Dance Yourself Happy!

Glut power, the Suhaila Salimpour way

I have just returned from Exeter, where I took a truly inspirational three-day intensive in the Suhaila Salimpour format of Arabic Dance, with Sabriye, and organised by Tatanya. 

I went with little prior knowledge, only Raphaelle's enthusiastic endorsement of the technique  - and the caveat that I'd feel like a total beginner again.  How true.  It was certainly challenging; by the end of the three days I thought my brain would explode with so many demands made on it.  And my gluts haven't been the same since!

But it was really worth it. As I've said before, when you've been dancing for some time, it's easy to get stale and lack inspiration. There are always new things to learn, but it's a question of finding the ones that speak to you.  This course definitely did.

Sabriye is one of Suhaila's senior teachers.  Based in Dubai, she is a lovely, elegant performer and a fun and down-to-earth teacher.  I enjoyed every minute of her teaching, even though my body often refused to do what was expected of it!

Glut squeezing is a key aspect of Suhaila's technique - and one that I have yet to master with any great success.  When Sabriye did a side-to-side using just her gluts, her hips moved with real force.  My effort was more like a twitch.  I've definitely got my work cut out.

By all accounts, all this glut activity can become something of an obsession. As part of the warm-up you spend some time practising your squeezes - both cheeks, right only, left only and both - at various speeds. By the end of three days you find yourself squeezing at every available opportunity.  This can go undetected when you're a novice, but with practice the movements get much bigger, and so harder to conceal - even under a big coat.  You have been warned! 

There is a serious side to all this buttock work.  Using the gluts helps protect the knees and also frees you up to build up layers of movement.

The course was actually a five-day one but I arrived on the Saturday night in time for the hafla, and stayed for the following three days. The numbers were very low, for several reasons, I feel. 

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?!