This week’s combo is to a well-known and well-loved classic, “Tamr Henna”. This song is from the 1957 Egyptian movie, also called “Tamr Henna”. Naima Akef dances to this song in this famous scene. One thing I love about this scene…. she’s playing finger cymbals! So when you hear someone say “Egyptians dancers don’t play zills”… there you go! But I digress…. our combo this week has lots of footwork and direction changes and accents […]
This week’s bellydance combo is to the Arabic pop song “Shayef Nasak” by Mohamed Fouad. This is a beginner level combo, using some of the most common steps and movements beginners learn: Basic Egyptians Drop kicks Sways Hip drops Shoulder accents Although this a beginner level combo, the second half of the combo may be a little challenging if you are a brand new student – but keep at it and you’ll get it! What’s […]
Recently I’ve been doing a lot of reading and research on practice techniques – both for my own personal practice and to better help my students achieve their dance goals. In my reading this week, I came across this description of an expert baseball hitter’s skills. It instantly resonated with me and I recognized the parallel in my own world: “These hitters have just a split second to decide whether to swing and, if so, where […]
Last week, I taught a private lesson that was very different than usual. My student, who has been taking both weekly and private lessons consistently for over 3 1/2 years now, is on the cusp of performing professionally. An opportunity popped up, so the week’s lesson became how to handle a call from a client looking to book a performance rather than our usual technique and improvisation lesson. When you are seriously invested in […]
Last week I got an email from a local dancer asking about performance contracts and what to include in one. I’ll admit I was uncomfortable with contracts when I first started to do private gigs. Some part of me felt it was a gesture of distrust toward my client, but twelve years and several hundred parties later, I wouldn’t do a private gig without one. I’ve come to realize that it’s just a document of […]