Shimmying with old and new

I was really excited to start my new term of classes in Egyptian Dance tonight at The Salisbury Centre.

After a long wait for a slot to teach regular classes in the Centre, I've been offered a regular Thursday night slot for the summer term.  It's my favourite venue to come and teach a class.  The room is beautiful - it's a first floor drawing room with a smooth clean wooden floor and a lovely view over the Centre's organic garden.  And I'm looking forward to teaching on warm summer evenings when it will be possible to relax in the garden before class. 

It is a small group, but really nice to be teaching a combination of students who had been to my previous workshops and classes, those who were already familiar with the dance, and a few students who were entirely new to the dance.

We started with some walks, attitude and posture and then went through some basic moves including fluids, figures of 8, sharps, hits and of course some shimmies and variations - quite exciting as always when the students showed some real shimmy potential.  In the last part of the class we put these moves together to explore a piece of Baladi music, "Jalilah's Balady", from Amar 14:

Places are still available on the course which runs on Thursday evenings from 8.00-9.15 at The Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB.  Cost for the full 10 week term is £60 full price and £50 for concessions.  To book, call 0131 667 5438, or email office@salisburycentre.org

Image is from Piranha Musik.

www.habibadance.com

Summer term at the Salisbury Centre

 

Good news!

The Salisbury Centre has found me a slot to teach regular weekly classes in Egyptian Dance next term.

Here are the details:

Every Thursday, 8.00-9.15pm
Starting on 22 April 2010
At The Salisbury Centre, 2 Salisbury Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AB
Cost is £60 for the term of 10 classes, or £50 for concessions

I will be teaching the "Dances of Egypt".  Each week we will introduce the music and dance associated with different styles of Egyptian Dance.  It's a great way of learning about the background, history and development of this rich art form, whilst studying the different moves and technique, and exploring self expression to accompany the music.

The course will cover Sha'abi - the traditional Egyptian folk dance originating from Upper Egypt, Baladi  - an expressive interpretation of "Egyptian Jazz", and Classical - a contemporary style with ancient roots.   We will also explore the energies of the male and female style of dance, and if time allows the contemporary form inspired by Sufi tradition.

The course will be mixed level.  It is suitable for Absolute Beginners and Improvers who want to revisit the basics and develop a deeper understanding of Egyptian dance would also be very welcome.  This was a very popular format when I taught my Summer series of classes in 2009.  You can read the testimonials on my website to hear what my students had to say.

The Salisbury Centre is the longest established holistic education centre in Edinburgh.  It is based in a Georgian House in the Southside of Edinburgh and set within beautiful organic gardens.   Here is the streetview.  The studio is in fact an amazing first floor drawing room, with a clean floor and beautiful views.  If you haven't been there before, I would thoroughly recommend going along to visit the Centre.  You can sit in the garden, help yourself to tea and coffee, and explore the range of things on offer including meditation, yoga, pottery, therapies and treatments, and a whole range of different classes and workshops.

To book, contact The Salisbury Centre: 0131 667 5438, office@salisburycentre.org

And for further information, please feel free to contact me here.

I hope to see you there!

www.habibadance.com

Flirting with tradition

I had a wonderful evening at the Filmhouse tonight, watching the Egyptian film Ghazal el Banat (The Flirtation of Girls). This is a 1940s Egyptian comedy musical with a story that could easily translate to a Hollywood setting - but with an emotional intensity in the acting and characterisation that could only be reflective of Egyptian cinema and culture.

The film features Leila Mourad, a hugely popular Egyptian singer who was of Jewish origin. A beautiful opening sequence features Leila (who happened to be playing a girl called Leila) riding through the forest with her friends singing Etmakhtari Ya Khail (Sing and Dance with the Horses).

Here it is:



It also starred the great comic actor Naguib el Rihani, who incidentally was married to Badia Masabny - the founder of the famous nightclub which featured dancers like Samia Gamal and Tahia Carioca.

Comedy sequences, chorus girls that appear out of nowhere to tapdance in stilletos, the beautiful sound of Egyptian Arabic, music, poetry and song, all given a sensitive translation, made this film an utter delight.

There was also an appearance of Mohammed Abdel el Wahab who strangely happens to be rehearsing at two o' clock in the morning, along with his 100 piece orchestra complete with choir, inside the house of film director Youssef Wahbi.

You can read a particularly nice review of the film here.

Thanks to Neill Walker at the Festival of Middle Eastern Spirituality and Peace, and the Filmhouse for bringing this film to Edinburgh. Merci!


Photo shows Leila Mourad

www.habibadance.com

Hafla for Haiti

Hafla for Haiti fundraiser event comes to Edinburgh on Sunday 21st February.

"Hafla" is the Arabic word for party. This fabulous dance event, will feature the best of local talent with a range of performances of many different styles of dance from Egyptian Dance to Burlesque.

The event has the support of Save the Children in support of the Disasters Emergency Committee Haiti Earthquake Appeal.

The Hafla is at Revolution, Chambers Street, Edinburgh.
Doors open at 7pm, tickets cost £10 and are available on the door.

I hope to see you there!

Update: Hafla for Haiti raised £845 for Save the Children's work in Haiti! A big thank you for Irene for organising everything, to all the perfomers who gave their time and to everyone who came along to support the event.

www.habibadance.com

Honesty is the best policy...

Someone asked me today for some tips on how to market themselves as a dancer and instructor. My reply was simply to do this in a truthful and honest way.

Be clear about the extent of your training, your influences, why you dance, what this dance means to you. How you teach, what you think your students will learn, where you take inspiration, and how you convey this to your students. My friend Elspeth believes that teachers get the students who are right for them and vice versa. I think that an honest approach will only quicken this process, helping the right match to be made.

It saddens me too often to see and hear the exaggerated claims of other dancers in this domain. The claim of authenticity from one who learnt their craft on their home soil. Or those that seek to demeanour the work of other dancers, even as far as discrediting their own teachers' work - to whom they owe heavy dues for bringing the dancer inside, out. To talk about that tiny tots ballet class attended once, as the equivalent of a lifetime of intensive training. To spin tales of being taught by the top dancers of the world when referring to a single workshop shared with 50 other women.

Time will tell, but these are the rules that I'm trying to live by with Habiba Dance. My organisation is now only a year old and the website, the videos, the words, the opinion presented here, they are all a part of myself, my own work and what I stand for.

Image Beth Rankin under Creative Commons.

www.habibadance.com