Sunday 19 January 2014
It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in a small community centre in Wombourne. Ladies and friends chattered away, sharing Christmas stories (some good, some not so good) and spent a few minutes catching up with each other before the first workshop of the year (for some anyway) started.
In breezed London based dancer Roxana, the teacher for the day. Bubbly and full of smiles, she introduced herself and explained what we would cover during the workshop. It was an afternoon of baladi progression, an opportunity to examine the changes in a piece of music and to explore how we would dance to this. Roxana decided to teach a choreography which would come in after the taqsim which was to be improvised.
So the choreography started! I had a ball! It felt great to be able to focus on step patterns, hip rolls and drops, whilst moving around, turning and spinning and dancing. There were some elements of her choreography that I personally wouldn't use (such as hair tosses - I simply don't have the gorgeous long hair of others, much to my dismay and slight jovial jealousy) but that didn't stop her from giving other pointers and suggestions that us short-haired folks could take advantage of.
I've always believed that its OK to learn from different people so having covered baladi progressions with Luna in Luxor, it was really interesting to hear another dancers views on this. Roxana's choreography was upbeat, full of personality and it was varied and precise, all at the same time.
I had a great time - it was lovely to see friends again and to dance with them as well as meeting new people. Roxanna was a pleasure to learn from and has given me more ideas about any future baladi progressions that I may choose to work on. So thanks Roxanna for making the trip from London to Womborne on a Sunday and also thanks to Karen for organising the workshop. I know something has stayed with me when I listen to the workshop music again and I can visualise how I would dance to it,
Photo above owned by Karen Price.
It was a sunny Sunday afternoon in a small community centre in Wombourne. Ladies and friends chattered away, sharing Christmas stories (some good, some not so good) and spent a few minutes catching up with each other before the first workshop of the year (for some anyway) started.
In breezed London based dancer Roxana, the teacher for the day. Bubbly and full of smiles, she introduced herself and explained what we would cover during the workshop. It was an afternoon of baladi progression, an opportunity to examine the changes in a piece of music and to explore how we would dance to this. Roxana decided to teach a choreography which would come in after the taqsim which was to be improvised.
So the choreography started! I had a ball! It felt great to be able to focus on step patterns, hip rolls and drops, whilst moving around, turning and spinning and dancing. There were some elements of her choreography that I personally wouldn't use (such as hair tosses - I simply don't have the gorgeous long hair of others, much to my dismay and slight jovial jealousy) but that didn't stop her from giving other pointers and suggestions that us short-haired folks could take advantage of.
I've always believed that its OK to learn from different people so having covered baladi progressions with Luna in Luxor, it was really interesting to hear another dancers views on this. Roxana's choreography was upbeat, full of personality and it was varied and precise, all at the same time.
I had a great time - it was lovely to see friends again and to dance with them as well as meeting new people. Roxanna was a pleasure to learn from and has given me more ideas about any future baladi progressions that I may choose to work on. So thanks Roxanna for making the trip from London to Womborne on a Sunday and also thanks to Karen for organising the workshop. I know something has stayed with me when I listen to the workshop music again and I can visualise how I would dance to it,
Photo above owned by Karen Price.