, and then leave and go home and never get to
work with each other again. I especially felt a strong connection with one
dancer, and it sucks that she lives on the other side of the world. I know we
live in a global age, where the world is so small and we have technology
available. But it’s not the same – these intensives really highlight that for
me. It’s hard to come home and not be able to immediately utilise these
concepts – while I can apply them to my own solo work as well from the dynamics
perspective, and will vastly change my dancing for the better once I get to the
point where I no longer have to think about it, the directing work is something
that I don’t get to do that much, because although I have my students to work
with in class, I don’t have a student troupe to direct at the moment. And with
all the ideas I have, I want some dancers to work with!
The rest of my time in Oakland was spent
eating at great restaurants with Amar and Sam, playing card games in a bar with
some great friends and sightseeing. Dan joined me on Saturday for a 5-day visit
and I was so happy to see him! We never spend so much time apart so I really
missed him. He loves the Bay just as much as I do, so he couldn’t resist coming
out, even if it was only for 5 days. I
got sunburnt really badly in SF on our sightseeing day there, oh my god! I’ve never
had sunburn like it – the pain! Now I have a great tan, but unfortunately not
all over – the tan lines while wearing bellydance costumes is not a great look!
On Sunday after the intensive we went to Ariellah’s student hafla, and got to
see performances by Kae Montgomery, Dusty Paik and Calamity Sam, and I was very
honoured to perform some ITS with Sam and her students at the show. Our last
day was food heaven – we spent the whole day in Oakland beginning with the
Sweet Bar for an inappropriately sugary breakfast, then heading to The Trappist
– a bar that only serves speciality beers. Amar and Sam took us here earlier in
the week and we couldn’t resist a second visit! We ate the amazing grilled
cheese sandwich with truffle – mmmm! And the irresistible chocolate mousse
flavoured with stout – delicious! We wandered around Jack London Square for a
while before finishing off with a picnic at the lake courtesy of Whole Foods.
And with that, our trip was over. We dragged the suitcases to the BART and took
our flight home.
I absolutely love the Bay Area – it is
really like a second home. The vibe there is incredible, and the people I met
were amazing. I got to see old friends like Jesse Stanbridge, that I hadn’t
seen for a long time. I got to take classes every day with incredible teachers
and I got to spend time with like-minded people that have made dancing their
life. Sure, this trip cost a small fortune, and I will have to work several
teaching gigs just to pay it off. But it was worth it. I had three amazing
weeks in North America – I laughed, I danced hard and I learned so much. Huge
thanks to the Canadian girls for having me in Vancouver, to Amy Sigil for
providing a bed at Hot Pot and Amar and Sam for letting me stay at their place
the whole week and for taking such great care of me. There is so much that I
wanted to do in SF that I didn’t get a chance to do... which means I will just
have to go back – hopefully next year, and hopefully for longer!
While at the airport I felt really sad to
be leaving all of these incredible people behind me – it’s hard. But the
community here in the UK and in Europe as a whole is so strong and so many
amazing people here too. It will be a long time before I see some of those
people again, but absence makes the heart grow fonder, so I have no doubt it
will be even better the next time we connect. And in the meantime, there’s
always Facebook!
I returned home to immediately leave again
– taught workshops in Reading hosted by the lovely Kitty Kohl, and this weekend
I just got back from Tribal Festival Hannover, which was a great weekend – but
this was a very long blog, so perhaps we’ll save those stories for the next
time! I have a very busy few months ahead of me, so I hope that I will get a
chance to connect with you on the road somewhere in Europe this summer!
Wow, a busy few weeks by all accounts!
Finished writing my PhD thesis (now just the viva to go before I can officially
call myself Dr. Southall!), went to Tribal Massive for 8 days of training, and
Infusion Emporium just over with... lots to tell you about, so grab a cup of
tea and find a comfy chair! First Tribal Massive – I won’t bore you with the
details of my 28 hours of travel to actually get to Las Vegas, so I’ll just cut
to the chase!
Tribal Massive
We began the first day with 6 hours back to
back with Kami Liddle. Kami has recently studied Bartenieff method and was
incorporating these ideas into her warm up and dance practice. She led us
through a series of exercises and finished with a choreography, which we
continued learning the following day. I found this very interesting and the
different ways of moving were something I will definitely incorporate into my
own dancing. I loved the choreography, it was so powerful and full of contrast
and space. I was glad that we continued to work on it the following day. Following
the workshop I went back to the hotel to Skype with Dan as it was his birthday,
and I was selfishly missing it to be in Las Vegas! After this was the hafla,
which I performed at – an improvised piece that I think went ok. The hafla was
full of lovely dance pieces, but it was a pretty long night and after 28 hours
of travel the previous day I was feeling too destroyed to really give the
performers all my energy like I usually do.
Day 2 was our first day with Zoe. Five
hours of bellydance flow drills, musicality, crazy layering, combos and finger
cymbals. We learned a bunch of combos that were new and exciting, but the brain
was so overwhelmed with information that I can no longer remember them. I wish
that I had the propensity to store more information than I actually do! Despite
taking notes, there was not much time to write down the combinations, and so
they have disappeared into the ether. However, the combos are not the important
thing, rather the technique and concepts behind them are the important things
to remember, and I came away with pages of information to work with.
Following this was Kami again – we did tons
of footwork with layering, which I absolutely loved, followed by continuing
with the choreography. Last year I enjoyed Kami’s workshops and took things
away to work with, but I felt that this year she has really developed a new
body of material with fresh ideas and I’m excited by her new workshops. I felt
like I came away with so much to work on from this class and the previous one.
Day 3 was again Zoe – flow drills, dancing
slowly and musicality was the name of the game. As always she offered useful
insights into making dances, interpreting the music and training. Following this
was Sharon Kihara’s first workshop ‘Digging for Gold’. After some welcomed
yoga, she discussed the need to be flexible as a dancer, and by that she meant
being able to not be you, and sometimes having to be a character you don’t
identify with, referring specifically to her current role in Jillina’s BDE
show. She followed this with some
contemporary dance movement, which was a stark contrast to a lot of the
movement we were introduced to the rest of the week. It made my desire to
return to contemporary dance stronger – I have wanted to take classes again for
a while now but the only class that’s in a reasonable travelling distance for
me is the same night I teach – so annoying! After getting us to move across the
floor, we got into groups and played that game we used to play at school –
Consequences – though the game I remember at school always turned out
significantly cruder than the stories each group produced! We then had to
create tableaux that represented different points in our story and then fill the
gaps with movement – the purpose being to dig inspiration for a piece from this
silly game and produce a group choreography from it that had a story and could
be easily portrayed. The exercise produced surprisingly good results! I was
rather sceptical at first, I always am with these kinds of games in dance
class, but I was really impressed with how it sparked the creativity of each
group and made us thing differently on how to make a choreography.
The next day was our final day with Zoe,
where we covered more zill patterns while dancing, drilling and working with
musicality. Zoe is an inspirational creative force that continues to inspire me
on my dance journey to be a better dancer, a more exciting choreographer and to
train hard. She has changed the way I think about dance and has heavily
influenced how I approach using a piece of music from a musicality perspective.
There are few other teachers that currently feed my soul and my spirit in the way
she does, and I had the great pleasure of getting to spend time having
conversations with her this year instead of just seeing her in class, which was
a great experience.
Following Zoe we had our second class with
Sharon Kihara, Infinite Inner Space, which was a Butoh inspired workshop. I
took this workshop in Bristol a couple of years ago, and while I felt I got
something out of it then, it didn’t inspire me on a deeper level. This year it
was much better – we went through several exercises where I really felt like I
was engaging with the material more deeply. One exercise consisted of half of
the class being ‘placed inside a glass box, about 3 feet wide, tall and deep’,
with the trigger ‘lost child’. I was in this group and I really felt that I was
embodying the assignment. I recalled how I felt when I was a child that lost my
mother – panicked, frightened, like the world had ended. And, I don’t really do
well with small spaces, so being in this ‘box’ also really freaked me out. I
couldn’t breathe for about 10 minutes afterwards. I usually don’t engage with
‘theatricality’ workshops well, but I made a conscious effort to open up more
to it for this week. These kinds of workshops bring up all sorts of emotions –
when people have dealt with illness, death, depression, fear... this stirs up a
lot emotionally, and there were several dancers that cried in class, myself
included. If I see someone crying I will also start crying, I’m that kind of
person! Sharon did a great job of grounding
everyone before class was over and having us return to a state that meant we
weren’t dwelling on the emotions from the class.
The following three workshops were with
Mira Betz. Anyone that knows me knows that last year I said I was done with
Mira. I’d had a bad workshop experience with her in 2011, and at the 2012
Massive I didn’t really enjoy any of the workshops that were not dance based. I
went into day one of Mira with this negative perception of her, and by day 3 my
opinion had turned around completely. She was like a different person this
year. Day one was lots of across the floor movement drills followed by a fast
choreography (and I’m talking UNMATA fast!) with a contemporary twist, which I
really enjoyed learning. Day 2 was ‘the talky day’, but actually it was unlike
any Mira lectures I’ve taken, where I felt that the information was relevant to
dance and didn’t involve as much talking as last year! It was essentially a
theatricality workshop, but I have to say was the best one I’ve taken. There
were no ‘imagine your father just died’ exercises which I have heard in
countless theatricality workshops and think is really inappropriate. All the
exercises related directly to dance movement rather than just being theatre for
the sake of it. I really felt like there was stuff from this I could take away
and apply to my dance to make the messages I want to portray more clearly in my
body.
After day one with Mira was an afternoon
off for the show rehearsals so I took the opportunity to Skype with Dan, get
some formatting of my PhD document done and relax. In the evening Antonella,
Sunci and I went to Cirque du Soleil’s show Mystere at Treasure Island. It was
an amazing show with impressive feats of all kinds – trapeze, silks, body
balancing and more. It was a really great show, but I actually preferred Ka,
the show I saw last year, as I liked having the storyline to follow. We paid
$60 for the tickets, but got moved to the expensive seats because there were
some spare, so all in all a great experience!
On the evening of our second day with Mira
was the show, which I cannot even begin to tell you about because every act was
amazing in its own right. It was even better than last year, and it’s really
difficult to pick highlights because it was just so good. Of course, I really
enjoyed Zoe’s performances, and UNMATA closed with the set that they did at
Tribal Umrah which never fails to get me shedding a tear. I performed in the
show, albeit for about 60 seconds! I danced a combo on the end of Sundari’s
performance, as I had done in Split last year. It was fun to dance on the
Massive stage, though of course I would have loved to have performed one of my
own pieces there! It did feel strange to be the only dancer in costume that
didn’t go up to take a bow. And it was very bittersweet, as sometime that night
the brooch I had pinned to my belt fell off, and it was a brooch that really
meant a lot to me. I checked with Security the following day and they let me
scour the venue, but I couldn’t find it. I’m really very upset that it has gone
missing, heartbroken in fact as it was a very meaningful gift from a friend.
Now it’s gone for good. I just hope that someone picked it up and will treasure
it as much as I did, because it would be so much worse if it has been cleaned
up with the trash. By the time it was all over we were starving and had to wait
a long time for food! It was 3AM by the time we got to bed.
The next day was more Mira – this time I
had to sit out because the turns in the combo she was teaching were making me
so dizzy I thought I would be sick. 4 hours sleep is not a good amount to go to
a dance class on. I’m afraid I wasn’t able to stick it out! The class was again
very interesting, different way to look at group choreography using a combo and
improvisation. It was actually cool to be an observer than a participant – I
think I actually learned more this way from this particular class.
Sciahina & Alexis prepare for the Massive Spectacular
After Mira we had Amy Sigil, who took us on
the Human Experience. She taught a variety of combos in her own unique way and
we danced them all together at the end. She had us writing down things that we
then inputted into a paper that she handed out to make a story of our human
experience. If you’ve ever taken her STATIC workshop, it was a similar thing.
It was a great class – Amy always has really different and intelligent ways of
approaching learning, teaching and dance in general. She and Zoe are the
teachers I feel are feeding me the most creatively right now. That night we all
went to bed really early and slept for a long time!!
The next day was the final day. We started
with Frederique – another theatricality workshop. Her material was also
interesting and some parts were different to Sharon’s, others similar. I think
by the time it got to her, we had already done two theatre workshops, and I for
one was a little less receptive to doing a third. I enjoyed the class, but I
think I’d have enjoyed it more if I hadn’t already done two workshops on a
similar theme. I did really enjoy Fred’s warm up, though, which targeted the
core. I’m always looking for new core exercises so I was pleased.
After Fred,
our final class was Amy, and was actually my favourite class of the week – ITS!
We covered many of the basic stall movement of ITS and their associated big and
little sisters, and it was really nice to be able to see the similarities and
differences between Fat Chance format and Hot Pot format. It’s definitely
something I want to do more of. I was grinning the whole way through, I loved
it. We were split into a stagger formation to begin with, having learned the
basic vocabulary she wanted us to work with, then moving onto circles in our
groups. We then worked with large staggers, circles, chorus line and multiple
circles and chorus lines that paved the way for passes and cascades. The format
is so complicated and yet so intuitive. I just adored it, I can’t wait to do
more. It was a great way to end the week, everyone dancing together, relying on
each other. Perfect. I was sad to say goodbye to the teachers and friends of
the week. It’s always hard to go back to reality and normality after such an
intensive training experience and being away from home for so long. I, however,
didn’t go back to normality, not in its entirety. My PhD is finished; I had
April Rose with me for a whole week. So my reality wouldn’t hit for another
seven days... somehow I think it’s worse this way!
For anyone
considering a trip to the US for training, Tribal Massive is the best festival
I have been to. You focus so much on dance, everything else is unimportant. I
saw such a dramatic change in my dancing last year; I can’t wait to see how it
affects everything this year. But I think it will change me in a different way
this year.
Infusion Emporium
Somehow it would be replete of me to
present a blog about Massive without including the event that occurred
immediately afterwards – Infusion Emporium presents... April Rose. I won’t go
on for too long because I’ve wittered on for long enough already. It was a real
pleasure to host April Rose – so easy going and easy to get along with,
unfussy. Really a great person to sponsor. Her workshops were inspirational,
teaching Making Choreography (a favourite of mine from her workshops at Split a
few years ago), and Making Choreography 2 for the first time ever - A UK exclusive! Sunday was
technique and dancing day, where we learned combos and short choreography as
well as steps from other dance forms for the Unapologetic Fusion class. April
attended my weekly class earlier in the week which was a bit nerve-wracking;
and we took a day trip to London taking in Camden market and the British Museum
as well as seeing the Ballet Revolucion show.
The Infusion Emporium showcase went really
well. We worked closely with the lighting team at the theatre so that we had
better lighting than ever for the show, and we’re really pleased how it turned
out. Below I’ll share my new solo and duet with Dawn O’Brien so you can get a
feel of the venue and what’s in store for November.
Having this change of dynamic in my
behaviour gave me a lot more confidence to do things I had wanted to do for a
long time. The major thing it gave me confidence to do was to direct a group.
I’ve wanted to work with a group for sooo long. I’ve worked in tons of groups, but I’ve never had an
opportunity to choreograph and direct a group. This year I created the Juniper
Project, which got a great response both from the dancers that wanted to be
involved to the reactions of the audience when we performed at Infusion
Emporium this year. I was very fortunate to get to work with some of our most
talented dancers on this performance, and audience members were raving about the
performance. It was definitely a highlight of my year. It is an experience that
I have not only learned a great deal from, but also see as being a permanent
fixture in my future. I would love to do more work with Juniper Project and I’m
currently formulating plans and looking into ways to make those plans happen.
