DATE & TIME:
Sat 16th to Wed 20th Jan 2016
9.30 am to 5.30 daily
VENUE: Dorm 1 Rosina Building, Abbostford Convent, St. Hellier St, Abbotsford
My Alexander Technique teacher Jane Refshauge feels that Egyptian Dance is primarily a dance of the Organs. Through our exploration and research that began in 1995 and lasted 6 years, we explored the organ connection through Alexander Technique, Body Mind Centring, Bartenieff Fundamentals and Feldenkais to name a few. All of these somatic modalities encourage the body to function as a whole. This sense of wholeness supports and feeds the essence of Egyptian dance and the total embodiment of it. The 5 day intensive with bring into form all that has fed me through the years of exploration and all work with the Shamanic and transformative element of dance.
Our vital Organs each have a purpose and personality. We all have the same organs with the same biological function. We often individually express differently, for whatever physical, biological or emotional reason.
In this sacred Shamanic Dance exploration we will enlist the beauty and timeless essence of Egyptian Dance as a foundation and engage with the personality and vitality of particular organs and let them inspire us to move our dance. We will touch them, feel them, listen to them, talk to them, allowing them to respond to us through the dance. We will dance the richness and fullness of what they revel to us.
We will dance the lungs – “the wings of the heart”, as we breath in what we need and breath out in gratitude. Sensing, feeling, dancing the multidimensionality of the lungs, as they give breath to our life journey and the great potential of expansion and release. How we negotiate space how we reach out into our lives.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that inspire us. These could be:
- Upper-body figure 8‘s, circles or undulation
- Flowing and gestural arm movements
- Use of the veil
- Finding the breath in our feet connecting the the pulse of the earth
Next will be the dance our digestive system, navigating our lives through all the twists and turns: how we take in, chew and swallow what our life gives us. How we digest it and then release, eliminate what we don’t need. Our “Gut Feelings”. As we move through all the organs of the digestive system, we will stop at each major organ and let the organ choreograph a poetic dance.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that come from our belly. These could be:
- Torso undulations
- Belly undulations
- Whole body waves
- Opening up and close from the navel
- Lyrical Egyptian music with and without voice that create an Emotional response in us
We will then dance the Lymphatic system that lives just under the surface of the skin and the Skin itself, the largest organ of the body. Our skin, contains us holds and protects our internal structures. It senses our environment make us able to receive the world around is. It also separates us. Our skin is also the outer manifestation of our inner lives. Our Lymphatic system is an amazing network of rivers and streams that filter every organ of the body maintaining balance and strengthening our immune system. It also speaks closely to the Bone Marrow, the soft receptive part of or bones structure the supports us and connects us to earth and ground. It talks to all other body system and body fluids.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that come from the fluidity inside us. These could be:
- Seaweed movements
- Integration of isolations
- Body parts echoing, mirroring and following each other
Finally we dance the beauty of the Sacred Beating Heart. This amazing pump that keeps us alive, moves billions and billions for blood cells through our body. Feeding us physically, emotionally and spiritually. Our heart is the key to the wellness of all aspects of our personal lives but also to the wellbeing of the plant. The heart is our evolutionary progression towards peace in ourselves and humanity and love. We will dance the dance of the cells, the dance of folding and unfolding. The dance of the hands that are the outer manifestation of the heart. Unconditional Love.
Using the fundamentals of Embodied bellydance® we will explore movements that come from our our heart centre. These could be:
- Heart being the centre of expression and movement
- Heart relationship to Navel
- Hand gestures
- Expressing deeply and profoundly the story of the music
- Dancing from the Heart out to the world
- Expressing love for self and others in the dance
The 5 days will weave in and out of the Embodied Bellydance® Framework listed bellow. As usual on day 4 and 5 we will being the Participant Dance Presentation Every year this aspect of the intensive becomes expansively meaningful to me and to regular participants.
- Experiential Anatomy
- Authentic Movement
- Foundation Technique
- Dance Technique
- Neo-Traditional Sha’abi
- Neo-Traditional Baladi
- Ashra Baladi – Improvisation Progression
- Contemporary Improvisation Techniques
- Participant Dance Presentation
Booking are now open
COST: $550 – 5 days, $25o weekend only
Pay a deposit of $100 ASAP to secure place. Total amount due 15 December 2015
Australian please pay using DIRECT DEBIT
International participants please use PAYPAL
Join me on this 5 day journey of revelation and transformation. Returning always to the essence beauty and form of Egyptian dance and all that it has to offer,to all genre a dance and movement. Weather you are professional or have no dance experience. I work in a way that give everyone what then need.