Dance Yourself Happy!

Britain's Got Talent - A Thumbs-up for Dance in the UK

This year's Britain's Got Talent was very inspiring, and it was fabulous to see dance fare so well in the competing rounds and, of course, in the final itself.

The fact that the final was watched by a staggering 13 million people, and included song, dance - and a dancing dog! - shows that the great British public still has an appetite for those kind of variety acts that used to be the mainstay of Saturday night entertainment.

George Sampson was a very worthwhile winner, with his fantastic, modern take of Gene Kelly's Singing in the Rain.  His surprise and delight at winning brought a tear to the eye - followed by yet more when he said he was going to use his £100k winnings to pay off his mother's mortgage.

But I loved Signature, with their innovative and energetic blend of Michael Jackson and bhangra. Suleman Mirza, a trainee lawyer, and Madhu Singh, a sales assistant, were just magic. And audiences were captivated by the performance of Muslim Suleman, who performs a Michael Jackson tribute act, and Sikh Madhu, who entered carrying a broom, and then let rip with some banghra. On a single day their BGT audition rerun on YouTube exceeded five million viewers. 

And their story was inspiring too; as Suleman Mirza said in an interview in the Daily Telegraph, "Our routine is about togetherness and overcoming conflict. I start the act with a Western dance, and then Madhu comes on stage. I look down on him because I don't understand his culture. But he surprises me, and he works really hard, symbolising immigration, and then we work together, and show that everyone can get on."

Shimmytime in Paris Pt 3 - In Search of Dance, Culture - and the best Macaroons!

After the workshops, went to meet a fellow Johara dancer, Bree, in holiday in France with her family, in the Taverne du Nil restaurant on the Ile-St-Louis. It's the perfect family night out, offering great food, friendly service - and of course, a resident belly dancer.

Melinda (seen here dancing with Bree's daughter), was the dancer that night so we knew we were in for a treat.  

 

Melinda is a lovely dancer and teacher who has travelled extensively for her dance. She used to be part of a dance group called the Gazelles with Raphaelle. Most recently she has been training the actress Laura Ramsey for her role as a young American girl who becomes a professional belly dancer in the independent film What Lola Wants (but more on that later).  

 

Having had yet another late night, it was something of a relief not to wake up with the prospect of six hours of workshops ahead of me.  (Much as I would have liked to have done more classes with both Aida and Tito.)

 

We were free to do something different - and in fact, that evening Raphaelle and I both agreed that we had discovered the perfect way to spend a Sunday in Paris.

 

Shimmytime in Paris Pt 2 - Workshops, Egyptian style

The weekend continued with drama, injury and deportation!  As I know from experience, when it comes to visiting teachers, and particularly from Egypt, nothing ever goes quite to plan.

As I mentioned, I was expecting the show to be over by the time I finally arrived.  So I was delighted not to have missed performances by the Cairo contingent: Tito Saif, Aida Nour, and Liza Aziza.  All three were great to watch.  

Tito (seen here with the festival's organiser, Nabila Henni-Chebra from the Compagnie Ya Leil) was particularly mesmirising, giving a performance with enough energy to power the national grid! He first performed a very skillful stick dance, with not one or two, but four sticks, with which he twirled, balanced and juggled with great dexterity.

It was perhaps more about circus skills than dance but its male dynamism made a welcome contrast to all the soft and feminine sharqi that had gone before. This is obviously his signature dance - as was his drum solo while standing on a darabukka.  He did some fantastic shimmies while standing on the drum - including buttock ones - to rapturous applause from the audience.

I thought Tito's dancing was made all the more effective by his choice of costume.  Unlike some other male dancers who opt for a more 'cabaret-style' outfit, Tito wore a galebaya and trousers with a scarf round his hips.  I sometimes find that the sequins and bare belly on men rather detract from the dance so this made a welcome change.  And his movements were vigorous enough to be detected from the back row.

Following morning I made my way to the Studio des Rigoles for six hours of workshops - three with Tito and three with Aida. There was bad news - due to some complications with this visa, the French authorities insisted that Tito had to leave France within 24 hours!  What was to be done?!

Shimmytime in Paris Pt 1 - Tradition vs Innovation

After a truly transformational workshop with Marianne Williamson, I boarded the Eurostar to Paris for a weekend of performances, workshops and la vie parisienne. (Yes, I realise that this is getting to be a habit.)

When I arrived around 10.30pm, I took the Metro to the Theatre de l' A.S.I.E.M, in a very exclusive area, a stone's throw from the Eiffel Tower.  I was fully expecting everyone to be piling out at the end of the show. But, of course, they were working to Arabic time, so I hadn't missed that much. 

I arrived in time to see a number of soloists performing (not to mention special guests from Cairo, Aida Noor and Tito Saif, but more of that in my next post).  They were gorgeous looking in exquisite cabaret costumes, and danced with great elegance and precision - but they were all dancing oriental or 'raqs sharqi'.  

There was not one baladi or saidi piece.  In fact the only dancer to do something different was Raphaelle Masson (see pic), who did her very original top hat dance. She was wonderful, as always, and her dance seemed to be well-received, but Raphaelle did say that there were the purists there who felt that it shouldn't have been part of the show.

It appears that in Paris soloists really only perform raqs sharqi.  It's seen as 'proper' dancing, in a way that other styles are not. And of course the costuming shows off a good figure to perfection.  But it is only one aspect of a very rich and diverse dance form.

On the way back to her flat, Raphaelle and I discussed the difference between the French and British dance scenes. Raphaelle feels that we Brits are much more open-minded when it comes to this dance.  We like authentic Egyptian dance, but we also enjoy experimenting with different styles and appreciate variety.  Viz the huge interest in burlesque, belly burlesque, arabic fusion etc etc. 

In France, perhaps because there is a much larger Arab community, authenticity is very important. Raphaelle is an exception because while she understands Middle Eastern dance music and the different dance styles better than most, she likes to be innovative and try new things. (The photo above is Raphaelle performing her sublime 'Emma Peel' number.)  That would be applauded in the UK.  But in France, apparently everyone wants to look like an Egyptian. And yet, how can a Westerner doing this dance be truly authentic?

Dancers and The Age of Miracles

The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Mid-Life is the brilliant new book from Marianne Williamson.  It deals with mid-life or 'middle age' - that period when your youth is irrevocably over and when, women in particular, are forced to reassess their role in life, and often experience a crisis about their usefulness.

Having attended Marianne's awe-inspiring talk at the Mind, Body, Spirit Festival in London on Friday, it got me thinking: How does ageing affect our perception of ourselves as dancers?

 

A Beginner's Guide to Belly Dance

Arabic dance, belly dance, Middle Eastern dance, raqs sharqi, oriental dance - these are just some of the names given to this ancient and beautiful dance form.

Many believe that this dance has its origins in Ancient Egypt, since there are tomb paintings which show dancers performing.  Some believe that it was a fertility dance.

Whatever its origins, it is true that this dance form is currently enjoying an unprecedented wave of popularity.  But why?  And what can it offer the today's western woman?

Swindon Shimmies to the Tabla Beat

I had a great time belly dancing in Swindon on Saturday evening - and yes, you did read that correctly. 

I know that people generally view Swindon as being on a par with Slough, which, let's face it doesn't get the greatest press, or maybe that's just my perception because I always get lost when I go there.  (In fact I remember once embarking on a frantic search round Slough for the WHSmith HQ, only to discover that it was in fact in Swindon. Hardly ideal when I was going there to present my company's range of road atlases!) 

But I digress.  There is, in fact, a thriving dance scene in the area, so I was delighted to asked to be guest dancer at the first hafla organised by local dancer and teacher Heather Rose, aka Shirin.

It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. A number of the people there were new to Middle Eastern Dance but they seemed to have a good time.  The ladies in the photo were sitting along one wall behind a long table and looked rather like the Strictly Come Dancing judging panel, which was somewhat disconcerting.  I told them afterwards that I was half expecting them to hold up score cards after each performance - so they duly obliged!

Johara Dance in the Spotlight

One of the biggest benefits of being one of the Joyfully Jobless is being able to attend rehearsals for the Johara Dance Company in London.  I used to thoroughly enjoy being part of Masriat Dance Company so I was thrilled when Josephine Wise asked me to join Johara, the company she started in 2007.  The company produces theatrical work based on Contemporary Arabic Belly Dance, and incorporating elements of Spanish, Latin, African, Indian, Eastern European Gypsy and other dance styles.  Since Jo has a background in Contemporary and other dance forms, she has a unique perspective on Middle Eastern Dance.  I also believe she is one of the most creative choreographers in her field.

I think people will be surprised by our new show, 'Elemental', which we'll be touring in the South of England next Spring. Some of the work is experimental, using contemporary dance and working with a fusion of east and west, and some is more traditional in style.   It's fun to dance and hopefully it will be equally enjoyable to watch.

You can get a sneak preview of the show by watching this clip on YouTube:

 

 

For more information about the tour, visit out website:

www.joharadance.co.uk

 

 

In Chippenham, Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend

This week I taught a burlesque workshop for the Sahara Sisters in Chippenham. They are a lovely group of women and threw themselves into the workshop with their customary gusto!  Once everyone had got dressed up in feather boas, gloves, high heels, wigs and plenty of bling, we ran through our showgirl walks and seductive glove removal and worked on a choreography to that Marilyn Monroe classic, Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend.  I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did.  Unfortunately, I do have a tendency to discard my gloves rather too enthusiastically, flinging them with such vigour that I generally can't find them afterwards.  This time I surpassed myself, lobbing my glove overhead and finding it had actually stuck to the wall!  Most curious...

The Case for Burlesque

Now I realise that Burlesque is an emotive word as far as some belly dancers are concerned.  (But then again, 'belly dance' also makes some dancers' hackles rise...)  I can see their point; those of us who have been dancing for a while have fought so hard to improve the reputation of this dance and see it recognised as a valid dance form like flamenco, jazz or salsa, that we don't want to jeopardise the progress that has been made.

And it hasn't been easy. I still shudder at the memory of a gig I once did in a restaurant in Reading.  I was there with a couple of friends and we just wanted to get some experience of dancing in public. I should have known it would be a disaster when I first clapped eyes on the restaurant  - a  dingy, delapidated building that backed on to a graveyard.

Unbeknownst to my fellow dancers and myself, the place had been booked out by a group of bikers.  Apart from the fact that by the time we arrived the women were already throwing up in the loos and were extremely aggressive towards us in the mistaken belief that we were there to get off with their men (now, that really is deluded), those men's comments nearly put me off dancing for life.

'Ee, you're better than strippers!' and 'If we paid you more, would you take your top off?' were among the tamer remarks.

As a feminist and someone who held a responsible publishing job at the time and was used to being taken seriously at work, I was mortified to be treated like a piece of meat.  True, once we got talking to the bikers they were perfectly OK, but it really put me off cabaret for a long, long  time.

And that's just one story. I have heard so many dancers relay similar experiences, often far worse.  So why am I now so staunchly pro-Burlesque, which in many people's eyes is just glorified stripping?

A Burlesque Fest at Madame Jojo's

On Sunday I intended to go to the MADN AGM (Mosaic Arabic Dance Network) and workshops with Horatio and Beata.  I had booked my tickets and planned my route to Spalding, (relatively) undaunted by the five-hour round trip.  However, on Sunday morning it didn't seem such a good idea after all.  Having spent a good four hours in the car on the Saturday, I just couldn't face another stint - especially on such a gloriously sunny day.  After all, who knows when the sun might come out again?

A sensible person would have pottered around the garden, soaking up the sun and taking life easy.  Sadly, I have never had much sense and I have yet to master the art of doing nothing.  My mind believes that a day exists to be filled, however much my body begs to be given a break.  So it was inevitable that I should trawl on the internet for things to do.

And when I stumbled upon the ShimmyShake website promoting 'London's Belly Dance and Burlesque Show' - check it out for yourself at www.shimmyshakeshow.com - I took it as a divine sign that I had found the perfect way for me to spend my Sunday...

Review to follow shortly!

Bollywood In The Forest

Last Saturday saw me trekking over to Ruardean Woodside in the Forest of Dean for a Bollywood workshop I was teaching for Kim Danby and her students.  It's always a joy to teach there as they are all so enthusiastic and eager to learn new things.  Inevitably they remember my choreography better than I do - but that's just something I've learned to live with!