My Blog

Reading a book

Nuria — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 20:11:49 GMT

Thanks to Emily's hint I got myself an antiquarian book. From Marta: Fit and graceful through bellydance, because there is obviously good theoretical input. Haha, I am dancing for more than ten years and NEVER ever read anything about it. So this will be my ultimate theoretical arms build-up (looked that up in the dictionary)....

The KINGDOM

Nuria — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:42:07 GMT

Haha, this is not bellydance, not even remotely, although it might be inspiring to the fans of gothic bellydance and so. Lars von Trier, black magician among today's filmmakers, I deem him a genius but find him deeply ambiguous - dangerous... Well he did a series I have watched numerous times because it is so outrageously funny (yes, funny, for most of the times he is not really funny), but only the first part of it. I am looking forward to see the second half. In the meantime I want to draw your attention to a small masterpiece, mixing the genres hospital series with horror movie and slapstick and mystery-thriller...My favourite character (oh there are a few), let's say the bosses' son and definitely Dr. Helmer from Sweden. So please ladies and gentlemen, here comes The Kingdom by Lars von Trier: http://youtube.com/watch?v=pBJBTD3cPXQ

Maqsoum

Nuria — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:07:47 GMT

Dum tek, tek dum, tek dum tek, tek dum, tek, dum tek, tek dum, tek Love it! I've always been a rhythm-addict and now that I am developping a feeling for the character of the rich arab rhythms, hmm. I got a slowed down maqsoum piece where the second tek is almost played like a dum so I was wondering that there was almost a saidi feel to it, anyway this heavy thing to it that I love so much. There is also a slow piece called Gamil Gamal the beat of which sounds like a saidi but the feeling is rather of maqsoum! I love it! I'm becoming sort of an invalide from bellydance. Not apt for anything else anymore! I love especially maqsoum, saidi, masmoudi saghir!

Oum Khaltoum

Nuria — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:09:41 GMT

I am so under her spell. I don't understand arab, but what I understand is she is like a prophet. She says something that matters. She is like a seer that says to you: Now you listen and I tell you what I have seen. Because I have been far away and up high and deep down and know things that matter and I know what is going to happen, so you listen to me! And I close my eyes and she tells me the story and it is like she shows me a different world and we are travelling through this story for a long time and when it comes to an end I feel like I have been somewhere else and things are different now. So magical! It is not like emotions that come and go like with easier songs, it is deep, life-long and transcending. So I feel a freeze when she starts because I know what comes now matters really. I so understand people had dropped everything, stopped doing anything and went into a sort of mesmerized trance when she sang.

I'm Egyptian!

Nuria — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 21:59:34 GMT

Haha! Not so much that I have to apply for citizenship yet, but maybe more than I thought! We had a teacher replacement today we were eagerly awaiting, because our dear one is really lazy when it comes to teaching technique and new moves (but she lets us be creative and do free dancing, that is great, too), so we were expecting eagerly one of the best and longestbeingprofessional(urgh)-teachers of our town and a lot of new input: and she was soooo amazingly AmCab and if felt sooo alien! So which will be the conclusion? I'm not her! Ok that is very minimalistic. Read above the maximalism. The reality should be somewhere in between, haha!

I love her!

Nuria — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 22:25:13 GMT

I think I found someone whom I want to learn from. Reyhan. And she is even German, lives in Germany. But learned in Egypt. Well it is obvious. Look at her the style it is so perfect,so gentle and relaxed and sophisticated. http://youtube.com/watch?v=vhXYeifKejs

Me at Ning

Nuria — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 13:45:33 GMT

I loved this little peacock. It is knitted. Not by me. It is my icon at ning. I opened up a profile just in case. I'll mainly stay on tribe though.

Merry Christmas!

Nuria — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 11:17:47 GMT

I'll be leaving for cz on friday. We are going to celebrate at the grandparents and I have to get packed. So this is the last hello in 2007! I had a great year on tribe with all of you! Well I'm taking the computer. I mean to pack my data because it's got to move to the new harddisk. So I'll be online, anyway. I wish you'll have all a good time! Maybe some great dancing over those days! I chose the picture because I thought about cosy Christmas in an oasis, below a sky full of stars...and I liked the blue of the sky. Ya leili ya leiliiiii...

I LOVE RANDA!

Nuria — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 20:46:43 GMT

I really like her! Not only did I go to her workshop, but I got to see her at the gala, thanks to a friend, Tarik, who was one of the musicians that got to play for her. I loved the way she overthrew the cliché of a bellydancer, which was so much fulfilled by the woman opening the gala. She is amazingly strong and intense on stage. Her way of moving stresses strength, ok, her abrupt moves around shoulders and arms sometimes I don't know if I like, they are hard to imitate anyhow. Her shimmy is something I haven't seen before. She performed a modern routine, a saidi with cane and a beautiful Enta Omri sung by Tarik. I enjoyed it, it was intense like a great flamenco performance. Now about her workshop, it was a shaabi-like sounding pop-song, great fun, a modern style Randa bellydance choreography. I could follow it actually, otherwise I'd be really frustrated. Luckily there was lots of reptition if not I'd have trouble to remember within two hours because after all it is 4 minutes long. The point is to get to Randas movement style which requires swiftness, amazing strength and more flexibility than any of us had. I enjoyed to hear her voice, it sounds great, and she is really good looking and has a wonderful body. She is nice and good humoured, although when she shouted "dow" we didn't understand that it meant "DO" = practise the move I just showed you-, but in general it was always clear what she meant. The only thing is that the cd she sold with the workshop is of such miserable sound quality that you couldn't use it for serious performance... Bad thing for me that during the workshop I infected a tiny wound on my foot - I always dance barefoot. I had to get up at 5 a.m., ran for my mobile phone because the alarm was so loud and hit the sole of my left foot of the handle of my suitcase. It hurt but I didn't know it was cut. After the Randa workshop I had to stay in Berlin, a few days after I was going to work at a fair, I couldn't walk well when I arrived to help setting up the thing, the next day I barely managed to stuff my foot into my business shoe and in the evening I had to go to hospital with a swollen foot in pain. I just got away with a minor blood poisoning and left the next day on crutches, accompanied and fetched by friends, like a veteran. I won't be able to attend my Aziza-Workshop at Leyla Jouvana's this weekend :-( now I have a heavy head from antibiotics and am bored from lying there, foot up high. But I do have an idea now what that is, a Cairo star! Love Randa! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HFbiAkbft4&search=Randa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB75nuELOq0

RANDA RANDA RANDA

Nuria — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 10:21:07 GMT

tomorrow! Randa-alarm! I decided not to regard the "pro-only" sign at the entrance...just in case it'll be the only time she'll be as near as Berlin... what shall I do? Wear some horrible pants to draw her attention on me? I thought about that already...

Tribe going down?

Nuria — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 12:17:57 GMT

There are rumours that tribe won't live for long anymore. Valizan just gave note about triberfugeebellydancers.ning.com as a refugee-camp just in case...I hope I will meet all of you again, just in case...

Shahrazad

Nuria — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 19:56:08 GMT

I did a workshop with this remarkable person on the beginning of october. She is an encyclopedia of oriental dance and she knows a lot about what she does. She is a very well known and respected dancer and teacher, very intelligent and sweet. She talked to us about Oum Kalsoum and how to feel and interprete her music. Sometimes she apologized if her voice shivered a little, she said she gets so emotional when she's thinking and talking about the fourth pyramid of Egypt, Oum Kalsoum, and her songs.

Costume! Zils! RANDA! AZIZA! Money...!!!!

Nuria — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 11:24:01 GMT

Painful issue. I decided not to buy a costume. There are fabulous pants for sale in the German bellyweb. My Zildjians have arrived I have to pay for them. But eeeek! Randa Kamel is teaching a workshop in Berlin in november (especially for master-class - so what! maybe she won't be here next year). I have yet to pay and organize my trip to Aziza-WS at Leyla Jouvana's. Not to talk about the silver bedlah I meant to buy! Bellydance has started to become a black hole in my budget...

Jen-Nuria

Nuria — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 10:12:03 GMT

I'm back to myself. I underestimated this identity question. I am pretty active lately and I don't have to consider only the friends but also the whole of the community. I am not Jen and so I will get rid of this pseudonym because those swaps affect my credibility.

Bye bye butterfly - teacher issues

Nuria — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:29:51 GMT

Yesterday I brought my teacher No. 2 (actually the first one) - the graceful Cifuentes-style dancer - a bunch of flowers and told her I was leaving her class because I couldn't fit it into my schedule anymore. I told her that I learned a lot from her and that I really enjoyed her class which is totally true. She understood, she also knows that I have outgrown her class. She is always a little afraid of the advanced students because their sometimes autonomous interpretations of the combinations and moves she shows tend to reveal her weak spot, her issue with the rhythm. Maybe she was happy to get rid of me therefore - although I am well behaved and always respectful to her, but still, I guess you can imagine. She did a marvellous class yesterday, showing a lot of details like hand moves, she did training with veil and shimmy training, and it stung me because I know she still has a lot to teach that I'd want to learn. I told her that if she'd do a workshop or so I'd always be interested (she never does, though, she is too busy with her family). The best thing about her lessons: she sticks on beautiful music, the best of all teachers, a lot of different stuff and if I hear it I always feel like dancing. And she is very positive and warm hearted, you feel her emotional support, that she is happy when you do well and that really helps. I am already a little afraid of my choice because Mme Magnifique told me to come to her advanced class and I know there are students that come to her class since ten years, that have no intention of ever dancing but just enjoy going to bellydance class. If they have to make an effort they complain and they like to talk and socialize during class. This is what I heard and I know it happens in about every private teachers class here in my town - because teachers accept that people come to enjoy themselves, not to become dancers, because they also like the comfy atmosphere with their alltime students or because they are afraid of losing the students if they push them too much. An exception is Shammadan. She is very well organized and structured and she asks for discipline in class. Everything she does she does thoroughly. I am learning a lot from her, she teaches technique very accurately. She uploaded two clips of her on youtube. She has a special style of her own. http://youtube.com/watch?v=uwR17FmcNE8

Idols revisited

Nuria — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 10:48:47 GMT

...dusting the shelves where the gods stand... I so much liked Sofia Sarkisyan, especially the Saidi bit in her choreo, one of my favourites. My actual love is Thília, maybe not overall the perfect dancer but the style I want to dance: http://youtube.com/watch?v=p_EdrV4WI-I She studied in Egypt and appears very oriental. After watching her for a while, I stuck on Sofia Sarkisyan. http://youtube.com/watch?v=EisuqFSeCug A non-bellydance-friend of mine said: it looks like gymnastics! Boom! He just said the word. Ok she is dancing in a competition, she is quite skillful, but she is trying to do so much in a short time, and all her moves are as big as possible. Still, she is very charming. Well the song tells you to be more extrovert, too. Her choreo still seems like it matches the music but still it is much of a show and in dance there should be yet another thing. Can't put it better. Ok, in the saidi part to me there is the thing a bit, call it inspiration or making the music resonate in your body...

Rochade

Nuria — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 09:24:48 GMT

I'll trade teacher No. 2 for teacher No. 4. Mmlle Mignonne for Mme Pompeuse. (That is not a rochade actually for one is dropping out...) I stated to hate No. 4. But obviously she is behaving because now she teaches her own groups and gets more money. Mmlle Mignonne can't stay in tune with the music so actually she cannot dance. She has the most graceful movements and a good technique, she has been trained by Beata Cifuentes and adopted her style but she just can't dance because she doesn't hear properly. This is just too annoying. I've been a year with her and I think I made the most of it. No. 4 knows how to dance and how to teach and I need her knowledge. So, her price is ok and I hope the additional student will make her happy, she'll earn a little more. I just hope not to meet her the way I knew her (but friends keep telling me that she was very different before the sports studio told her not to bring her little dog). What annoys me a little is that most of the teachers are paid per month but they take all school holidays off, which sums up to more than two months a year. I prefer my first teacher's method, you pay a bit more but only the classes you attend. That is more risky for her but she is also performing and from time to time she sends a message that f.e. wednesday's class won't take place because of an engagement. She has been very helpful to me so far. In the four months that I'm with her I have improved quite a bit.

Changes during a short while...

Nuria — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 09:23:31 GMT

I might use my tribes-profile as a reference. Therefore I will change the name and the icon for a week or so in order to protect my identity from curiosity that has nothing to do with bellydance. What'll be my name? Jen, I think, for it is short.

My first christmas present

Nuria — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:25:04 GMT

Now aren't those big brass Saroyans beautiful? I love their tone! They were bestowed upon me most gracefully by her ladyship Impossa-bel Longlegs who was deeply moved by my Zildjian-so-far-desaster, so she decided to send a package across the atlantic thus ending my disgraceful zill-less-ness. The funny thing is: I never cared to close the zils properly to obtain the closed-zills-tone because my stupid practice gadgets didn't make a great sound anyhow. Now those really sound so clearly that I must do it properly! What a blast with those big Saroyans!

Teacher Trouble

Nuria — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:00:19 GMT

I have a good basic level now. I want to advance. Teachers freak me out. They teach without structure, without building up anything. You can see that you do advance but you need structure. 1. Teacher I still like: She teaches exact ways and does a lot of training on them. She sticks to exercises until you are getting better. She cares about details and she has no trouble being strict. the pupils behave. Although she often starts a little late, she will not try to cheat you out of class, it is always more or less a full hour. 2. Teacher I liked: She has very neat technique, beautiful moves. She is good in explaining the moves and does training on them. She is not good at dancing, she has a problem hearing the rhythm. So if she does choreography, it is ok, because you can fit it yourself into the music. But when she is making up small combos it is often completely un-understandable how they are meant to be danced. She doesn't know how to teach. She does the lower camel, but next class she does something totally different. She never builds up on anything. But she sticks on nice music, which she changes (sometimes even too often). She cares about changing a lot and doesn't realize the importance of repetition and continuity. She starts extending the breaks between two hours, so class is getting shorter lately. But you can tell her things that is good, too. 3. Teacher I liked: no mirror (she didn't chose that), a lot of free moving in space. Good for learning how to follow your own impulse. But she is more about therapy. Asks you to express this or that. That is sometimes good. She teaches one or two things, after a while the same things again. No structure. No concept. No talk about how to dance to this or that music, how to build up a dance, everything is sheer intuition. Her technique isn't neat.. Fun, sometimes. Always sticks on the same music! That I really hate. 4. Teacher I hate: she is a good dancer and knows a lot of things. Good technique. She thinks she is the best and is always afraid she won't get enough money for it. She can teach well if she's in the mood (she isn't, most of the time). She doesn't want you to advance she kind of doesn't care if you advance or not. Shortens class by being late or so. Is being fed by one oriental student that worships her and brings her coffee and cooks for her so she is eating when she should start the next class...her arrogance and impredictibility, interchanging with a false friendliness makes her lose students all the time. 5. Teacher I might go to: but she is too friendly. She has private students, they feel like they own the class and gossip half of the time. She lets them do it. No chance there. But maybe she has an idea of teaching... Things will occasionally lead to hiring a teacher under definite conditions for a group of maybe six people that want to work like me and my friend Marina. I feel insecure because a lot of important things I have to teach myself, I try to learn from videoclips, buy more dvds, I ask on tribe, but I am never sure if the outcome will be just a self-taught-mess. I have at the moment teacher 1-3. I have teacher 1 checking on my moves + development. There is safety. I have teacher 2 because it is also good training on basic moves and arm-moves, too. Quite complicated at times, technically she is very good. I stick to teacher 3 because she is right in some ways and I can train creativity by following spontaneous ideas that come from the music + I can take Liva with me. But for advancing I'd like some structure...how to do a taqsim...how this or that rhythm needs to be danced...today we will do travelling steps and where they are good to use...impossible?

Zildiyan is making it really difficult for me

Nuria — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 12:08:24 GMT

It is half a year ago a shop here ordered zils for me. Zildiyan didn't deliver. I just got an e-mail telling me that Zildiyan didn't answer Pearl Europe yet what happened with the zils. I so much would like to have a pair of those. Could anyone tell me if there would be other ways to buy a pair? I am so annoyed!

shoulder shimmies vs. breast accents

Nuria — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:35:38 GMT

One of my teachers is very "arab style only". She told us that shoulder shimmies did not exist in raqs sharqi, only in folklore. What we see in raqs sharqi were breast accents, driven from the breastcage, the shoulders just go along with the movement. Is that so? Is the preference for shoulder-shimmies only a pudic thing of western people who found breast accents too indecent? Breast accents are very plain and clear, shoulder shimmies are often rather something like a hint, more playful maybe.

Back to bellydance

Nuria — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 11:03:44 GMT

I had a break of two months. Trouble in life kept me from going back after teachers returned from summer holidays. I feared that I'd be technically thrown back and emotionally just not in the mood to move joyfully. But nothing the like. Within a few days, I picked up one new little drum solo (Jenna dvd, choreo 2), finished a small saidi piece and started with Jillina's drum solo dvd. Zil class is not continuing so I am going to technique and that teacher really makes us work, I like that. A small workshop with a very interesting lady is on the agenda for the beginning of october. www.shahrazad.de - she is supposed to be a really good and very knowledgeable dancer, I had recommendations from different sources. Really top league. She'd be good to do the trance stuff with - zar and dervish-spins - ok I'm dreaming but I want to dance Salametha Om Hassan, one of my favourite pieces. +I got my first lycra-costume (I own only bedlah-combinations). On ebay, and it fits perfectly! I was lucky because it would hang sadly if I was smaller but it wouldn't stretch a lot due to the prettiful decoration with sparkly rhinestones and pearls... so I'm just right for it. It is white - the dark ones are not good for places with scarce light. The decoration is rich and done with taste, it is sparkly and has rows of fringe which I like better than just single strands. The slit is only knee high, I also like that. But I need to train how to dance in a narrow skirt, you need good balance and ladylike elegance. And I am so used to hop around in comfy pants! My favourite music at the moment is Salametha om Hassan. And I like the spins Munique Neith is doing, especially the ones without the veil with the hands on three levels: http://youtube.com/watch?v=PlfDC-dXoIQ + I adore Sallam Allay, for its repetetive, rhythmic moments. A perfect inspiration is Izzy Bushkovski and her interpretation of Shashkin. She has a good feeling for the music, the moves are matching exactly! This feeling I have, too, when watching Aziza from Montreal. Here is the Isidora-clip, it is not on since yesterday, you might know it. http://youtube.com/watch?v=rcSzH_9VzBE And Pearl Europe is disappointing. Zildiyan is exchanging its management in Europe so it is troublesome to get the zils I ordered almost HALF A YEAR AGO!!!! And they can't explain why they haven't been in the last delivery!

The winners of the International Raqs-Sharqi-contest 2007 held at Beata & Horacio's in Berlin

Nuria — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 09:34:41 GMT

From the Cifuentes newsletter: "Raks Sharqi Contest / Wettbewerb 2007 Die glücklichen Gewinner sind The winners are Amateur: 1. Antje (Berlin/Germany) 2. Shamiram (Tarzana, CA/USA) 3. Lenka Durkova (Prerov/Czech. Rep.) Gruppe/Group: 1. Manolya (Berlin/Germany) 2. Layali al Shark (Prague/Czech. Rep.) and Orient Express (Hannover/Germany) 3. Esmeralda Group (Helsinki/Finland) Professional: 1. Lolie (Paris/France) 2. Karolina Idrisova (Prague/Czech. Rep.) 3. Katka Krejkova (Prague/Czech. Rep.) 4. Alexandros (Vienna/Austria) Have a nice summer and see you all again soon!" See see, Czech Republic isn't far away and they seem to have some good dancers. Tak, cechy, my vas zdravim! And there is Shamiram from California. Guckguck, anyone here on tribe?

Saidi love

Nuria — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 12:50:37 GMT

I adore saidi-music at the moment. Anyone who can recommend great saidi tunes, please do. Norma was so nice to alert me to this discussion on bhuz where a lot of music is mentioned. http://www.bhuz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2105 And this is my favourite clip for saidi at the moment, Jasmine, it was also posted there. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWdmLtvf2Pw