Dancing Isis Dance!

Posts Tagged ‘Bellydance’

I loved the classes, I found them really useful in so many ways, the way you explained the skeletal system and got me thinking about my bones rather than muscles was fantastic. The ways in which you described the movement was easy to understand and it was all at a good pace I thought. I looked forward to coming to each class. I enjoyed the before and after stretching etc a lot also. If anything I was going to ask you if you would consider making a CD of your talking through the breathing and movement to buy so I could do it at home as I found that part so useful and meditative!
The dancing was great, I felt movement in parts I had never used before and the use of parts of the body which I hadn’t consciously thought of before also and this is of great benefit I think to health and awareness. I thank you for your teachings and beautiful space in which to learn, I felt your encouragement and approachability.

Recreational Egyptian Dance class – Naomi 2009

I also especially love the way you really focus on the belly being our dance centre. I think for me this is what inspired me the most. It brought me back to my body and my feeling centre. I can quite easily lose my centre; a lot of stress from every day running of a business can be overwhelming

Melissa Christina  – Teacher – Prof. Development training 2004

You teach us in such a way that’s like magic  . . . the next thing I know I am in my body & dancing

Yoka Jones – Student 2007

I went along to another class this Saturday  for a little extra practice, & while it was a good class, it definitely gave me an appreciation of how great & unique our class is, & what a great teacher you are.
Lauren Butler  – Student 2008

Your classes had given me the foundation and grounding to be able to learn from other people. You style of teaching is like no one else

Cassandra Longley – Student 2008/9

For 15 years I have had a varied and colourful relationship with the MED community. It has brought out the best and the worst in me. Writing the Newsletter made me confront myself. Opening myself up and saying, well, here I am:  This is me. I’m going to tell you things I think, do, say.  I’m going to promote what I do and who I am.

A group of my close women friends (not involved in MED) are nicknamed after inanimate objects.  Mine is “Can Opener”. I like to get things out in the open, not something many people are comfortable with – not even me.

This industry is governed predominantly by women. With such a strong female base we could embrace the notion of operating our businesses in a less linear, go-getter, patriarchal manner. Many of us are trying, but alas I understand within the parameters of Western society we have a long way to go.

When women first come to this dance they find sanctuary in private women’s business. They talk, play, dance and dress up. A Sisterhood is formed. This happens primarily amongst students, the teacher may or may not be a part of it.  She may generate the sisterhood or it may be self-generating. Organically it blossoms week after week.  This sisterhood can be found in cities, towns and  rural communities all over the Western World.  In a rural town this can be the only outlet a woman has, away from her family and work. This can go on for years, especially for the student with no aspiration to become a professional dancer or women in rural areas. Some groups become so close that if one leaves, they all leave and remain friends.

As the dancer moves up the professional ladder and becomes a teacher and entertainer this sisterhood becomes more fraught with difficulty.  A teacher can maintain her sisterhood with her students.  However, in the outside world (with her peers and contemporaries), ego, money, status, power, jealousy can and does get in the way.

This industry, with a 95%** female content has the opportunity to develop the power of the feminine far beyond any other industry on this planet.

Thousands of women all over the world empowering each other.  A Matriarchy of strong women who use their intuition to guide them, who understand that the law of nature is cyclic and winding as sure as the moon is full every 28 days and the tides ebb and flow and our menstrual cycles occur.

I confess I am an idealist. We, as so many women in business, have the opportunity to change the face of success in this patriarchal world.  As teachers we can use the power of this dance, which in essence is so in tune with the rhythm of nature – more so than any other dance.

I have a teaching curriculum with a linear structure, but I allow my lines to curve somewhere along the way, then they grow other lines that end in spirals. And why not, this is a dance based on spirals after all. Accepting and allowing things to happen in cycles is not easy.  Let the movement find its way, organically, naturally.  Let the dance be, without the teacher getting in the way. To allow the natural grace of our body to happen.  After all dance, like any other art form, is intuitive, inspirational.

In this world that has become so caught up with the external, we have the opportunity for us women to guide other women back to our true nature.

Everyone wants something external, they want to feel they are achieving because they have learnt 10 moves in one lesson.  There is nothing wrong with that – but these moves should be subtle and organic and flow from one to the other. This is how I teach my students; I want them to discover their dance by knowing first their bodies, and then by letting the dance happen. The women who love my Mariaisms are very wonderful, brave, insightful women and a pleasure to teach and to be with. I don’t call things a lift or a shift or a flick because if I do, that is what they become and that is what they look like, all on the outside and nothing happening internally or emotionally. 

This is not a judgement of teachers that use these terms, I am just sharing what I know.

I put heaps of time and energy into advertising for a workshop.  I accept that one day you can have a full house and the next time no one books.  Is it because it is not well advertised?  Is it over- exposure?  Is it my competitors?  Or is it simply  because it is not the right universal time?  The planet Mercury is retrograde at the moment (that means in Solar Sidereal time it is going backwards).  Mercury rules communication.  Every day there is some problem to do with communication. I can’t wait till the 2nd of May when it goes forward again.  What to do? Stop, have a holiday until then? We can’t.   Our linear way of life won’t let us and everything today is about communication.  So I have to accept this and absorb it into my life.  This belief has deepened my acceptance of outcome. When I plan a workshop I often have a gut feeling about whether it will go ahead or not. Sometimes this gut feeling is tainted with fear of failure or fear of jeopardy, and I feel like just crawl into a hole and forget all about it. Every time I write this newsletter, is like going in a quest. What I do is try to move past all of that stuff in my head and get the feeling right. And then other times  everything falls into place, everything flows.  I’ve become more courageous with planning workshops, putting the work in and accepting the outcome.

I have recently become a MEDNET (Middle Eastern Dance Network) committee member. This is a big decision – to join a group of women from different tribes. To become a part of decision-making for an

organisation whose fundamental aim is to provide a network for its members and to work for the good of the whole MED community in Melbourne/Victoria. A committee meeting can be seen as very linear with all the protocol of a meeting. But it can also be seen as a ritual. Linear is not all bad anyway, it’s just overrated.

This is it folks, as you can see there is a subscription form on the last page and up and coming local regional and interstate workshops, along with where Yalla! is playing.

There are individuals and groups and organisations that I have reciprocal arrangements with, they are listed in the box below and also a note to those who have made contributions in the past 2 years.

The choice is yours.

May the Goddess be with you in the spiral dance of life

Many Blessings
Maria

* Mariaism was a term recently coined buy a friend when I was giving him some ideas with how to deal with his dislocated shoulder, which lead to a discussion about my teaching methods which he named Mariaisms.
 
** 95% is my random guess at the ratio of women to men in this industry. It is not a definite figure.

Written for the Spiralling New a Dancing Isis Dance Publication ©

I thoroughly enjoyed your workshop about dancing with the bones of the body.

After seeing my own drawings of the pelvis looking like a strange butterfly and the ribs a birdcage it was a real eye-opener. I have belly danced for 6 years but never really thought about the bones, just about muscles and weight etc. So it was good to bring it back to fundamentals of anatomy, and what moves when we do.

Also the simple principles of weight transfer with a bounce, rather than just ‘pushing up’ with the hip I really appreciated – because while I sometimes move into that step, I had never considered that much of our dancecan be broken down into those two simple movements. It frees things up a lot.

I did find the ‘bounce’ helped in the Yasmina workshops today (and more to go tomorrow). Also DEFINITELY for a performance I did in a show last night, I did a character stint as ‘Fifi Abdo’ complete with dark wig and scarf in big bow on my head, totally improvised to some great music I’d found that morning, HEAPS of bouncing and none of it choreographed. Definitely far more liberating! And a whole lot of fun

Thank you! The day was very worthwhile, and I enjoyed dancing with you.

Love & best wishes,
Vicki
Thanks again,

I would love to give you some feedback regarding the workshop! (I have been thinking of this everyday) I gained so much out of it and I think it took a week to really sink in. Since then I have not been able to stop dancing and I have a new perspective about moving my body and also a total revival of curiosity and need to learn more! I have been spending lots of time on the net and just a lot of time moving in a new way which feels really beautiful.”

I started my classes again on Monday night in a new venue that I sought out with great lighting and fantastic mirrors and sound system and the women loved it and had a great time. I also had a great time and was able to pass on new knowledge which really caught the imagination of some of the women. I just feel more enthusiastic and I think more privileged to be sharing this ability to feel as you do when you dance in this way. I think I could just rave on for ages and ages about it!

I just want to thank you again and to tell you that I become so energised and peaceful after attending workshops with you and I am still buzzing from it! It has been great to read your newsletter and read your ideas and feel your love of the dance.’

Sharon Stephens, Summer School

Geelong

Initially I’d been a little apprehensive, aware that part of the workshop involved performing in front of my peers (actually people I hold in high regard) and teaching them a dance technique. Having participated in a few of Maria’s gatherings in the past, I recalled the safe, non-judgemental space she creates and knew that this would be a valuable experience for me personally and as a dancer/teacher. I let go of my fear of intimidation and embraced the anticipation.

We were an intimate group of eight and with very different styles of dance and ideas (something to celebrate) and as I’d hoped, Maria’s calm, vibrant ways had us quite relaxed. Informative discussion and exchange of ideas flowed. Movement awareness increased as we studied skeletons and physically related them to our own bodies. Maria’s knowledge of anatomy and movement is enlightening. Learning about such things as Alexander Technique immediately freed areas in my body. She has the ability to take you within your dance and within your self where you can experience the internal source of each movement rather than the external outcome. Maria admits that this can be very challenging and is sometimes confronting, but to those who are open to accepting it and willing to work to integrate it, it is amazing. It changes all aspects of your dance experience.

Although this virtually means I’ll have to unlearn so much of what I’m already familiar and comfortable with, I can clearly see the truth in it when I watch Maria dance. Someone commented that her dance holds all the elements – Her feet are connected to the Earth like tree roots and fire is in her belly. Her dance flows like water and she radiates through the air. My desire has altered from “I want to look like that”, to “I want to feel like that”. If only I could wake up tomorrow and be so within my core and my breath, radiating outwards in my dance. For me this will take time, work and commitment to make it my own, although in ways it has been manifesting in me for some time.

My turn to dance came late on the first afternoon by which time we’d all become quite comfortable amongst each other and I wasn’t feeling at all concerned about dancing in front of the women sharing this journey with me. The music commenced and suddenly I experienced a severe attack of nervousness. No matter how calm my head was with the whole idea, my body certainly wasn’t and I began to shake and feel completely uncoordinated. I didn’t enjoy my performance at all. The final beat couldn’t come fast enough. Immediately after each of us danced we were asked how we felt. I felt like vomiting! (This was purely my experience. We all felt differently after performing.) Feeling this way had completely thrown me as I usually don’t have nervousness about me at all while I dance. As I began to verbalise my experience I realised that I don’t consider myself a performer. I’m completely uncomfortable with being the centre of attention. When I dance publicly I am very much of the mind that I’m dancing with people. Even though essentially they are spectators, I feel that they are sharing in the celebration of the dance. Perhaps this is why I feel connected to the Tribal, Gypsy aspects of belly dance rather than the Cabaret style. (Which I also admire.) I cherish the gathering of women in a sacred space, the experience of self discovery and growth, the sharing of a life journey which occurs when women come together to share this dance. As a teacher, to witness a woman blossom from inwardness to self acceptance, then self appreciation and beyond. It is such a catalyst. But that is a whole other story…

As we began to teach each other movements it became apparent that collectively, as a group of teachers, we had pretty well all been taught and were teaching ‘externally’. This still appeared beautiful but didn’t encompass the essence of Middle Eastern Dance. It wasn’t being expressed from within and after an education in the difference it was apparent. Maria gently coaxed us away from what we all felt comfortable with as our own personal dance and had us experimenting with different ideas and open minds. An opportunity to explore our own dance style with the aim of improving the quality of our way of being. Maria along with others is concerned that if Middle Eastern Dance continues to be taught the way it so often is these days, as a Western ‘external’ activity, it will lose the very essence of what draws us to it in the first place. It’s very much about being and not doing. Just thought I’d also mention that for days after the workshop I experienced a great sense of clarity and centredness. Lovely!

Lisa Craigen, Barwon Heads

Sumemr School

Dear Maria,
I am writing to you to thank you for the amazing workshop that you taught at my studio in late January this year. I was in a very stuck space, both as a teacher and a dancer. I needed an injection of inspiration, which I got from your workshop. I gained a deeper insight into you and how to connect the dance much closer to my body than ever before. Your ability to make bones and muscles, mind and emotion all connect as one totally blew me away.

Techniques like the Shimmy and the Egyptian walk have been the hardest for me to teach to my students, but since doing your workshop, I have utilised the way you break moments down, and my students and I are doing the best shimmies ever!

As the day went on and I started to absorb more of what you were saying, I began to understand that the more loose and relaxed my bones and muscles were the more vulnerable my mind and body became to the music.

This concept gave me a whole new insight into improvisation, which is truly the art of the dance, expressing yourself freely in the magic of the moment. From this vulnerable state the dancer transforms the music from sound into a visual tangible feeling form, therefore justifying the music. This is where the journey begins for the dancer and the audience.

In this space there is an abundance of movement, whereas, if the mind takes over, there are limits to what the body can do. When our negative inner talk takes over, the dance becomes a stressful experience and Belly dancing is not meant to be stressful.

I also especially love the way you really focus on the belly being our dance centre. I think for me this is what inspired me the most. It brought me back to my body and my feeling centre. I can quite easily lose my centre; a lot of stress everyday and running a business can be over whelming. When I move my energy to my belly and dance from there, my feet instantly become heavier and I feel more grounded. This felt really good and I felt more present in the moment and my dance became more natural, not so contrived.

I am an Oriental Dancer, not a Folkloric Belly dancer at all. Some people make the mistake of assuming that what you do only applies to a particular style — well it doesn’t.

I am defiantly applying the things you taught me and my students are benefiting a lot
.
I think you are really onto something and I have no hesitation in recommending you for workshops and private lessons. Thank you for your passion and true care and respect and love of the dance

Sincerely with love

Melissa Cristina
February, 2004