Barefoot and bellydancin’

Being barefoot is good for our health and good for our soul. Barefoot dancing rejuvenates the dancer in a way that dancing with shoes does not. There is a lot of talk these days about the benefits of being barefoot, commonly referred to as ‘earthing’ in a therapeutic context. If you don’t believe me, ask the internet. Even better, just take off your shoes and go for a walk…be your own expert!

Since I last posted, I have completed the first portion of teacher training with Roula Said at Om Laila in her wonderful  little studio that you can only get to through an enchanted little garden in the heart of downtown. Next I’ve moved into the practicum and have started with a small group of students who have so kindly been offering me feedback on my teaching. While I have taught some classes here and there over the years, I have never ventured into the world of teaching ongoing classes and its not specifically a goal of mine to ‘get into’ teaching. But over time more people ask me if I teach –often after a performance or during a conversation about dance –and I would like to develop these skills should opportunities arise. I have a particular interest in the therapeutic effects of dance, and am dreaming up ways to merge movement with some of my other interests in community-based healing work.

Being in teacher training with Roula Said is a special thing, we are the first group she has trained in her Seven Waves style and while all of us will have our own take on it and bring it differently into our practices, all of us are Om Laila devotees and there was no much love and engagement in this process, and though it was a small group, it was an attentive and inspiring one. And the practicum hours continue, as I reach out to groups and people who have stuck in my memory as expressing a love for dance or needing a movement practice of some sort as a way to remember fluidity in this hard world.

In other dance news, Serpentina has a new site and even some swag with the new logo. We have been selling the tank tops out and about, just message me if you want more info on that (various colours and only $15). Last weekend, Serpentina performed at the Lavish Project Gala Show, debuting our new kathak-inspired choreography. Under the guidance of Orkideh, our leader who has been studying kathak for years, we delved into fusions of bellydance and kathak –newer territory for those of us with minimal Indian dance background. The angles and mudras marry so beautifully to ATS, it was a lovely piece to work on with the troupe and as always so much fun to perform at the Darkside Studio.

Since January, I have been part of the production Inanna, created, directed and choreographed by the beautifully sultry Joanne Camilleri. We rehearse our asses off every Sunday and that is soon to ramp up as we move closer to show time. Stay tuned here for more info, this show promises to be like no other, a sort of modern, psychedelic multi-sensory adventure into the story of Inanna –the Sumerian Goddess of Love. Here are a few shots of the dancers from the past couple of months…a super cool crew to work with that’s for sure.

Dancing is such a deeply fulfilling and exhausting thing. Pleasure and pain, can’t have one without the other.